Digging The Outback

Sun Herald

Saturday May 18, 1996

By DON TOWNSHEND

WAKE up hungry in the middle of the night in the Desert Cave Underground Hotel at Coober Pedy and you could easily be tempted to lick the sumptuous, honey-coloured walls and ceilings.

These glistening natural sandstone surrounds - as rich as a Darrell Lea window - are typical of the bedrock within which 60 per cent of this town of 4,000 inhabitants dwells.

Although the opal discovered during the hotel's construction has been carefully plucked out, you won't find natural decor more opulent anywhere in the world.

The Desert Cave - now a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World - opened in 1987 and is billed as the world's only international underground hotel.

As is customary in this town where living in underground dugouts is more prized than conventional homes, construction entailed shearing off the side of a hill and then tunnelling to create the underground rooms, underground bar, cafe, gaming room, shopping gallery and auditorium. The hotel has 19 underground rooms and 31 above ground.

Desert Cave owner Robert Coro has actively promoted Coober Pedy's unique lifestyle, colourful opal lore and underground homes, churches and restaurants to the international market.Situated 840km north of Adelaide and 750km south of Uluru, Coober Pedy has always enjoyed the reputation as a rags to riches mining town.

Some visitors to the mining town who strike it lucky take the next plane out. Others just keep on digging. A few put their opal earnings to other use, which is how the Desert Cave rose to become Coober Pedy's most conspicuous success.

It started in the 1960s when Italian brothers Bepi and Attillio Coro arrived in Coober Pedy to make their fortune. After working the opal fields they astutely invested their earnings in the general store and a trucking business. Soon another brother, Bob, joined them.

By the late 1970s the Coro family ranked as the town's most successful business people.

But Bob died before the hotel's opening. Robert, his son, picked up the reins.

Desert Cave guests can take a half-day Coober Pedy orientation tour which encompasses underground churches, opal mines, a resident's underground home (dugout), the grassless golf course, a drive along part of the 5,600km dingo fence, and a visit to the Breakaways Reserve.

For those who want to try their luck noodling (opal panning) on abandoned mullock heaps in the opal fields, the Desert Cave can arrange fossicking outings.

Recently a young Dutchman unearthed a large opal. After selling it to a local opal buyer for a large sum, the lucky traveller was last sighted flying south to the Adelaide Casino - something the Coro family would never have contemplated.

FAST FATCS

Kendell Airlines has daily flights to Coober Pedy from Adelaide. Return fares cost $288. From Sydney, Kendell passengers fly Ansett to Adelaide to connect with the Coober Pedy flight. Sydney-Coober Pedy return is $597. Kendell operates packages to Coober Pedy and Ayers Rock with an option to return to Adelaide via The Ghan railway. Contact Kendell Airlines on 1800 338 894.

Accommodation: The Desert Cave costs $136 twin share. For quality dining, Umberto's Restaurant on the roof of the hotel is the finest in town. For details call 08 672 5688 or fax 08 672 5198.

© 1996 Sun Herald

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