The Outback 11/2 - 12/2

We left our caravan for a night in Port Augusta whilst we took a trip into the Outback, with our final destination being Coober Pedy. We drove 1100km in 2 days and the scenery changed the moment we left Port Augusta.



The area just north of Port Augusta is quite hilly but it soon changed into flat scrublands and a number of large salt lakes.



We passed through Woomera where the British undertook their rocket and atomic experiments. The town centre was deserted on a Sunday morning when we visited the missile park.



This is a Wedge Tailed Eagle. A fully grown one has a wing span of 2 metres. This one is believed to be a baby and was feeding on the road kill at the side of the road. The road kill is mostly Kangaroos but we saw some dead cows for the first time at the side of the roads. Road trains of lorries with up to 6 trailers long are used on these roads and you can imagine the impact they have when they hit something.



Central Australia is full of vast salt lakes. This is Island Lagoon.



And here is Jayne at Lake Hart. This was taken from one of the rest areas on the Stuart Highway.



The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) can use the main highway as an emergency landing strip if neccessary in certain locations along the way.



Unfortunately for us as tourists we didn't see this part of the outback in it's normal state. A massive rainstorm two weeks ago with floods had caused the land to be a lot greener than we expected. This area is usually just red and dusty, but the rain was desperately needed so we can't really complain.



The Stuart Highway continues another 690 km to Alice Springs but we intend to return to the Red Centre at a later date on our trip.