Coober Pedy is one of those places that is genuinely unlike anywhere else — not in the way that tourism brochures say things are unlike anywhere else, but in the way that you arrive, look around, and realise the comparison set simply doesn’t exist. This is an opal mining town 850km north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway where people live underground to escape summer temperatures that routinely exceed 50°C. It produces about 70% of the world’s opal. It was used as a filming location for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and it looks like it.
The landscape around town is an expanse of desert broken by thousands of mullock heaps — the spoil from opal mining operations, many of which have been going on for over a century. It’s strange and oddly beautiful in the right light, particularly at dawn and dusk when the heaps cast long shadows across the plain.
Camping options range from the town’s caravan park (full facilities, powered sites, the practical choice) to free camping on the margins of town (very basic, but functional for self-sufficient travellers). The caravan park is close to everything and the better choice for most people.
What you actually do in Coober Pedy: walk through one of the underground homes that operates as a museum, visit an underground Serbian Orthodox church that’s carved from opal-bearing sandstone, try to mine your own opal at the open cut fields on the edge of town (you keep what you find — the chance of finding something significant is low, but not zero), and eat at the town’s restaurants, some of which are surprisingly decent given the location.
The Desert Cave Hotel is entirely underground — a proper hotel carved into the hillside, with rooms that stay a constant cool temperature year-round. Worth seeing even if you’re camping; the bar is open to visitors.
Stock up in Port Augusta or Adelaide before heading north — Coober Pedy has supermarkets and fuel but prices reflect the freight distance.