Welcome to White Cliffs: The outback opal mining town so hot locals live underground to escape the blistering heat and face a 300km trek to the supermarket – but they love the peace and quiet – by Belinda Cleary (Daily Mail Australia – April 8, 2018)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Welcome to White Cliffs, the tiny Australian desert town where people live underground to escape the blistering summer sun. The town is a ‘mixed bag’ according to the locals – there’s everyone from war veterans escaping the horrors of Vietnam and Afghanistan to retired policemen and of course, opal miners who dream of getting rich.

Just 100 people live in the tiny town, which is 1000 kilometres north-west of Sydney and 300km from the nearest supermarket. In summer, the temperature soars to almost 50 degrees, and from above the land appears flat, hostile and unlivable.

Some estimate there are about 50,000 disused holes created by hopeful Opal miners, searching for a rock to seal their fortune – this hope left the land looking similar to the surface of the moon from above.

Residents are forced to dig into the earth where it is cooler in order to live more comfortably – and if the local store is out of something, it’s a 300 kilometre drive to the nearest town.

But most in the small community say they wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Paul Wardrop was badly wounded fighting in Afghanistan – when he came back to Australia the man from Albury found an unlikely new home in the desert.

For the rest of this article and many photos: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5576547/Welcome-White-Cliffs-outback-opal-mining-town-100-hot-people-live-underground.html