Wednesday 14 October 2015

Houses, Churches at Coober Pedy SA

Not all of Cobber Pedy's houses are underground, the Churches are and photos below.
Some accommodation is underground.
A collection of photos showing you what it's like there, along with photos from the streets.
Remember Coober Pedy is a fair way from anywhere up the middle of Australia.




 



Underground Hotel


A back street.


Inside Faye's cottage which was dug out by Fay with a pick and shovel some 30 years ago with the help of two others.  
Fay is elderly and lives in a home somewhere in Queensland.




Ceiling in the bedroom, the hole is for air as pipes go up through the rock out above the dirt.  The top is covered if it rains, and can be placed wherever, to let more air in or less.




To the lounge room.


The stove - everything is as Faye let it.


The Church of England Church - You can see how it's in front of the hill.


Inside the underground Church of England


The Catholic Church on the outside.


Still at ground level on the inside.


Underground Catholic Church.

41 comments:

  1. Amazing place.

    When I lived in the desert Southwest where it can hit 115 degrees, I always wondered why we didn't build homes into good, cool, earth.

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    1. Maybe the landscape was rather different not lending to building underground...

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  2. In Belgium we have many dug outs from WWI.

    Greetings,
    Filip

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  3. How fascinating, especially Faye's house just as she left it. I wonder what it's like to live in an underground how and in such a severe climate. Do you know any memoirs or autobiographies by someone who has?

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    1. I don't know of any autobiographies or similar. When being inside the underground house and church, it much the same as being on top of the ground. No windows down under, that's all. My husband wouldn't go in the house though, but in the Churches he did..

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  4. In America we call the church of england the Episcopal Church

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    1. Oh I didn't don't know that Adam....interesting to say the least..
      Here in Australia we have many Church of England Churches, usually in most towns and of course cities.

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  5. Wow what a place, I would so like to one day visit Coober Pedy

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  6. I've not visited Coober Pedy, but I suspect Lightning Ridge is similar.

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    1. Haven't been to Lightning Ridge so can't compare. I must look for photos on the Internet of the Ridge..

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  7. Margaret is it amazing place.. In Turkey I have seen similar undergroung houses. But yours ae different

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    1. I have seen photos of the houses in Turkey, they also are built from the side of the hill or mountain...

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  8. Faye was obviously a gutsy and determined woman. I hope she is LOVING her retirement.

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    1. Very much so was Faye according to the guide. I believe Faye is in her 80's now..

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  9. These pictures are a real surprise to me.
    I KNOW there's a town there, I've just never seen it and in my mind, all I see is acres of flat nothingness with a shack or three and mounds indicating where the mines are.
    The town is quite lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed looking into Faye's cottage.

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    1. It's amazing how we think some things should be, but when we see it's totally different.
      There is a hardware shop there as well. Once we bought a jug from there, was the last one till the next lot came..
      Fay's cottage is quite lovely, it also has a swimming pool but that was above ground.

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  10. Gosh that is really amazing. I hope to visit next year.

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    1. Worth the visit in my opinion. Very different from what we are used to.l

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  11. Definitely interesting, and probably keeps a constant temperature, but not for me. I'm waaaayyyy too claustrophobic to be in that house.

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    1. Apparently it does keep an even temperature in all seasons.
      Not being able to see outside could make some people feel like that. I was ok, my husband wouldn't go in.

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  12. Hello Margaret,
    Very nice post. Great to see the view over that wondrful place.
    Nice to get a look in that cozy cottage. Good pictures!!

    Many greetings,
    Marco

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    Replies
    1. Hello Marco...always lovely to see something different..
      Thank you..

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  13. Super cool. I LOVE specialty hotels, and what a cool stop!

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  14. Boa tarde, não imaginava construções como as belas fotos mostram, a fotorreportagem é excelente.
    AG

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  15. Fayes house looks really cosy and nice - to a certain extent these places remind me of the houses and churches that I visited in central Turkey that had been dug out of volcanic rock in Cappadocia.

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    1. Something very different in Australia but a marvellous idea in that area..

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  16. i've never been to coober pedy but my mum and sister went a few times. how wonderful to visit Faye's cottage. it is lovely and i bet so nice and cool underground. it's great to relive your holiday with these posts and photos. it's like getting two holidays. :) hope you are well

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    1. It is like having two holidays, and we are at a place called Wynyard now in Tasmania...endulging in the sun, with the beach just a few steps away...
      We are ok, thanks as we hope you are too..

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  17. I know they are cooler but I like to look out windows, I would feel very closed.
    merle.........

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  18. Merle, I would miss windows if I lived there, but some of the houses underground do have glass doors and glass panels each side as you enter underground..

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  19. I absolutely love Faye's cottage!!! Beautiful series, Margaret, thanks!

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  20. Such an interesting, intriguing place and one worth visiting. Great photos.

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  21. I once stayed in an underground 'cottage' in Coober Pedy - it was hard to get used to the lack of windows!! Interestingly, when we went to Andamooka, another SA opal mining town, the houses could only be partly underground as the soil was too dry and rubbly to support the ceiling - maybe that's why Coober Pedy is unique!

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    1. I suppose after living underground for a while one would get used to no Windows..
      Oh really, that's interesting regarding Andamooka.

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  22. Coober-Pedy sure seems to have mad quite an impression upon you, and I can see why.

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