Everyone who visits for the first time will be surprised to find that there are not many houses on the endless gravel except parking lots and gas stations, which is nothing like a inhabited town.
In fact, there are not only more than 3,000 people living here, but also everything from hotels to bars, from churches to nightclubs. We can't see them because they are mostly built in underground mines.
These caves have witnessed the centuries-old history of human exploitation of opal, and also contain the world's largest reserve of gem-grade opal (Opal), so Cooper Pedy is also known as the "opal capital of the world".
Kubaipetti is the only underground city in Australia, located in the hinterland of Victoria Desert, with extremely hot and dry climate. It used to be a barren land, and birds didn't want to fall.
But 100 years ago, someone discovered opal mine here, which changed the fate of this desert.
19 15, the explorer Will hutcheson and three companions crossed the arid inland areas of south Australia in search of gold, but found nothing along the way.
It was not until they came to the sandstone belt about 850 kilometers north of Adelaide that they made an amazing discovery in this desolate desert.
There are some cracks in the rock, which give off rainbow-like light. After hitting the outer layer of the rock, some opals are exposed.
Under the diffraction of light, these opals form a flame-like phenomenon, which is called swimming color, which is an important feature of gem-grade opals and its important charm.
Because it concentrates all the colors and color-changing luster in the natural spectrum, it is praised as the "palette" of gems by the jewelry industry. It is said that no two gemstone opals in the world have the same color.
Gemstone opal is generally called opal. Because of its gorgeous colors, it has always been regarded as a treasure by human beings and has different names and meanings all over the world.
In ancient China, it was called Julie, Colored Stone and Stone Water. Now, Shanghainese call it Yuehuashi, and Cantonese call it Shanshanyun.
The ancient Romans called it "Cupid Stone", symbolizing pure love. Greeks believe it can predict the future, Arabs think it can perceive heaven. ...
Opal is also deeply loved by western nobles. This can be seen from the "burning Troy" given by Napoleon to Queen Josephine, the jewels given by Queen Victoria to her five daughters, and the exclusive "Queen Opal" given by Queen Elizabeth.
Opal is not only precious but also extremely rare. Before the discovery of minerals in Australia, the main opal producing area in the world was only Slovakia, and most of them were ordinary opals, with extremely low opal content.
On the other hand, the opal deposit found in hutcheson, South Australia is the best opal, and its scale is amazing, far exceeding the reserves of Slovak ore mountains.
The news spread like wildfire, and countless Taobao people heard the news and prepared to make a fortune here, because it was easy for them to dig a hole and treasure.
But after arriving, I found that opal is not like a treasure, and it can't be dug up in three to five days. It takes a protracted war to dig it out of the ground bit by bit.
So many people plan to settle here, but the temperature here is as high as 50 during the day and will drop to freezing point at night, which is prohibitive.
How to adapt to this extreme weather is the primary problem to be solved before large-scale operation of mining industry.
Fortunately, there are soldiers returning from World War I among Taobao people. They live in a bomb shelter, so they try to live in a mine to avoid the hot weather.
This is a good idea, because the area is dry and rainy, the soil is solid, the mine will not be flooded, it will not collapse easily, and you will not get arthritis if you live in it.
Most importantly, no matter how the surface temperature changes, the mine always stays within the comfortable temperature range of 20℃.
Although living in the mine in the early days had many shortcomings such as poor ventilation and dust, in that era when there was no air conditioning, such conditions were not bad.
In this way, this unique underground city was born. After 100, with the continuous growth of population, there were more and more underground houses, and the conditions became more and more perfect.
Their private houses are generally located underground 10~22 meters, with living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, and some luxury houses are even close to 500 square meters.
In order to solve the problem that sandstone is easy to fall off, the walls of houses are usually painted very thick to prevent gravel from falling off the walls, and sometimes plastic films are covered on furniture.
The room has a constant temperature of 22 degrees all the year round, just like the central air conditioner is never turned off. I feel very comfortable and don't have to pay a penny for electricity.
In order to keep the air fresh, through a large number of ground ventilation shafts, clean air is introduced to form a convection cycle inside, so that you will not feel bored, but will feel smooth breathing.
