On our way out of Coober Pedy that Tuesday, we stopped to look at the damage caused by the strong winds from last week. This was the same storm that hit us when we were at Uluru. We had stayed at this caravan park on a previous visit.

The windmill at Glendambo.

 Lake Hart is on Woomera Rocket Range. It is part of the Lake Eyre basin and a
popular place to stop on the Sturt Highway.
We had to cross the Ghan railway track so that we could walk out onto the lake.

The Sturt Highway is also known as the Explorer Highway and in true explorer style,we soon turned off the highway and headed past Woomera and on towards Andamooka

. Power lines stretched away into the distance
 leading us on to our destination.

We passed the ruins of an old homestead and had to give way to several emu families crossing the road, finally arriving at Andamooka..

The opal mining township of Andamooka is one of the world's major sources of precious opal.

Today, with a population of around 850 Andamooka hosts a rich assembly of nationalities that live and work together in an environment that outsiders may consider harsh and resembling a ‘moonscape'. To local residents however, this is the ideal place to live, uncluttered and free of bureaucracy and hassles of city life.

Opal is still being found at Andamooka, though less than it was. There are still a variety of things for visitors to do. You can tour the opal fields, absorb the history, noodle among the dumps, tour an underground house or visit one of the many opal showrooms and buy directly from the miner or the cutter, thereby eliminating the middle man.  (andamooka.sa.au)

The remains of the early miners still exist today with the Historical Cottages in the main street, which are open for tourists all year round with free entry. The semi-dugouts are unique to Andamooka and unlike underground homes found in other parts of Australia due to a high clay content in the soil, making it unsafe for large areas to be excavated.

They are also good examples of early permanent accommodation for miners working the Andamooka fields. Architecturally the residences are significant because they epitomise early mining life in form, layout and construction techniques. The Historical Cottages are listed on the National Heritage Register. (andamooka.sa.au)

 

Inside Perry's kitchen.

This cottage belonged to Jack Absalom's father.

Andamooka is a long way from anywhere!

These are outside the information centre at Roxby Downs.

Roxby Downs was our next stop. As it was getting late,we toyed with the idea of staying the night but in the end the decision was made to continue on to Port Augusta. We had a very long drive ahead of us .

We stopped briefly at Spud's Roadhouse,Pimba,
for drinks and snacks with it's collections of
badges and number plates.

There was still alot to see...emus crossing, a long goods train and another salt lake.

 We finally arrived at Port Augusta around 8 pm. We were booked into cabins but after seeing them we quickly opted out. The management had people, friends we presumed, staying in them and as soon as we arrived they kicked them out and proceeded to put fresh sheets on the beds. We found a nice clean motel to stay in further down the road.