A MUM has revealed what life is like living in a $277k underground home to escape Australia’s brutal 55C heat.
Sabrina Troisi, 38, is from Stuttgart, Germany – but now lives in Coober Pedy – a remote South Australian town with a twist.
With temperatures soaring to a sweltering 55 degrees in the shade, residents have been forced to think outside the box.
To escape the dangerous heat, Sabrina lives in a “dugout” with her husband, Nick, son, Thomas, 14, and daughter, Leah, 13.
“Dugout” is the local term for homes carved out of the hillside.
The family invested £132,000 in their distinctive subterranean home, featuring two living areas, two bathrooms, a pool table, as well as indoor and outdoor spas, all situated beneath layers of rock.
Sabrina, who works as an office manager at a mine, said: “Walking into our house is just walking into a hill, basically.”
The living space at the house is about four metres underground, while Sabrina’s workplace – further into the hillside – sits around six metres down.
Coober Pedy, with a population of around 1,600, is known for its unique underground lifestyle.
Approximately 60 per cent of the locals reside in dugouts, a feasible living arrangement thanks to the malleable gypsum-rich sandstone, which retains its form without the need for additional 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 by its “charming environment” and unusual dwellings.
Sabrina 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 percent the place for us.”
At $277,000 AUD, their dugout was much cheaper than the average Adelaide property – which sits at $796,000.
The mum-of-two said: “It’s much cheaper to live underground than above ground.
“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,” she said.
Sabrina’s favourite part of underground life is the peace and quiet.
She remarked, “There are no outside disturbances. Once you close the door, all the noise fades away. It’s entirely dark and silent, making it ideal for sleeping. I thoroughly enjoy 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 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 not everything is better below deck.
Sabrina revealed that the biggest downside is the dust – and housekeeping that comes with it.
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 their fill of 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 in, 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 with long drives.
Sabrina said: “It’s very relaxed. Everything’s five minutes away. No traffic lights, not many cars.”
When her dog got sick and needed to visit a vet 650km away, a neighbour offered to do take it in their car after seeing Sabrina’s call for help 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.
“You have to have the right material like we do to build structures.
“I don’t think it’s the future unless they really find a way of doing it.”
