I enjoy lux living & fab sleep in my cut-price home – in an UNDERGROUND CITY…when you see the weather you'll understand
Sabrina Troisi, 38, is from Stuttgart, Germany - but now lives in Coober Pedy - a remote South Australian town with a twist.
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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 paid £132,000 for their unusual underground property - which has two living rooms, two bathrooms, a pool table, an indoor and an outdoor spa - all tucked beneath several metres 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.
Around 60 per cent of the residents live in dugouts - made easier by the 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 by its "charming environment" and unusual dwellings.
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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.
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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 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.
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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.
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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.
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Tesco's American oak barrel-aged '23 from Bodegas Portia is a gloriously punchy, perfumed, velvety, black-fruited gem. 13 per cent, Waitrose, £10Orange wines are fermented with their skins and pips just like red wines, hence their amber-orange hue. Just to confuse us all further, Jean-Claude Mas's Rosorange is half rosé and half orange, hence its paler colour and less full-on but still fragrant tea leaf and orange peel spice. 13.5 per cent, Majestic, 6 for £10 each (single bottle £13)A giant step up from Errazuriz's entry-level pinot noir, knock it out of the park with this organic, single vineyard Aconcagua Valley '23. Hand harvested and fermented on its own natural yeasts followed by ageing for a year in French oak barrels, it's all elegant, floral, tangy, red plum fruit. 14.5 per cent, Tesco, £10.50, down from £12.50 from Jul 15-Aug 11Good zinfandel like this Lodi gem, grown on rocky soil, pepped up with petite syrah and teroldego, then given a short stint in French and American oak, is absolutely delicious. I loved its vibrant, spicy, rose-petal pizzazz, and so will you. 13 per cent, Co-op, £10.75 down from £11.90 until Jul 15As good as New Zealand sauvignon gets from the sea breezy Awatere Valley. Vavasour overflows with stylish nettle, gooseberry and green pepper ping that makes it the perfect white wine for oysters, or fresh crab and seafood salads. 12.5 per cent, Asda, £11.13All change at Asda as its better bottles are being rebranded as Exceptional, instead of Extra Special. This unoaked, buttery, nutty white burgundy hits the spot with its complex, creamy fruit matured for three months on its lees, hence the extra richness. 12 per cent, £11.50 South Australia's Clare Valley is one of the world's great classic riesling sites and this elegant, mineral, bone-dry 2024 is the bee's knees. Overflowing with racy white flowers, lime zest and green apple crunch, a glass of this green-flecked riesling will put a smile on your face. 13 per cent, Majestic, 6 for £11.50 each (single bottle £12.50)Georgia's Kakheti region produces some of the country's finest saperavi grape reds and this is one. Combining ancient and modern winemaking, fermenting in clay qvevri and ageing on oak chips makes for a strikingly unusual, bold, bosky, spiced forest fruit mouthful. 13.5 per cent, £11.50Château de Pitray's class act, keenly priced, oaky, merlot-led clarets have popped up here before and this fuller-bodied, new oak barrel-aged '21 is a surprisingly tasty edition from a tricky vintage. With elegant, savoury, cedary, gamey style, traditional claret drinkers will adore this. 13.5 per cent, Majestic, 6 for £11.50 each (single bottle £13)Diemersdal is that rare Western Cape estate with a wide range of awesome varietal wines and was the first to plant grüner veltliner there in 2010. Using an Austrian yeast strain and no oak makes for an absolutely delicious, fruity, white pepper mouthful. Fish curry anyone? 12.5 per cent, £11.80Bruno Lafon certainly knows what's what and his shift to the south 30 years ago is Burgundy's loss and Languedoc's gain. Tuck into this jolly, juicy, bright, red berry-fruited, grenache-led unoaked red chilled on a sunny day and you'll have a big smile on your face. 12 per cent, £11.80 The Burgundian Bruno Lafon's forbidden fruit (Le Fruit Défendu) Languedoc wines romped home in this tasting, proving yet again that specialist wine merchants know what's what. With all of the piquepoul grape's bright acidity and thrilling lime juice and lemongrass style, it's a class act. 15 per cent, £11.95The Vignerons Ardéchois co-op, with 2,000 grape growers, makes some lovely wines and this grenache-syrah combo gets my vote. It bursts with so much gloriously fat, juicy, damson plum and black cherry fruit, you won't notice the high alcohol. 14 per cent, £11.95Take it from me, Domaine Gayda and the Minervois limestone plateau has made a syrah that knocks the Rhône for six. Made partly like beaujolais, via carbonic maceration, it has dribble-down-your-chin squishy bramble fruit, plus seductive cracked black pepper spice. 13.5 per cent, Majestic, 6 for £12 each (single bottle £13)Give malbec a miss and nab this high-altitude French oak barrel-aged gem instead from Argentina's northerly wine region, Salta, famous for its distinctive, intensely fruited and powerful reds. Overflowing with rich, chewy, savoury, cassis fruit, it makes a great barbecue bottle. 11.5 per cent, Tesco, £12 down from £15 until Jul 14Enjoy this bright, bouncy, black grape-dominant, quince-tangy bubbly made from the samemethod as champagne but for a fraction of the price. It's another brilliant sip fromBurgundy's Cave de Lugny co-op, with pinot noir boosted by the chardonnay and gamay. 