Andamooka

 13 – 14 April 2022

Leaving Port Augusta we called in to the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens for one last visit, then headed north along the Stuart Highway. We have travelled on various sections of this road, but have never driven north from Port Augusta. The scenery was quite stunning, and constantly changing. At Pimba we turned west towards Roxby Downs.

Woomera is only a short drive from Pimba so we stopped there for lunch. Woomera was established in 1947 as a long range weapons testing area It is still a “closed” town – you can’t choose to live there you must be part of a Defence team, or contractor. The town is well kept with a number of rockets, planes and missiles on display in the park. We found the displays interesting but the lack of interpretative information a bit disappointing.

From Woomera we drove on to Roxby Downs where we did some shopping and fuelled up. Roxby Downs is a mining town servicing the nearby Olympic Dam site. It seemed to have all the usual shops and amenities but we decided not to stay there as it was still quite early. Instead we made a 30km detour to Andamooka.

Andamooka is known for its opal mining and the community is working very hard to encourage tourism. To this end, a terrific community camp ground has been established on the edge of town. There are toilets and hot showers and a sheltered BBQ, as well as a playground – all for $4 per person per night. There is also power available near the amenities for $12 per night. The whole facility was spotlessly clean and had both rubbish and recycling bins.

We settled in a spot on the edge of the campground near an old “shack” that provided some shelter from the wind and also some shade, as well as views of the mullock heaps nearby. Of course Mick spotted some birds and went for a walk in the morning to try to get some photos.

Before we left Andamooka we drove into town and spent some time looking at the restored cottages. This is a fascinating insight into how the early residents of this small town adapted their homes and lives to suit the harsh desert environment.

From Andamooka we set off back towards Roxby Downs then on to the Oodnadatta Track.