Family lives underground to survive Australian heat

By Emily Smith

A mom has revealed what life is like living in a $277k underground home to escape Australia's brutal 55C (131F) heat.

Sabrina Troisi, 38, is originally from Stuttgart, Germany, but now lives in Coober Pedy - a remote South Australian town where temperatures can hit a sweltering 55C in the shade and residents live underground.

To escape the extreme heat, she, her husband, Nick, son, Thomas, 14, and daughter, Leah, 13, live in what locals call a "dugout" - a home carved into the side of a hill.

The family paid $277,000 (£132,000) for their unique underground property - which has two living rooms, two bathrooms, a pool and an indoor and outdoor spa, all tucked beneath several meters of rock.

"Walking into our house is just walking into a hill, basically," Sabrina said, who works as an office manager at the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum.

At home, they're about four meters underground. Sabrina's workplace, which is further into the hillside, sits around six meters down.

Coober Pedy, with a population of around 1,600, is known for its unique underground lifestyle - around 60 per cent of the town lives in dugouts, thanks to the area's extreme weather and soft gypsum-rich sandstone, which holds its shape without extra structural support.

Originally trained as a childcare educator in Germany, Sabrina came to Australia on a gap year where she met Nick, her tour guide.

The pair fell in love and eventually settled in Coober Pedy in 2013, drawn to its "charming environment" and unusual homes.

She said, "We had friends in Coober Pedy and wanted to move away.

"We used to travel through it a lot, up and down the highway and it's just got a charming environment most of the year.

"Underground is just fascinating so we thought, Coober Pedy was 100 per cent the place for us."

Their underground home cost $277,000 AUD - much cheaper than the average Adelaide property costing $796,000.

"It's much cheaper to live underground than above ground," the mom-of-two said.

"It's cheaper because you don't need to heat or cool the rooms and you just need lights inside.

"It's also much cheaper to rent or purchase dugouts because the roof is already there, you just tunnel into the hill to make a building."

Some homes are machine-dug in two months. Others can take years: "I have seen people digging for 10 years."

Sabrina's favourite part of underground life is the peace and quiet.

She said: "There's no outside noise. When you shut the door, everything disappears. It's completely dark, completely quiet, perfect for sleeping. I love sleeping underground.

"I wake up in the morning without windows, so you don't actually look out the windows and see what the weather is like, like any other person.

"But you assume it's normally nice weather in Coober Pedy, so there's not much rain here. We get maybe five to 10 rain events a year.

"So you can probably leave your umbrella at home.

Sabrina has gotten so used to the quiet, underground way of life that city breaks now exhaust her, she says.

She said: "When I go on holiday, I'm actually exhausted from the busy, busy streets of Adelaide or streets of a bigger town, because I'm so used to the quietness of Coober Pedy."

But the biggest downside of living below ground is the dust and maintenance.

She said: "If you don't seal the walls regularly, it gets quite dusty because you are inside a hill.

"Otherwise, you have got the crumbles from the ceiling dropping into your soup when you are at the dinner table. And that gets quite annoying.

"You do want to varnish the walls, and it does rub off, so you need to do it regularly."

Despite the darkness, the family still gets sunshine and fresh air.

Sabrina said: "It's normally sunshine outside, so if you want your vitamin D intake, it's normally just 10 minutes a day, so it’s not impossible.

"We do go for walks and we have got a garden. However, when you have a garden, you have to pay for water, which is quite expensive in Coober Pedy, so a lot of people actually use the shower and the laundry water."

Sabrina's children, who were toddlers when the family moved underground, barely remember life above ground.

She said: "When we go on holiday and stay in hotels, they notice every little noise, roosters, planes, anything. Underground, you don't hear a thing."

Life in Coober Pedy is remote, the nearest town is over 400 miles away but it's close-knit. Essentials like hairdressers, vets and banks are only accessible through long drives.

"It's very relaxed. Everything's five minutes away. No traffic lights, not many cars," Sabrina said.

When her dog got sick and needed to visit a vet 650km away, a neighbour offered to drive it after she posted on Facebook.

"That's what Coober Pedy is like. It's a very welcoming town. Everyone helps each other," she said.

Despite the challenges, Sabrina wouldn't trade her lifestyle for the chaos of the city.

She added: "If we ever moved, I'd want to live somewhere quiet. Not busy like Adelaide or London."

As for whether underground living could catch on elsewhere, she's not convinced.

"It could be a solution for global warming in other parts of the world," she said.

"But the thing is when you don't have the right material like we do you have to build structures.

"I don't think it's the future unless they really find a way of doing it."