HAVE you ever wanted to live underground at a perfect 22 degrees all year round?
Then jump at the chance to own a dugout in White Cliffs.
White Cliffs resident Andrew Zerbst is selling his 10-room dugout that he has owned for six years.
He is also throwing in his mine and mining gear.
“I’ve been struggling with my health,” he said.
“I wanted to keep the mine but a decline in my health made it too hard.
“I had an accident, and I destroyed my knee so I can’t walk on rough ground.
“I’ve just thrown in the whole lot as a package deal.”
Two of the rooms in Mr Zerbst’s dugout are opal fossil showrooms.
“They used to have tours in this house,” he said.
“It started as just the showrooms, then it grew to a dugout tour in the 1980s.
“I think it was an afterthought to have the tour extend through the whole dugout.
“The showrooms have old fossils, opals and an old, fossilised tree trunk.”
Mr Zerbst said behind the dugout is two old mines that were started in the 1890s.
“I’ve lived in the area for about 12 years, my niece lived out here and I came across a couple of bottles of opals,” he said.
“Two weeks later, I was still here. I was coming and going for a bit and I lived out on the field for a few years.
“I was always saying, ‘I’m not going to buy one of these hobbit holes’.
“But it has been really good. It’s 22 degrees all year round, 28 in the kitchen on hot days.”
Of his mine, he said he’s found a few opals.
“I’ve sold some and given some away,” Mr Zerbst said.
“They’re easy to find. I was told the Queen even had some opals from that mine.
“If you put the work in, you can find something.”
He is hoping to move near Bendigo and Echuca.
“I will miss White Cliffs; everybody keeps an eye out for everyone else,” he said.
Mr Zerbst said selling the dugout had been hard as you cannot get a loan due to land claims.
“I’ve had some interest, but it’s been hard,” he said.
Mr Zerbst’s been promoting his sale on social media for anyone wanting to take a look.
