It was mighty fresh in coober pedy when we got up this morning but the sun was shining brightly, the sky was dazzlingly blue but bestest of all was there was no wind. woohoo! We fueled up and shot through as quickly as we could because we wanted to maximise the conditions and also because we both wanted to get to woomera as early as possible to allow us plenty of time to look around.
The riding conditions were beautiful and it was utterly brilliant not to be buffeted to bits. The crazy, luna type landscape of coober pedy slowly slipped past and was replaced by, well, nothing. Lots and lots of nothing. So much nothing it's difficult to comprehend. Flat open ground covered in saltbush and little else, there were no trees, none. If you needed shade then you had to make it yourself.
This lasted pretty much all the way to woomera with only the occassional stretch of low scrub and the sudden appearance of lake hart. Actually it had always been there i just wasn't expecting it, and suprisingly enough it had a substantial amount of water rather than just salt pan. It was an arresting sight and impossible not to stop and be amazed.
the boys and the impressive lake hart
After the manditory photo op (thanks to the guys from melbourne who kindly too somefor us) we were back on the road for pimba, a very small town 6km out of woomera. I wanted to stop there because as child i remember going there with my mother to get supplies from the 'tea and sugar' which was a train that came from adelaide once a month. Sadly the old siding no longer exists.
me out the front of the most interesting thing in pimba
When we arrived in woomera we stopped at the information board and looked at the map. I found the street i used to live in, which was very close to where we were so we went there first to see if my old house was there. It wasn't. There was a house there but it was not the one i lived in. I was a little disappointed but not suprised. What i was surprised by was the number of vacant blocks where our old neighbours used to be.
what you see when you come into woomera
me out the front of the house that stands where my old house used to be
Some things however are still here and still unchanged, the school oval, the church iwas christened in (sadly closed so i couldn't go in) and the picture theatre. This too was shut, but fortunately still operating. However we were lucky enough to be passing when a couple of firies where checking the systems and they very kindly let us into take some pictures in the foyer and it was exactly as i remember it so thanks guys.
the church i was christened in
this is where i usually spent my time at sunday school
me out the front of the cinema that i saw my first movie in
the woomera theatre foyer has not changed one bit
We also spent quite a bit of time at the museum which was incredibly interesting for both wal and i for different reasons, wal was taken up with all the aeronautical bits and i was absorbed in the historical stuff of the town and spent quite a while reading the local papers fron 1967.
the black arrow rocket which i watched being launched from the back steps of my house
I was unsure how i would feel coming back as i had so many wonderful childhood memories and although a lot of things have changed or gone i'm very glad i did. The town itself still looks good and is well maintainedand everyone is very friendly.
tomorrow we are of to coward springs for a night of camping and a dip in the artesean spa. Lovely.
our exact location: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-31.1998,136.8172&ll=-31.1998,136.8172&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1