{"id":2819,"date":"2022-07-30T17:25:09","date_gmt":"2022-07-30T07:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/?p=2819"},"modified":"2022-12-02T20:37:43","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T09:37:43","slug":"woomera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/woomera\/","title":{"rendered":"Woomera"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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ANZAC Memorial – Woomera<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Eldo Hotel<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Beef Parmi – Eldo Hotel<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Van site<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Outback Woomera<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Long way from nowhere<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Test Range<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Woomera Streetscape<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Eldo Hotel<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure><\/div>\n
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Outback Woomera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Very easy towing up the Stuart Highway<\/a> with hard flat bitumen, long straights and long slow curves. We were expecting the landscape to be very flat but surprised to find a number of long low ascents and descents, quite a few rest stops with lookouts into reasonbly deep gullies and gorges with a lot of flat in between. Also the odd mesa\u2026 there’s one curious spot where the road goes up over a long, man-made hump, just to cross the railway line\u2026 seemed a bit strange but then realised that the Ghan and super-long freight trains ply this route so level crossings would be tedious and dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Long way from nowhere<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The other thing you notice as you enter the outback for the first time, apart from the red dirt and the mulga, is that one hundred kilometres is a very short distance BUT every individual kilometre is a LONG kilometre\u2026 It’s a very strange juxtaposition of distances on the outback highway.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Van site<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We pulled into the infamous (according to Wikicamps<\/a>) Woomera Caravan Park<\/a> where the manager, ‘Hoffy’, has a reputation for being a bit of rules Nazi and hard-arse\u2026 We didn’t actually get to meet him but were greeted by friendly reception staff who simply gave us a copy of the park rules, which were in fact very sensible and easy to follow. The van site itself was really quite large as van sites go and you could even stay hitched up if you weren’t going to drive anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had a very comfortable stay at Woomera Caravan Park<\/a> and would gladly stay there again even though there are lots of negative reviews on Wikicamps. Unfortunately the caravan park bar wasn’t open while we were there, it is appararently a fun place when it does open and the beers there as cheap as you’ll find in the outback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s not much need drive anywhere if you’re just going to look around Woomera<\/a> Village. It’s probably a fifteen minute walk to the other side but Spud’s Roadhouse<\/a>, the only fuel station, is 6km back at the turnoff to Woomera<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Woomera Streetscape<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Woomera<\/a> Village is a weird and eery place. It’s like a town suspended in a time gone by. Basically it’s a square mile of houses with the museum, rocket park, movie theatre, cafe\/shop and sporting facilities in the middle. There is nobody on the streets. Apparently there are only about 190 permanent residents there so it exudes an atmosphere that is part ghost town, part apocolyptic wasteland and part deserted zombie movie set! It is truly strange walking through empty, but perfectly maintained, streets, day and night and then seeing a well stocked, super clean, mini-supermaket with one person sitting behind the counter on their phone because nobody else is in there.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There is life though\u2026 The movie theatre plays every Sunday night and admission is FREE! “Elvis” was playing while we were there but it wasn’t Sunday during our stay so we didn’t get to enjoy it\u2026
We did, however, poke around the museum and the very interesting rocket park where there’s an old Gloster Meteor and Canberra jet plane plus assorted rockets and missiles that were tested back in the day. Also some rocket and missile debris that showcase just how important Woomera was back in the 50’s and 60’s in it’s hey day.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Woomera Rocket Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The photos of Woomera past show an exciting and vibrant village populated by highly educated ‘rocket scientists’ and engineers living a very social life with vital work during the day and parties, soirees and sports in the down time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a Dep’t of Defence town it was also very class-ridden with social activities revolving around three staff mess facilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n