The town's drinking water system is connected to the great artesian basin, Australia's largest fresh water source, while electricity is self-sufficient through solar panels and wind turbines.
Nowadays, the proportion of renewable energy used in small towns is as high as 70%, which unexpectedly set a world record of 100% renewable energy uninterrupted power supply of 8 1 hour.
Because the house is surrounded by solid rocks and the walls are at least 3 meters thick, the sound insulation effect is very good. The room is extremely quiet and there is no annoying noise at all. ...
This is undoubtedly attractive to friends who like quiet. When you have the opportunity, you must experience the quiet feeling of "isolation".
Of course, there are disadvantages to being so quiet. For example, snoring at night will have an earth-shattering echo. For example, some tourists come here for vacation and dare not turn off the TV at night because it is too quiet and scary.
The living facilities on Cooper's land are also well built.
During the day, people can spend money in underground bars, restaurants, swimming pools, churches and shops. In the evening, they can play light golf on the ground or go to the desert drive-in cinema to watch movies.
Because sci-fi blockbusters such as "Star Legend" and "Crazy Max" were shot here, the large props used in the movies were preserved as a unique installation art in the town center.
Although Cooper Roland has a good living condition, people come here for treasure hunting in the final analysis, so it is necessary to examine the value of settling here from the perspective of investment.
First, the cost of buying a house is relatively cheap. You only need to pay about RMB 6.5438+0.5 million, and rent an excavator for a few days to get a three-bedroom underground house. If you buy a "second-hand house", the price will be cheaper.
If you don't think the place you live in is big enough, or there are new people at home, you can also expand the house yourself and dig as big as you want.
The local people told two things. They knew how easy it was to expand the house.
Every child has encountered this situation: one day when he finished his homework at home, his father handed me a shovel and said to me, "Let's dig a new bedroom."
Second, when a wife gives birth to a baby, a man will work hard for a few days with a jackhammer to dig a separate bedroom for the newborn baby.
It is conceivable that although the underground city is as calm as water on the ground, it is actually busy below. Everyone digs at home, not only to expand the living area, but also to find opal. ...
Seeing this, many people will think that this is a movie and does not need a formal mine. Why do you have to dig for treasures at home? This is because there is a strange local rule.
"If you find opal in the mining area, you need to pay taxes according to your income. If you find opal while digging a room, it is an unexpected income and tax-free. "
After 100 years of mining, the local mineral resources are getting less and less, and the mining cost is rising day by day. People are more willing to use this policy to mine at home.
So in the small town of Kubiti, it is often heard that someone dug up the opal at home.
For example, a man dug a bedroom for his mother-in-law and found an opal, which is more valuable than his own home. From now on, he often asks his wife, "Are you sure we don't want a new room?"
For another example, a family dug a new room before sending their son to college, and the population was obviously decreasing. Why did they dig a new room? Because they are going to dig opal to raise their son's tuition.
There are countless examples of this. For example, a local hotel owner found an opal with a total value of 6.8 million yuan when expanding his room. He said that the expansion project is very meaningful.
What is the concept of opal worth 6.8 million? You can look at this kind of opal mined from the "eight miles" mine in Cooper Petty. The weight is 3.4 kg (17000 carats), and the value is11.4000 yuan, equivalent to RMB 670 yuan/carat.
Although the total price of this kind of opal is high because of its heavy weight, the unit price is actually not high. Many more valuable varieties have been excavated locally.
Opal can be divided into five categories according to different body colors: black, white, iron, fire and crystal opal. The following are different types of opals collected by new york Museum of Natural History.
Among them, black opal is the most precious, with the least reserves and the highest value among all types. Black opal is more favored by orientals than other types.
Because the dark background of black platinum (black or dark) can better set off the bright swimming color, the overall dark body color has a sense of tranquility, which makes people feel relaxed easily.
Now opal minerals are decreasing day by day, and the price is rising gradually. The price of black opal is higher For example, this black opal "Australian Aurora" sells for more than 36,000 yuan per carat.
Cooper's mineral resources will be completely exhausted one day, but the story of mankind opening up a new world in the desert with wisdom and diligence will be passed down forever.