Lookout Cave Coober Pedy review | SA’s Great Travel Planner

A dugout room is one must-do experience when visiting Coober Pedy, a unique mining town where underground accommodations mimic the old miners’ homes, built to escape the heat.

I do go down to our cellar, when necessary, but don’t love it. The minor claustrophobia plays a role when booking in to Coober Pedy, our last stopover on a long-haul mother-son-bonding drive from Darwin to Adelaide.

A dugout room, underground, is one must-do experience in this unique mining town where accommodations mimic the old miners’ homes, built to escape the heat. But this won’t be a matter of just popping down for a bottle of wine, or to fetch the Christmas decorations.

So, the Lookout Cave, set into the side of a craggy red hill is middle ground. Our room is still dug out of a mountain of rock. You can walk right out, rather than up, to the hotel’s street level, and a panoramic view of the sprawling township.

Naturally cooled by earthy insulation above, the rough red-rock-walled room is snug with all the mod cons including flat-screen TV and a compact bathroom. For such a tourism drawcard it is surprisingly competitive value at $140-$160 a night.

As a base for this fleeting Outback experience, it stacks up well with previous nights en route from Darwin, at Daly Waters and Alice Springs.

The trek through the Centre seems daunting at first, but good roads traversing desert territory constantly deliver changing, handsome rather than pretty landscapes, from scrub and cooked earth to typical Aussie bushland.

We’ve allowed four no-stress days to avoid driving at dusk and dawn, when there’s most risk of bounding roos. It also gives us good stopover choices. From Alice, we cross into SA, suddenly feeling like the drive is at snail’s pace, as we adjust from the NT’s 130km/h speed limit to 110km/h. After a scant seven hours, and thanks to daylight saving in SA, there’s time for a good look around Coober Pedy, the first sizeable town this side of the SA/NT border.

Overdue lunch is at long-time local food institution John’s Pizza. The place changed hands about two years ago, but continues its coat-of-arms pizza tradition. There’s no emu meat tonight, so the super thin pizza base is piled with extra roo, cranberry and camembert.

The bedroom in Lookout Cave at Coober Pedy.

Rest assured, unless you’re mining-history keen and make this a destination in itself, an overnight stopover can be enough. We work in a walk through the underground Old Timers Mine & Museum, hand dug in 1916. Our sightseeing includes an underground church, and we resist some opal shopping. On a longer stay, you might don a hard hat for “noodling” for opals, or venture through Umoona Opal Mine & Museum, which includes an Aboriginal interpretative centre and gallery.

Dinner this visit is at the Outback Bar & Grill, a light bright steakhouse that has an obvious Greek influence so we share a yiros plate liberally laden with chicken, lamb, salad and pita. The house shiraz is a very generous pour for a bargain $6, and we take a cream Ekmek Kataifi pastry to have with coffee in our cosy dug-out room.

Heading out, on the last leg to Adelaide, a good tip steers us to the cheapest petrol at OME Fuel, a dusty quirky old yard with ancient pumps and tin shed shop where you can buy everything from new or grimy tools to explosives. It’s a fun find.

Brunch is 250km south at the Glendambo Caltex. The atmosphere is nil, but you’ll find a good chunky beef and cheese pie, plus a decent cuppa for the 600km drive home.

Reviews are unannounced and paid for by SAWeekend.

This review was first published in April 2019 and details updated in March 2021.

• 1141 McKenzie Close, Coober Pedy
• [phone]
• thelookoutcave.com
• LOCATION 845km northwest of Adelaide.
• ACCOMMODATION Motel rooms and apartments dug out of a hill overlooking Coober Pedy. Rooms are up to 50m at ground level and about 25m underground.
• FACILITIES Motel rooms fully renovated and include an ensuite with walk-in shower, 32” or 43” smart TV, bar fridge, kettle and toaster, breakfast-making provisions, tea and coffee, ceiling fans, USB points, desk, chair, free Wi-Fi. The twin room has a queen and single bed. Family rooms are available with table and chairs. Apartments are airconditioned, and have full kitchen facilities. Free secure parking (still best to remove valuables).
• PRICE From $160-$185, up to $270 for the 65sq m “Queen” apartment.