And I don't mean the cars.
White Cliffs is an opal-mining town an hour's north of Wilcannia. It is home to a permanent population of around 200, which can double in size over the winter months as other prospectors move in.
Most people live underground, in dugouts, where the surrounding earth keeps the temperature at a year round constant of about 22 degrees celcius. The average outside temperature in summer is 35, but has peaked at a very toasty 51.5 degrees, so the dugouts are a welcome respite from the heat.
People living and working underground makes for a pretty unique landscape, and I was keen to go there and check it out myself.
Besides, telling kids they are going to sleep in an underground motel is such fun!
Love the colours.
Majestic falcons, not bluebirds, over the White Cliffs…
We visited the bottle house…
and Turley's Hill, where a few of the opal showrooms and galleries are.
We took a tour of Brett and Jenny Brown's Cathedral Gallery and home. Their showroom adjoins their living areas, and their mine.
Brett was renovating. He wanted to add another room to his home, and he was mining for opals as he excavated.
Anything he found, he made into jewelery and sold in his shop.
How neat is that!
While it does feel a little odd poking around someone else's home, I recommend doing one of the dugout tours available because it's very interesting.
We were going to stay two nights in White Cliffs, but decided to head to (relatively) nearby Broken Hill for the second night, so we could check out that area as well.
In hindsight, this was a great decision.
Staying underground was lots of fun, and our interconnecting rooms were clean and comfortable (though fluorescent lit – a scourge on modern day motel rooms, and something which I always find offputting).
The red tones of the wall behind the bed are the natural rock. It has been left unpainted on walls throughout the motel to show off the real colours, and I think it makes a lovely feature.
The children enjoyed exploring the virtual rabbit warren of hallways, and are even encouraged to do so. It certainly is a unique experience.
However…
Meals are served up en masse, school camp style. Queue up when it's your turn to eat, and one choice is dished out to you. This is not the restaurant it's advertised as, it is a servery. There appears to be no restaurant in White Cliffs.
Entree was tomato soup with a slice of bread, main was chicken curry (no, not Indian style, school camp style) with rice and salad. Dessert was apple crumble with ice-cream.
Although the staff were all very friendly – I didn't meet one Australian working there, which a bit of a shame given the amount of overseas tourists the town attracts.
There are no ensuites, and the communal bathrooms are at the end of the hallway. There is a pervading smell of 'septic' in the air.
I don't have a problem with any of this,
that is, until I got the bill –
$454 for 1 night!!
We didn't even have a view! - I'm kidding. But, like I said, I'm glad we didn't stay 2 nights!
White Cliffs Underground Motel is now the only accommodation available in the area, and I get the feeling that competition in the market would improve value for money.
It is a very interesting area, and a unique experience, but there is not a lot to do aside from fossicking, and watching the frog racing at the pub (really sad we had to miss that, but it was late and we were exhausted from driving all day).
At that price, I would certainly advise only staying one night, but if you are not busting to sleep underground, White Cliffs is a worthwhile day trip from Broken Hill.
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