Although the cattle station that Josh lives on is fictional, most of the other locations used in this book are real places. This includes the town of Coober Pedy, situated along the Stuart Highway in South Australia, about 846 kilometres north of Adelaide. The name comes from the Aboriginal term kupa piti, which means ‘white man’s hole’.

The town was established in 1915 as the Stuart Range Opal Field, when opal was discovered in the area. It was renamed Coober Pedy in 1920. Today it has more than seventy opal fields, produces more opal than any other place and is known as the opal capital of the world.

The town is also famous for its underground dwellings, which are dug into the rose-coloured sandstone. As well as homes, there are underground shops, hotels, restaurants and churches.

Today, Coober Pedy relies on tourism as well as opal mining. It is a popular stopping point for people travelling along the Stuart Highway from Adelaide to Alice Springs.

The town has a most unusual golf course consisting of sand, gravel and oil slicks. Golf here is played at night with glowing balls, so as to avoid the high temperatures of the day.

Numerous films have shot scenes in and around Coober Pedy, including Opal Dream, Until the End of the World, The Fire in the Stone, Ground Zero, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Salute to the Jugger, Stark, Pitch Black, Red Planet and Kangaroo Jack.

There is a drive-in cinema in Coober Pedy, although it is not owned by Ratchet.