In 1990 a friend and I spent a few months driving across Australia and stopped in Coober Pedy on our way from Alice Springs to Adelaide. We had intended to just stop for the night but ended up staying a few days because it was such an unusual place. Highly recommend stopping if you're in the area. The opal fever is a real thing. Most of the residents that we talked to had made one big score and were hoping for that next one. My favorite anecdote from there: we went to the town's drive in theater one night and there was a sign at the entrance stating "no explosives allowed".
I went there, this year, in 2016! Same story, driving from Uluru to Adelaide we stopped here, but we found it to be much different than you.
We tried fossicking for opals, and had no luck, but to be fair we were just in a yard in the town, so I think it's been picked bone dry by now in 2016. We did go to a proper site once, but that was farther north in the outback and it was a fossilized sea bed. There we found shark teeth and a squid-like creature, as well as fish scales.
The town is a mix of tourists (mostly grey nomads and backpackers), opals, and crime. We met a lot of great people there from all over the world as well: France, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, if I remember correctly.
There's also a dark side to the town. Residents warn you of the danger and crime at night. At night the audible shouting from a distance of drunk Aboriginals, and a regular police presence of squad cars and sirens fills the atmosphere.
The town was certainly something to see: the underground architecture, including underground churches and hospital are inspiring. Outside, the sun burns hot and the flies stick to you like you're coated in shit and sugar. Seriously, the flies are horrendous in the Australian outback.
The man at the I-site was Aussie through and through. 6'5,'' arms as long as a fishing rod and shoulder's as broad and built as B52, he wrote us directions with a friendly demeanor. On them he spelled 'right' as 'rite.' No worries - in Australia no one has got a strict attitude to worry about things like that.
It was all good mate. We did get bothered by some gnarly Aboriginals. They approached us with no restraint, walking bag-of-good-in-hand, and grabbed at the food I had. I gladly gave it to them as an appeasement: a few ounces of beef jerky was a small price to pay to make the case that that was the last food I had and be on my way.
Heh, I too spent some time there, and it's definitely a dangerous place to go walking around at night with all the uncovered disused mineshafts - there's signs which warn against walking backwards for this reason! The golf course there is also twinned with St Andrews! There's no grass but they are very dedicated. Linky: http://www.cooberpedygolfclub.com.au
