In the Outback

Woomera was an interesting place.  It started life back in the 40's or 50's as a missile testing site for UK and Australia.  It became a rocket testing site and now still does military work with the Japanese - the Americans left in 2000 (or 2001?).  Anyway it used to be very hush-hush and when Carol was there 30 years ago the group had to get a day pass to gain access to use the swimming pool (complete with dates of birth and passport numbers).  Now, although there are restricted areas in the desert anyone can go to Woomera village.  We camped at the caravan park there.  In the village is a missile park and a very interesting interpretive centre.

From Woomera we drove a day to Coober Pedy (which means 'white man in a hole') which is the main place for opal mining.

The place is littered with what look like huge white molehills but in fact this is the spoil from thousands of test drills when people have been prospecting for opals.  In the town itself many people live in 'dugout' homes (underground) because of the extreme heat.  We went on a tour which took us around the opal fields (noone's working right now as the profit margin on opals has plummeted), into an underground church and home and to a museum.

 

Our guide worked as an opal miner for nearly 40 years so was able to tell us a lot (he was German!).  The tour finished with a free drink in an underground bar!

From Coober Pedy it was a long slog to Ayers Rock (Uluru) and we stopped a couple of hours short of there at a roadhouse and free camping!
The aborigines don't like you to climb the Rock these days and in fact the climb is more often than not closed.  However, although we didn't go to the top we saw it from every other angle possible - sunset viewing, sunrise viewing, a Ranger-guided walk and we also walked the 10.5 kms around the whole base of the Rock.
Luckily the campsite had a swimming pool - it was very welcome in that heat although the flies weren't so welcome and the whole time we were in the outback we were very pleased to have flynets to stop the flies flying into our ears, eyes and up our noses!

From Uluru we also visited the Olgas - another rocky outcrop of the same sort of age and formation as Uluru.  Again, we did several walks to take in the scenery (and even saw a couple of kangaroos on one of them) and watched the sunset over them (the Olgas, not the kangaroos!)

Our next port of call was Kings Canyon - Australia's answer to the Grand Canyon.  We did the Canyon Rim walk one day.  The heat was exhausting and Carol was suffering a heavy cold, but it was more than worth it for the views.

And so to Alice Springs.  More of a Town Like Alice in the next thrilling instalment!