Merv's dugout

A guided tour of an underground home in Coober Pedy

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Coober
• Pedy
• dugout
• Merv

[MinMinLight666]

Cheers mate,Have you been in Coober pedy a long time ? do you mine...Daz..

[cwazyshady]

Been in Coober 15 years now, mined for a few years but not any longer. Too hit and miss for me, rich one day - broke for 6 months!

cheers

Merv

[MinMinLight666]

Hey Merve Good post thanks, Just a few questions,How do you go about making your dugout,do you need council permission ect or do you just buy the land and start work ?...D

[cwazyshady]

Unfortunately nowadays you need council building permission for a dugout, it wasn't always so! but you can still get away with doing the odd extention (especially if you find opal :-) )

[podcastsinenglish]

Hi Merv

This is great! I'm writing an article about Coober Pedy, can you asnwer these questions for me:

Is the layout of the home inside same as a 'normal' house?

Is your kitchen inside and if so how does that work re ventilation? I think it has an outside wall by the look of it.

I assume there are no windows anywhere so do you always have the light on?

I also assume the houses have bathrooms with showers and / or baths - is that right?

hope to hear from you!

Jackie

[cwazyshady]

Yes the layout inside a dugout is the same as any other house basically except it is underground.

The kitchen is inside and every room inside a dugout has a ventilation shaft, normally the kitchen is the first room inside the front door also adding to ventilation.

Most dugouts have no windows so the lights are always on.

Bathrooms are always at the front of the dugout and are above ground as there is no sewerage in Coober Pedy, we have a shaft at the front and the sewerage goes down there.

[eiddy72]

Very cool and I like your decorations inside too. I thought it would be like climbing into a narrow shaft down into cave like dwellings then connected through a series of tunnels. It is interesting to see what it would be like to live there. Thanks for posting this.

[podcastsinenglish]

Hi Merv

I like this video! I'm writing an article on Coober Pedy, can you answer these questions?

Is the layout of the home inside the same as a 'normal' house?

Is there an inside kitchen (or does yours have an outside wall) and if so how does that work re ventilation?

Do you always have the light on inside?

I also assume the houses have bathrooms with showers and / or baths - is that right?

Hope to hear from you!

Thanks, Jackie