Things to Do - Tours

Tours

A Taste of Opal
Coober Pedy Outback Colour Tour
Desert Cave Tour
Down N' Dirty
Fossicking / Noodling
Interpretive Display
Outback Mail Run
Outback Matrix
Painted Desert Tour

A Taste of Opal

The best of Coober Pedy. Enjoy 2 nights accommodation at the Desert Cave Hotel (incl. full breakfast). On your first day take the Desert Cave Tour. On your second day have a hearty breakfast and try your luck fossicking for your own gem at the old Jewellers Shop mining area. Included are transfers to and from the airport and bus depot.

Package includes return transfers to the airport/bus terminal.

Time : 3 days/2 nights

Coober Pedy Outback Colour Tour

This is the ideal package to get a real glimpse of life in the Australian Outback. See the Opal Capital of the World and travel the great Outback with the mailman who will share with you his knowledge and his local contacts as he travels the famous Oodnadatta Track and crosses the Moon Plain to deliver mail to vast Outback cattle stations.

Visit a former opal mine, an underground home, an underground church and see the 'lunar' landscapes of the Moon Plain and the Breakaways - the location for scenes from movies such as 'Red Planet', 'The adventures of Priscilla 'Queen of the Desert', 'Mad Max III' and 'Kangaroo Jack'. The mail run day tour travels over a triangle between Coober Pedy, Oodnadatta and William Creek, visiting points of interest and delivering mailbags to cattle stations along the way. The route covers 600 kilometres of colourful terrain, passing historic ruins, monuments and part of the old Overland Telegraph Line.

Departs : Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday
Time/Duration : 3 nights/4 days

For more information see our RATES page

Desert Cave Tour

The rainbow flash of opal, underground homes, easy-going lifestyle and the mystery of the dusty lunar landscape make Coober Pedy a unique and special place.

An "underground" town where you could arrive with just the shirt on your back and leave a millionaire? Coober Pedy holds a fascination for visitors from all over the world.

Tour the town, hear about its history, about our precious water supplies and power generation. Every element of life is hard-won in Coober Pedy.

On the Desert Cave Tour you visit

• A Working Opal Field to see Opal mining methods. Venture down a former working mine to see opal traces embedded in the sandstone
• The Breakaways, a range of colourful exposed sandstone outcrops - spectacular views over the Moon Plain - once an inland sea. This dramatically beautiful area has been the set for many internationally known movies
• The famous Dog Fence (dingo fence) - stretching 5,300km across Australia
• The Serbian Underground Church - spectacular excavation, traditional Serbian Orthodox architecture and fascinating sand stone carvings
• A genuine underground home or "Dugout" - see how the locals live
• Opal cutting demonstration - professional advice on opal quality and price.
• Complimentary opal stickpin as a lasting memento
• Complimentry drink in the Level Bar

Departs : Daily, from the Desert Cave Hotel
Time/Duration : 4 hours approx

Bookings

Down N' Dirty

For those who want to experience the thrill of digging for a fortune, this tour offers a comprehensive hands-on opportunity.

The 4-hour tour includes:

• Informative, instructional and entertaining video on opal mining to open up the mysterious world of discovering the stone of fire "The Coober Pedy Opal"
• A visit to a working mine field to understand the various styles of opal mining, and to relive the hardship and joy of earlier times of Opal mining
• Entry to the Quest Mine where you will be supplied with a hard hat, torch and handpick. Get down and get dirty fossicking for your own fortune
• Access to the "Jewellers Shop" mullock heaps for an experience in noodling (fossicking)
• Experience the safe, fun, informative way to mine your own opal

The Quest mine offers ease of access with ramps into the mine

Departs: on application
Duration: 4 Hours

Bookings

Fossicking / Noodling

Fossick for your own gem! Transportation to and from the opal fields is provided on request.

FREE OF CHARGE

Departs : on request, available 7 days. Daylight hours only.
Time/Duration : suggested 2-4 hours

Interpretive Display

The Desert Cave Hotel has a colourful and informative underground display centre open from 8am to 8pm. Entry is FREE to this interesting display. Wander sandstone passages to learn about Coober Pedy, past and present. Information includes historical Coober Pedy, formation and mining of opal and visual displays of the unique outback landscape.

FREE OF CHARGE

Time/Duration : Daily 8am to 8pm

Outback Mail Run

A real Australian Outback adventure - Coober Pedy-Oodnadatta-William Creek.

The Mail Run travels over diverse country, including gibber plains, red sand hills, and 120 million year old inland sea beds. We stop at Oodnadatta, an outpost which thrived when the transcontinental railway reached there in 1891. At William Creek have a drink at the legendary bush pub or at the Dingo Cafe' with its memorabilia and old photos of the area. This once important railway town is also known for having Australia's first solar powered telephone. We follow in the footsteps of explorer John McDouall Stuart and see outback fauna and flora.

The mailmen are fully accredited and experienced Outback operators, who have lived and worked in this desert environment for most of their lives. They are well known to the locals and conduct the run twice weekly. They have that typical friendly easy going nature of Outback people and always have time for a yarn and a good laugh.

Come see historical ruins, desert wildlife, brilliant gibber landscapes, and marvel at the colourful sunset and clear star-studded Outback skies.

Departs : Monday and Thursday
Time/Duration : 13 hours (approx.)

Bookings

Outback Matrix

The best of Coober Pedy and surrounds. Spend 3 nights in Coober Pedy, the Opal Capital of the World. Join the Desert Cave Tour and take the Painted Desert Tour (full day 4WD) - visit vast cattle stations and experience the beauty of Outback landscapes and waterholes. Bushwalk through the spectacular breakaway country of the Painted Desert (Arckaringa Hills). The package also includes the Star Gazing Tour - marvel at the Outback night sky over the Moon Plain and its stellar constellations while you listen to Greek and Roman mythology as well as Aboriginal legends.

Time: 4 days/3 nights

For more information see our RATES page

Painted Desert Tour

A one day 4WD tour to the spectacular breakaway country of the Painted Desert (Arckaringa Hills).The Painted Desert is an area of spectacular colourful hills that Mother Nature has taken 80 million years to create. Sediments originally laid down by the ancient inland sea have eroded away over time. This erosion, combined with the leaching of minerals from the soil, create this magical area whose colours change during the day, making it a photographer's delight

To get there, Desert Diversity Tours leaves the world-famous Opal mining town of Coober Pedy, past the last of the underground homes and through the Dingo Fence (the worlds longest structure). We travel over an area that was once the ancient inland sea bed, but today is commonly known as the Moon Plains.

This area is a very important marine-fossil bed that has become of great interest to palaeontologists since the recent discovery, by the operators of Desert Diversity Tours, of the partial backbone of a 5-6 meter long Ichthyosaur (ancient marine reptile) which swam in the ancient sea 120 million years ago.

See some of the vast cattle stations of the Outback, bush walk through the Painted Desert, experience the beauty of Outback landscapes and waterholes. Learn about the Great Artesian Basin, the early explorers and the pastoral industry. Morning/afternoon tea & lunch are supplied.

Departs: on application
Time : 9 hours

Bookings