Woomera rocket display
Well, we wanted it warm and dry and it certainly is. It was 38C when we arrived here today. We drove north into the arid region of South Australia today. At first we were in agricultural country with large grain fields, but as we got farther north, from Port Augusta on, the land becomes dry desert. Once into the desert we saw several dead cattle and sheep on the road or in the ditches. I assume the ones on the road were struck by vehicles, but wonder if the ones farther off the road might have died from other causes.
The South Australian highways are by far the best we have driven on. For the most part they are straight, and flat, and easy to travel on. Of course as we got into the desert they are also quite deserted. They drive long “road trains”, semi-trailers with three long trailers on them.
We stopped at Woomera which is where the Australian’s used to launch rockets from during the space race. There is a large display of old rocket parts here in an outdoor museum. They even have the remains of the rocket which launched Australia’s first satellite in 1967. Unlike the US ones where the boosters all crashed in the ocean and were never recovered, this one fell in the desert so they have the actual demolished parts on display.