This Whole Australian Town Is Living Underground To Escape The Heat!
#1
Welcome to Coober Pedy, an opal mining town in South Australia. It's not the most hospitable environment to live in. Temperatures often exceed 104ËšF, and it gets chilly in the winter. The locals have an interesting solution to that problem
#2
They live underground!
#3
The original opal miners came up with this idea. They started using the old mines or digging out new structures for their homes.
#4
The underground homes naturally remain at a comfortable temperature, which hugely reduces the town's carbon footprint.
#5
They require no air conditioning or heating systems, and air is circulated through vents that connect to the surface.
#6
Old homes were usually dug out by hand, so they remained small. These days homes are dug with machines so they can be more elaborate.
#7
Most of the homes are dug into the small hills in the area, so they have normal doors that open into the outside world.
#8
The sandstone walls are covered in a clear coating to stop them from becoming dusty.
#9
The earliest opal miners used to wake up and start digging for opals in the walls of their bedrooms. It was the most efficient way to work!
#10
Plus, even if you didn't find any opals, your room got bigger and bigger with every day's work.
#11
Theses days, you can find everything underground from hostels and churches
#12
to bars and hotels!
#13
It really is a party under there.
#14
In fact, now almost all of Coober Pedy's 1,916 residents live underground.
#15
It's a crazy life!
#16
But hey, at least they aren't too hot.
#17
What do you think? Time to visit this crazy underground town?
