Robert and Judith's Gap Year: Apr 21-22 Woomera, Roxby Downs, Andamooka

We drove to Port Augusta and stopped for a shop up, a fuel up, a top up of water and then some lunch. Maybe because it was Thursday before Good Friday, but we didn't really enjoy Port Augusta. We were happy to keep driving and leave Port Augusta behind. We found out later that the water from the Port Augusta service station tasted terrible. Important lesson learned: always taste the water before topping up your supplies.

The "outback" arrives pretty quickly after Port Augusta. Swollen dead cows by the roadside provided the only variation to the desolate landscape. There were a couple of interesting rest areas, but not much to see until we arrived at Woomera. (Click on the underlined word to link to a map) What an interesting town! We found a place to camp just on the edge of town. We felt a little bit exposed because we were so close to town. We slept well; no traffic noise at all. The town appears to be almost deserted. There are only 240 people who live in the town but it has had a population of as much as 6000. Because it was so quiet, we enjoyed our first open air shower. (Sorry kids, don't try to think about it.) The only car that drove past us the next morning was the local copper. He kindly informed us that we were not supposed to camp where we were, but since we were already there, it was OK. We chatted a bit more and learnt a little more about Woomera. Apparently, all Australian soldiers that have fought in Afghanistan, go through training at Woomera. The conditions at Woomera are not dissimilar from the desserts of the Middle East.

The town of Woomera has fantastic facilities. It is a real oasis in the dessert. Swimming pool, tennis, squash, golf, football oval (with lights), cinema, 24 hour gym, museums and old rockets & missiles for the kiddies to play on. And because of the American influence, it also has a baseball field and a bowling alley. Not bad for 240 people! The idea of the Woomera town and the neighbouring test area is that countries can hire it from the Australian government. The Brittish hired it to test its atomic bombs at Marilinga. The Americans have done all sorts of things, as have the Japanese. The Woomera test area is huge- the area is as large as the whole of England! We think Woomera is fascinating and is a "must see" for anyone who is travelling through this area.

We went for a day trip out to Roxby Downs and then on to Andamooka. Being Good Friday, there was not much actually open in the towns. Roxby Downs only exists because of the Olympic Dam mine. Its a relatively modern town and has excellent facilities. It seemed like it would be a nice enough place to live.

Andamooka, on the other hand, is a shabby, messy little town inhabited by hopeful individual miners trying to strike it rich. It appears that no-one in the town has ever found anything of value. We didn't spend much time here returning back to Roxby Downs and then back to Woomera.

We considered driving along the Oodnadata track from Roxby Downs. We actually travelled about 200m down the track before deciding that the vibrations of the wash-board road just wasn't worth it. Later, Jude found most of the contents of the caravan had shifted around in that short time.

Back at Woomera, we found an off-road site where some old ruins are located. Nice and quiet so we had a great night's sleep.