We decide to head off to Roxby Downs now that we have at least seen Lake Eyre. On the way we pass the “mutonia sculpture gardens”. Not sure whether this sculpture gardens formed part of the protest in 1999 to the uranium mining at Roxby Downs, OR whether it was about the closing of the Ghan railway; OR whether it is just a random creative expression (perhaps someone can enlighten me) – but, it was such a blast to see it in the middle of nowhere. I’ll load up some photo’s of it!
The road to Roxby Downs was very dodgy and slippery so it was a slow trip and my bike basket was the second casualty of the trip, (the first casualty was my bike light). The mount for the basket split and this meant that Steve had to don tools and try to remove it whilst it was still on the roof of the car. – Given the corrugated roads we have been travelling on it is not surprising something broke – I expected all my fillings to come out of my teeth.
Steve insists on whistling “spaghetti western” theme music whenever we see a tumble weed – Oh dear!
We travel on through Roxby Downs (stopping only for an oral caffeine infusion), the mining towns are so obviously owned / sustained by the mining companies. Modest homes at Roxby Downs sell for in excess of $1 million – highly and artificially inflated prices due to the ?income of the mining employees.
Then it was on to Woomera for the night. We wandered through the missile park (Ethan really enjoyed this), - unfortunately the museum was shut. We ended up bumping into the English couple that we had met previously – Heather and Chris – so we all camped at the local caravan park together and then went to the cinema that evening. The cinema was great – Steve tells me it was a typical military base cinema – old upholstered / studded seats that flip up when you stand; wide aisles each side; a huge red velvet curtain on the stage (which had an orchestra pit in front of it). Apparently the cinema at Woomera shows a film once a fortnight – so the movie was attended by the local scout troop (who excitedly ran up and down the aisles eating bags of mixed lollies and soft drink J), and a few of the locals…. And us!
It was great fun – we watched Alice in Wonderland (which was kind of appropriate given it all seemed a bit surreal). $7 adults $5 children.