12 per cent, Majestic, 6 for £12 each (single bottle £15) Who knew that Rioja made such a great methode champenoise sparkler? Hand-harvested grenache, given two years on its yeasty lees, has produced an unusual biscuity, quince and apricot-licked sparkling rioja with fine bubbles and less residual sugar than most champagne. 11 per cent, Tesco, £12.50 A keen price for a sparky, English summer garden aperitif white from the Balfour Winery's Hush Heath estate in Kent. It's an elegant, herbaceous, hedgerow-scented sip, a canny blend of mostly pinot blanc and chardonnay, with a dollop of bacchus and dab of pinot noir. 13 per cent, Co-op, £14My kind of a superior beaujolais from one of the lighter crus, or villages, whose pretty name does not always deliver. However, 2023 was a fine beaujolais vintage and this vibrant yet velvety, violet and raspberry-stashed fleurie with a juicy black plum finish is a star. 12.5 per cent, Sainsbury's, £14.50, down from £16.50 until Jul 22 Make this the summer you chill out with a cool glass of mouth-watering red sancerre made from the pinot noir grape. This tastebud-tingling raspberry and red plum-packed '22, with a herbaceous hint on the finish, is just the ticket with charcuterie. 12.5 per cent, £14.95 A joint Provençal venture set up in 1989 by two of Burgundy's finest producers, Dujac and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, produces a marvellous Méditerranée rosé. Mostly cinsaut, with grenache, syrah and merlot, it's a wonderfully refreshing, pink grapefruit and pomegranate gem. 14.5 per cent, Aldi, £14.99Cheap red châteauneuf is often vile, leathery, chicken run-scented stuff, but not this one. Brimming with rich, savoury, sandalwood and cinnamon spice, it's a brilliant blend of grenache, topped up with a dash each of syrah and cinsault, plus a dab of counoise and mourvèdre. Yum! 12 per cent, Waitrose, £15A brilliant champagne method bubbly from the awesome Turckheim co-op, made from hand harvested pinot blanc and pinot gris grapes. What you get is masses of glorious, light, leafy, seductive, apple blossom and yellow apple fruit.
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Tammy Hembrow goes braless in chic outfit in the wake of split with Matt Zukowski
She's been enjoying an idyllic New Zealand getaway in the wake of her split from husband Matt Zukowski. And Tammy Hembrow showed Matt what he was missing on Friday, with quite the busty display. The influencer, 31, took to Instagram to share a short clip of of her indulging in an impromptu fashion parade. Tammy went braless for the clip, flaunting her 'assets' in a figure-hugging, buttoned crop top. The light blue, floral-patterned top also showed off Tammy's trim and toned torso. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Tammy finished her mirror look with a pair of blue denim jeans that clung perfectly to her shapely hips. She accessorised the outfit with a lemon-coloured leather bag which she had slung over her left shoulder. The fitness influencer appeared to be in a playful mood, too, happily hamming it up for the camera as she gently sashayed in front of the mirror. It comes after Tammy fled the country after announcing her shock split from husband Matt in June. Tammy was very much in doting mother mode as she enjoyed an idyllic getaway with her children – Wolf, nine, daughter Saskia, seven, and toddler Posy, three. She returned to her native Queensland on Friday for some 'downtime with the gals' at Alvins Wine Bar. Tammy caught up with her girlfriends Isabella Laws, podcast host Stephanie Mac, and Casey Mccauley over cocktails and a charcuterie board. The mum-of-three announced her separation from her husband Matt in an emotional video last month. Tammy was previously engaged twice, to Reece Hawkins and Matt Poole, but never married either of them. The Love Island Australia star also announced the couple's separation in a sombre Instagram Story, telling fans the decision was not taken lightly. 'It's with a heavy heart I share that Tammy and I have decided to separate,' Matt began. 'Both of us have struggled with making this decision; however, we need to do what is right for ourselves and her three children. 'This wasn't a decision we took lightly. Our time together will always be cherished and never forgotten,' he added. Despite their short-lived marriage, both parties have asked for privacy as they adjust to life post-breakup. 'We appreciate everyone's support and space at this time as we navigate the split,' Matt concluded in his emotional post. Meanwhile in a post shared to Instagram last Thursday, Tammy announced she was heading to Queenstown with her kids, before sharing footage of the family at the airport. 'Errands before our lil getaway. Honestly, this couldn't have come at a more perfect time' Tammy wrote in her caption. 'Guys, give me all your Queenstown recommendations,' she added alongside a series of images in which she posed alongside her car. Tammy later addressed the split in a heartfelt TikTok video. 'I don't want to get into the details, and I want to be sensitive to everyone involved,' she told fans. 'Obviously, when you marry someone, you do it thinking that it is going to be forever, and I blame no one but myself,' Tammy continued while breaking down in tears. 'I've made not the best choices when it comes to relationships. I'm good at putting on rose-coloured glasses. 'Obviously the worst part for me is that I have kids. I don't care about me, I know I will be okay, but I feel awful.' The news came less than 24 hours after Matt was spotted spending time with sports journalist Tayla Little at the London Tavern in Melbourne. Tammy and Matt tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony at Château Du Soleil in Byron Bay on November 23. They got engaged in December 2023, following just three months of dating. The jet-setting pair became engaged in the Maldives, before heading off to Greece and Bali for luxury holidays.
