Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TRAIN
The
Ghan
train runs through the SA outback between Adelaide and Alice Springs;
Click
here
for details.
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Woomera
POP 450
A 6km detour off the Stuart Hwy from Pimba (population 50; 485km from Adelaide),
Woomera began in 1947 as HQ for experimental British rocket and nuclear tests at no-
torious sites like Maralinga. Local indigenous tribes suffered greatly from nuclear fallout.
These days Woomera is an eerie, oddly artificial government town that's still an active
Department of Defence test site.
Rocket into the
Woomera Heritage & Visitor Information Centre
( 08-8673 7042;
www.woomera.com.au
;
Dewrang Ave; museum adult/child $6/3; 9am-5pm Mar-Nov, 10am-2pm
Dec-Feb)
, with its displays on Woomera's past and present (plus a bowling alley!). Just
across the car park is the
Lions Club Aircraft & Missile Park
, studded with jets and
rocket remnants.
Kotara Ave; d from $95; )
has comfortable motel-style rooms in a couple of 1960s build-
ings, and serves à la carte meals in an urbane bistro (mains $16 to $32, serving noon to
2pm and 6pm to 8.30pm). Try the kangaroo bratwurst snags!
Continue north through Woomera for 90km (sealed road) and you'll hit
Roxby Downs
(
www.roxbydowns.com
)
, population 4500, a bizarrely affluent desert town built to service
the massive Olympic Dam Mine, which digs up untold amounts of copper, silver, gold
and uranium.
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Woomera to Coober Pedy
Around 115km northwest of Pimba and 245km shy of Coober Pedy, middle-of-nowhere
Glendambo (population 30) was established in 1982 as a Stuart Hwy service centre. This
is the last fuel stop before Coober Pedy.
You can bunk down at the oasis-like
Glendambo Hotel-Motel
(
08-8672 1030; Stuart
Hwy; unpowered/powered sites $18/22, d $99-120;
)
, which has bars, a restaurant
