The Underground Motel (Swiss Stories 2011, by Valérie Chételat) - Swiss Press Award

Der Bund

Valérie Chételat

Located 1,100 kilometers from Sydney and 900 kilometers from Melbourne, White Cliffs lies in the heart of the Australian Outback. A hundred years ago, the successful search for opals began here. Because of the almost unbearable heat, people live in the sandstone tunnels. This is how the Underground Motel was built from an exhausted opal mine. While it can reach 50 degrees Celsius outside, the temperature inside is a constant 22 degrees Celsius. Opals are still mined in the fields, but the gemstone fever is long gone. Only a few treasure hunters find them these days. Of the five thousand inhabitants that the town had in its heyday, three hundred remain. Added to this are the guests who stay in one of the Underground Motel's 30 rooms.