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In the middle of the South-Australian desert, the small town of Coober Pedy is located. Since 1915 it has been a magnet for adventurers and fortune-seekers hoping to net a good haul: digging up a big chunk of opal. This is only granted to a few people, but the freebooters keep their spirits up. ‘Ninety percent of them is poor, ten percent is rich, perhaps I belong to those ten percent’, one of them says. Located miles away from anywhere, a community has originated with its own, unwritten laws, a jumble of misfits, losers and desperados. Some of them have pinned their hopes on : the opal residues from the spoils of successful claims are extracted and sold, although at low prices. Others go bankrupt but stay on in Coober Pedy for its rough nature or because they have found the love of their life. A 70-year-old Greek has been waiting thirty years for his lucky strike, but so far he has not found anything substantial.