Olympic Dam mine tour - Monday 6th November

We survived the night of the storm with no further damage to the tent and the temporary repairs held. Even with all the thunder and lightning there was very little rain but the hot winds continued throughout the night. It was like sleeping in a sauna. No time to worry further about the temporary repairs in the morning as we were booked in to do the Olympic dam mine tour and that was why we had stayed on an extra two days. Up early, breakfast then off on foot to town to be ready for the tour.

The tour was dependent on getting at least 8 people and when we had booked there were only 6 of us but luckily more turned up on the morning and there were 10. The tour started with an excellent video presentation about the town and mine then we were loaded into a bus for the 16km trip to the mine. For safety reasons all the tour would be done from the bus. The tour guide, Deb, was a wealth of knowledge and we were all fascinated by what we were shown. The mine is one of the only in Australia where the mining and refining to the final product is done on site. Ore coming out of the ground then through to 99.999% pure Copper, Gold and Silver. The Uranium is only processed through to the Yellow cake stage then sent overseas to refine to Nuclear Power Rods which apparently takes another 3 years.

This would have to be the best presented and explained mine tour that we have ever done. Most of the credit going to the tour guide. Fascinating ! Well worth enduring the storms and staying the extra couple of days.

Having exhausted my supply of Selly's All Clear glue on the temporary repairs it was time to hit the hardware store and stock up for more permanent repairs just in case we can't find a new tent to buy before getting home. We have been looking for a suitable tent ever since Mt Isa. Alice Springs looked hopeful when we saw TV ads saying that the camping store "If we don't have it, it hasn't been made" Their range of tents was hopeless! So after much soul searching over the range of duct tapes I finally settled for Scotch Extra Strong Duct Tape and of course another tube of Selly's All Clear. Love that stuff.

As it turned out I also now love Scotch Extra Strong Duct Tape and it will now be part of my future travelling kit. The temporary repairs were replaced with more permanent ones which was great as were had a second storm again that night and all the repairs came through with flying colours and confident enough that we could continue to repair ourselves all the way back to home if we can't find a tent. The wonderful people running the caravan Park offered to leave the camp kitchen unlocked all night just in case were had to evacuate from a collapsed tent to safety. Thankfully we didn't need to do that.

Blasting off the Woomera and Port Augusta. - Tuesday 7th November 2012

Finally a cool day, with Trish all rugged up and off to look at Woomera. We had ridden past on the way into Roxby Downs but now it was time to have a look. Armed with a small idea of what had taken place at Woomera we wandered through the huge outdoor display of rocket and missiles, wondering what it all meant. Trish couldn't work out why I was laughing while looking at one particular ship to air missile. I have often called my darling wife a "sea slug" in the mornings when she has trouble waking up. Named after those sea creatures that the Asians like to eat that just lay on the bottom of the ocean like oversized turds never moving. Of course I call her "sea slug" with love and affection. The particular missile was named the "Sea Slug" so of course I had to get her to pose next to it, also done with love and affection.

Once into the interpretive centre all was revealed with the history of rocket and missile research explained very well. Lots of great artefacts and excellent video presentations. The years of Woomera being used as a detention centre for illegal immigrants was mentioned but sort of glossed over.

Finally time to head down the ever changing scenery to Port Augusta. Boy, South Australia is a dry state and should be renamed the Desert State. It wasn't until we were close to Port Augusta that things started to green up a bit. Having had two sleepless nights with the steamy hot stormy, tent destroying weather we booked into a cabin for two nights.

Sneaky oil change and re-explore Port Augusta. - Wednesday 8th November 2012

Port Augusta had surprised us when we went through way back in March, there was a lot to see and do that we had never known about before when it had only been an overnight stop after crossing the Nullabor. There was still more that we wanted to see here that we didn't fit in on the way through.

First duty was to change the oil on the bikes to get us back home safely. Of course caravan parks don't like you to do mechanical repairs in their grounds, so I had to set up a bit of a screen with the trailer in front and the lid up to hide the goings on behind.

Our visit to the Wadlata Centre was like all our museum visits - first in last out. Well not quite that bad this time but we were there for several hours. Well worth the visit.

We caught up with a German couple that we had met in Kings Canyon; they are touring on two bikes and a small tent. We had a few drinks together in the luxury of our cabin and shared a few tales of our individual intrepid adventures.

One more night of cabin sleep before heading off to the Yorke Peninsular.