Dan Measey hosts Adelaide Fringe show in Coober Pedy where patrons get to dig for opal

The Adelaide Fringe has spread its wings to an Outback town where patrons can go mining for gems under the stars with a TV personality.

Dan Measey loves opals. He’s addicted to their mesmerising colour and the thrill of finding them in the harsh Outback desert near Coober Pedy.

He’s the son of an opal miner from the Outback town, has mined opals all his life and wants more people to experience the excitement of unearthing and digging up the shimmering, exquisite gems.

But he knows not everyone wants to move to his hometown, about 850km north of Adelaide, and peg out a claim, so he is opening up his mine, and his rock picks, to visitors.

Mr Measey, 47, launched his night-time Unearthed Australian Opal Experience last year, and in March it will be one of four Adelaide Fringe shows in the self-proclaimed opal capital of the world.

The experience involves patrons meeting in Coober Pedy just before sunset, driving out to his claim a few kilometres from town and watching from a safe area protected by a giant bulldozer bucket as he uses a 50-ton excavator to scrape the six-metre-high wall of his open cut mine.

Customers then don a hard hat and use ultraviolet torches to scan the new virgin ground and when they spot opal, use a hand or battery-operated pick to prize free the precious stone.

“It’s pretty cool - they pretty much do everything we do except operate the machine,” Mr Measey said.

Coober Pedy opal miner Dan Measey at his Diggers Gully claim. Picture: Dean Martin

“Most visitors love the UV light and looking for the opal. We also have snakes glow, the lizards glow, scorpions glow, bugs glow... So not only are people looking for glowing opal, they also see glowing wildlife.”

Mr Measey, who appears on the hit Foxtel TV show Outback Opal Hunters with his partner Renee Everest, owns the Diggers Gully claim - so any opal found during the experience legally belongs to him.

“But I tell people that if we get lucky, you’ll get lucky,” he said. “I say to them that if we find a million ($1m worth of opal) tonight, don’t worry, I’ll look after you.

“The majority of times if we find something and it’s just a bit, I end up going home with nothing and we just split it up (between the customers). The other option they have (if they find one large, expensive piece) is to buy it at a discounted price.”

Coober Pedy opal miner Dan Measey at his Diggers Gully claim. Picture: Dean Martin

Mr Measey is one of few Coober Pedy miners who does most of his mining at night.

The Unearthed Australian Opal Experience is on offer every night from March 1-23 during this year’s Adelaide Fringe Festival. Other Fringe events in the Outback town are dance and violin candlelight concert Thunderstruck: A Night of Classic Rock and indigenous dancers Dusty Feet Mob, both at Coober Pedy Outback Bar & Grill on March 23, and musical cabaret A Migrant’s Son Desert Tour at the Coober Pedy Greek Community Club on April 4.