Coober Pedy with Pets

Plenty of travellers roll into Coober Pedy with a dog in tow, and the town is reasonably easy to enjoy together — but the desert adds a few hazards worth planning around. Here’s the local rundown.

Pet-friendly places to stay

Underground rooms are generally not pet-friendly (they’re carved into rock and tightly managed), so dogs are happiest at the caravan parks and camps:

• BIG4 Stuart Range Outback Resort — dogs are welcome on powered and unpowered sites (not inside the cabins/apartments), and there’s an on-site dog wash. Keep them leashed and away from the pool, kitchen and food areas.
• Riba’s Underground Camping & Caravan Park — pet-friendly on the above-ground sites.
• Free camps — both the Old Timers Mine RV camp and the Kempe Road paddock allow dogs.

Policies and fees change, so call ahead and confirm before you book, and always mention you’re travelling with a pet.

Where to walk them

The Coober Pedy Oval (on Hutchison Street) is the go-to spot — it’s where lots of locals walk their dogs, and it’s the home of the Coober Pedy Oval parkrun. parkrun is dog-friendly: you can bring one dog per person on a short, fixed (non-extendable) lead, held at all times, so a Saturday-morning parkrun is a popular outing for visiting dogs and a friendly way to meet locals.

For everyday walks, stick to the town streets and the Oval early morning or evening when it’s cooler. Avoid wandering out onto the opal fields with a dog — they’re riddled with open, unfenced mine shafts.

Keeping your dog safe in the desert

• Heat is the big one. It gets extremely hot (especially Nov–Mar). Never leave a dog in a parked vehicle, walk on the cooler ends of the day, and carry water for them everywhere.
• Hot ground burns paws. Bare rock, gibber and bitumen can be scorching by mid-morning — if it’s too hot for the back of your hand, it’s too hot for their pads.
• Mine shafts. Keep dogs leashed away from the fields and lookouts — hundreds of thousands of unfenced shafts surround the town.
• Baiting & wildlife. Stray/feral-animal control and 1080 fox/dingo baiting happen across outback South Australia, and snakes are about in the warmer months. Keep dogs on-lead on tracks and out of scrub, and don’t let them scavenge.
• Shade & water at camp. Shade is scarce — set up your own, and keep water topped up.

When the heat or an attraction means the dog can’t come, ask your accommodation about shaded, supervised options rather than leaving them in the van. For the wider safety picture, see Outback Safety.