There’s something starkly beautiful about the Australian outback. The pindan soil, silvery gums, horizon-busting skies, vast swathes of sun-baked nothingness. This is your backdrop as you cross from the Northern Territory into South Australia, ready to get deep at your destination. Coober Pedy, known as ‘the opal capital of the world’, is all lunar landscapes at the surface, and psychedelic colours underground. Locals not only mine rainbow hued opals in a vast network of subterranean tunnels, but also live here, go to church here and send their kids to school here. You’ll get to stay at a hotel built into a rocky hillside right in the heart of this quirky town.