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Town in South Australia
Photo: James St. John, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Coober Pedy, (pronounced Coober Peedy), is a small town in South Australia, 846 km north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway with a population of 3,500.
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The current owners will give you a tour of their interesting underground home, which was carved out by several intrepid women decades ago.
Interesting self-guided tour of mine and homes.
The pick of the working mines.
Good lookout in the middle of town. Belgian waffles & coffee available.
A classic "everything" eat-in and takeaway restaurant, with pizza, pasta, burgers, and many other foods done fairly well at reasonable prices for the outback. This is one of the most popular places in town. As a result, the wait times can get long at times. As an example, one weeknight the wait time was estimated to be an hour long.
This service station licensed restaurant seems remarkably popular for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The staff at this location are quite good as well.
Made of rammed earth. The motel is small (28 rooms in total). Fast, reliable broadband internet available in most rooms. Dining area and bar.
Radeka Downunder, Coober Pedy
Underground hostel. Internet available. Courtesy pickup from bus or airport. Tour of underground mines can be purchased here and if you stay two nights in private a free stargazing is included if the weather permits it.
Reasonably-priced underground motel, with the bonus of a lookout on the hill above.
By bus
Greyhound Australia operates 365 days a year service to and from Coober Pedy. Adelaide to Coober Pedy - departs 7:45PM arrives 6:15AM. Alice Springs to Coober Pedy - departs 10:30AM arrives 6:30PM.
By car
The Painted Desert Road (Kempe Rd) is a formed sand road linking Coober Pedy to Oodnadatta. Although only a day's drive (194km), take the precautions for remote area driving, and takes about 3 hours.
By train
Coober Pedy can be accessed by rail via the Ghan route from Adelaide to Alice Springs.
Coober Pedy is small, with most shops on Hutchison St and everything else fairly close by. You can generally walk around town from hotels, as long as you can handle the heat.
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Coober Pedy · Regional · CPD
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