Coober Pedy in South Australia has a treeless, desolate landscape marked with piles of dirt where opals have been mined.  People live in dwellings carved out of the sandstone to escape from the heat and exposed landscape.  Worth a visit! Interesting tour at Umoona museum to learn how opals are mined and the atmospheric Serbian Orthodox Church dug out of rock.

Flat, desolate, hot Coober Pedy

Little piles of dirt resulting from the opal mines

Umoona museum shop

Small amount of opal left in the rock

Umoona Museum

Umoona museum shop

Umoona Museum

Umoona Museum

Umoona Musuem – example of hand dug room

Umoona Museum

Serbian Orthodox Church

Serbian Orthodox Church, Coober Pedy