The rainbow flash of opal, underground homes, easy-going lifestyle makes Coober Pedy a unique and special place. An underground town where you could arrive with just the shirt on your back and leave a millionaire. Coober Pedy holds a fascination for visitors from all over the world.
Take a tour.
Choose between the 4 hour Desert Cave Tour that shows you the town and its history, magnificent rock formations of the Breakaways or the Down’n’Dirty tour that allows you experience the thrill of opal mining and noodling.
Take the full day Painted Desert Tour, to experience the mystery of the dusty lunar landscape.
The rainbow flash of opal, underground homes, easy-going lifestyle makes Coober Pedy a unique and special place. An underground town where you could arrive with just the shirt on your back and leave a millionaire. Coober Pedy holds a fascination for visitors from all over the world.
The Desert Cave Hotel enables the visitor to experience all this and more-underground and aboveground rooms, good dining experiences, market leading tours and experiences, ultimate shopping and more!
Coober Pedy holds a fascination for visitors from all over the world.
An underground town where you could arrive with just the shirt on Your back and leave a millionaire.
Underground homes, easy-going lifestyle and the mystery of the dusty lunar landscape make Coober Pedy a unique and special place.
Tour the town, hear about its history, about our precious water supplies and power generation. Every element of life is hard-won in Coober Pedy.
Umoona – we venture down a former working mine to see opal trace embedded in the sandstone, includes an underground home including a description of opal formation.
View the Breakaways, a range of colourful exposed sandstone outcrops – spectacular views over the Moon Plain – once an inland sea. This dramatically beautiful areahas been the set for many internationally known movies. Enjoy drinks and a cheese platter while ingesting the view.
See the famous Dog Fence (dingo fence) – stretching 5,300 km across Australia.
Be awed by the Serbian Underground Church – spectacular excavation, traditional Serbian Orthodox architecture and fascinating sand stone carvings.
Enjoy a post tour free drink at the Level Bar on completion of your tour.
Departs: Daily, from the Desert Cave Hotel
Duration: 4 hours (approx.)
For those who want to experience the thrill of digging for a fortune, this tour offers a comprehensive hands-on opportunity.
The 3.5-hour tour includes:
The Quest mine offers ease of access with ramps into the mine
Departs: on application
Duration: 4 Hours
The Desert Cave Hotel has its own colourful and informative underground display centre; open from 8am to 8pm. There is no cost for seeing this interesting display set in sandstone passages. Learn about Coober Pedy's past and present. Information includes historical Coober Pedy, formation and mining of opal, and visual displays of the unique Outback landscape.
FREE OF CHARGE
Open: 8am - 8pm
The Mail Run day tour travels over a triangle between Coober Pedy, Oodnadatta and William Creek, visiting points of interest and delivering mailbags to all cattle stations on the way. The route covers 600 kilometres of colourful terrain, passing historic ruins and monuments and part of the Overland Telegraph Line. Also visit, bores and cattle station homesteads.
Departs: Coober Pedy, Currently unavaliable till March then Monday and Thursday (Except public holidays when Mail Run is moved to the next workin day)
Duration: 13 hours (approx
Inclusions: Tour and all entry fees
A pictorial masterpiece, the Painted Desert is revealed to you on this 4WD tour. This area is a very important marine fossil bed that has become of great interest to Palaeontologists since the recent discovery of the partial backbone of a 5-6-meter-long Ichthyosaur (ancient marine reptile) which swam in the ancient sea 120 million years ago. Our guide will advise and point out features of interest.
ITINERARY: After leaving Coober Pedy from the Desert Cave and past the last of the underground homes our tour will take you through the Dingo Fence. Photo stop at the treeless moon plain then continue North of Coober Pedy and stop at Algebulcullia Creek for tea, coffee and rest stop. Through Williams Cattle Company Mt Barry Station and continue through the Williams Cattle Company Arckaringa Station to Lookout 1 on the Arckaringa Hills (Some walking required). Following this a short trip to lookout No 2 Mt Battersby (Location shot for Pricilla Queen of the Desert) photo stop the Mars View. Then a stop for lunch at a creek.
Returning through the Arckaringa Station 50km to the Kempe Rd, driving South we again stop south of Mount Barry Station further down Algebulcullia Creek for a rest break with tea and coffee.
Returning to Coober Pedy.
Need to bring, Comfortable Footwear, shade hat, sunscreen, insect repellent, sunny disposition and don’t forget the camera to photograph the most spectacular Breakaway country in Australia.
HIGHLIGHTS:
* Ancient Inland Sea bed, Lake Eyre Catchment
* The Moon Plains, fossilised marine life and petrified wood
* Arckaringa Station 2745 square kilometres
AVAILABILTY SUBJECT TO WEATHER- OPERATOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CANCEL IN INTERESTS OF SAFETY
NOTE: For safety all vehicles carry Satellite Phones, UHF Radio’s and First Aid Kits
Departs: on application
Duration: 8 hours
Inclusions: Morning and afternoon tea, lunch, all entry fees
On this 3.5 hour tour we will go to the Breakaways, where you get the best Photo opportunities to catch a
beautiful Sunset at the Kanku-Breakaways Conservation Park (The site is significant for the Antakirinja Matuntjara Yankunytjatjara People, whose name for the area is Umoona, meaning "long life") and the Stuart Ranges
Our guide will take you to the historic Coober Pedy cemetery (in town)
Here you find the Tomb stones of the colourful and sometimes eccentric people of Coober Pedy.
During their life time it was these people which helped to shape the town of today.
The stories of these people will be retold by our guide.
Then continue and while the Sun slowly settles on the horizon, you enjoy ice-cold Australian Sparkling wine and a Cheese
platter.
Departs: Daily Subject to avaliability, Minimum 2 passengers . We reserve the right to vary the tour according to weather or safety issues
