From Coober Pedy we were planning to keep heading north but realised we had missed a small bit of South Australia around Roxby Downs and Woomera. We decided that we would have to back track south a bit and have a look around the small area we had missed. This is probably how Burke and Wills got lost. Our first stopover on the way towards Roxby Downs was a small camping area at Glendambo. This was a camp area behind the roadhouse and hotel that was just a pretty big bare paddock that filled up quite a bit as the day ended with travellers stopping for the night. The hotel was very nice for a drink with a huge open fire that you could sit around. You would not have thought you were in the bush at all.
Next morning it was up early for some of us while others laid in bed and waited for the obligatory morning cup of tea in bed. Eventually we were ready to go and drove all the way to Roxby Downs. Roxby Downs was a very neat and tidy town that was built for the mine that opened up nearby. The town is well laid out and the facilities were first class. Roxby was an excellent place to restock on supplies and some important hardware supplies. It would be one of the nicer company towns we have seen in all our travels around. We drove out to Andamooka for a day trip. They had a great display of the old original housing that you could walk around and inside. This great display showed how they lived in Andamooka with some still being occupied up until the 1980’s. They weren’t quite underground like in Coober Pedy and they only dug into the side of the hill slightly then built out from there. Andamooka seems to be the poor cousin of Coober Pedy and definitely doesn’t have the same drawing power of Coober Pedy. They are trying hard to make the town more inviting for tourists and hopefully this work can continue.
Woomera was our next stop for a few days. This was a short 80 kilometre drive so it wasn’t to taxing on us and we managed it well. We didn’t expect Woomera to be as big and alive as what it was. We did think it was going to be more of a ghost town type place and were pleasantly surprised to see how active the place was. They have quite a good caravan park at Woomera that has nice big sites. The bar is open every night from 4.00 pm till 7.00 pm and the drinks are the cheapest you will by anywhere. $4.00 for a can of beer, same for bottles of cider. They have the heaters going and with all the caravaners around its quite a good atmosphere and a great chance to talk with like minded travellers.
Woomera must have been quite a place in its heyday and if some of the buildings could talk there would be some very interesting stories to be told. The museums are well worth going into and once you start reading about what went on around the area it was a very active place during the cold war years. Over 4000 rockets were tested at Woomera from anti aircraft, anti tank, anti missile and the early stages of inter continental missile development. The open air displays are very good though starting to show signs of deterioration from many years in the sun. Hopefully there will be some funds made available to at least repaint these displays and keep them going. After reading all that went on here you wonder why Australia didn’t keep this place going more. With all the facilities and space that are still here it should be a pretty easy to pick where our proposed up and coming space agency should be based.
From Woomera it was back to heading north again. We had been told of an old abandoned base about 100 kilometres south of Coober Pedy called Mirikata and thought we would spend the night there on our way back north. Mirikata is not on any maps as a place to visit though it is only about 10 kilometres off the main highway. There are no signs stopping you entering and it was an interesting place to spend the night. There are a few old abandoned buildings on the site, though they are nearly all falling down. This is another one of those places that would have been good to preserve as a bit of our history in the early development of rockets that Australia played a large part in. Needless to say we were the only ones who camped here for the night, besides a few nosy cattle that came and checked us out.
We had an enjoyable night at Mirikata and will keep it in mind if we are past this way again. Next it was back to Coober Pedy for a couple of days. We had actually booked into the caravan park this time. With all the caravans heading north we thought it might be a good idea on our return trip. As is was only a about 10 days since we were in Coober Pedy last time there wasn’t a lot we really wanted to see. The underground museum was on our list but that was about it. We were in Coober Pedy for the weekend so we decided to go to the drive in pictures on the Saturday night. So it was take away pizza’s and wine at the drive in’s. Long time since we have done that and it was pretty good. The movie wasn’t all that much but they got the crowd in so the night had a bit of atmosphere.
Driving out of Coober Pedy the landscape looks quite messy with all the dirt heaps everywhere. On a real windy day they must have quite bad dust problems in the town. In years to come it will be interesting to see if any rehabilitation is forced back onto the miners as at the moment there doesn’t seem to be any controls in place.
From Coober Pedy we drove to Cadney Park Homestead and Roadhouse for a couple of nights. From here we were going to do a day drive out to the Painted Desert for a look. Our first night a Cadney Park we had a great thunderstorm and lightning display followed by some pretty consistent rain during the night. The next day we drove out to the Painted Desert and the roads weren’t as bad as we thought they would be. There were only a few muddy spots but generally the road was very good, as we have found with nearly all the gravel roads over here. The closer we got to the Painted Desert the drier the roads got so it was back in the dust.
We weren’t sure what to expect to see at the Painted Desert and once there felt the drive was worth it. The colours in the hills and on the ground were very striking and contrasted well with country side. There weren’t very many people out here having a look which was a bit surprising, thought it would have been a bit busier. With the road in being very good it was an easy day trip though not to much to see when you get there.
After Cadney Park we were over the border and into the Northern Territory. Our stop for the next three nights was Kulgera Roadhouse and Caravan Park. Our plan here was to leave the van for one night and camp out in the rooftop tent at Lamberts Centre. Lamberts Centre is the geographical centre point of Australia and we thought we would drive out and camp the night. This is also the road to Finke so we thought we would also have a look at Finke while out this way. We have packing the car for a stay in the rooftop tent down pretty good now and it doesn’t take us long to have everything ready.
We set off for Finke and Lamberts Centre the next day. The drive to Finke was nearly 150 kilometres from Kulgera. What a road this was out to Finke, it would have to be one of the best dirt roads you could drive on. Our trip out to Finke didn’t take long at all and we were there a lot quicker than we thought we would be. Not much to say about Finke, there isn’t much to see and really no reason you would want to stop there. We only spent a very short time in Finke, probably about 20 minutes then drove back towards Lamberts Centre. The turn off was about 20 kilometres back along the road and then around 12 kilometres in along what you would call a bush track. When you get to Lamberts Centre there is a flag of Australia flying on the pole that is situated over a plinth indicating the centre of our great country. We both thought the area was well worth the drive out to see. The only downside out there is the condition of the toilets. They were pretty bad and really a blemish on whoever is responsible for there upkeep.
Our last few detours into Mirikata, The Painted Desert and Lamberts Centre were really very interesting and well worth the drives out to look at. We both feel that we have seen some special places that Australia has to offer. Now it is off to Alice Springs where we will probably spend quite a bit of time around the general area looking around.