Woomera, SA,
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Tue 24 Feb 2015 08:56
Woomera is a very strange place indeed. It is in the middle of the desert and is an old missile testing station used by the Australians and the Brits, amongst other nations, to test various rockets, missiles and drones. The area the test range covers is the largest land-based missile and rocket range in the western world. Woomera is still an active Defence Base evidenced by the uniformed personnel seen around the town.
The largest rocket ever launched here was the Europa in 1960. Out of necessity, an eerie, slightly artificial looking town was hastily built to house the workers for the base. There was also a 270 room hotel named the Eldo, which as we were only having a 1 night quick stop, was to be our base for the night. The Eldo was so named after the organisation that built the Europa which was the European Launcher Development Organisation, another great example of Aussie abbreviation!
The hotel probably hasn't seen a paintbrush since it was first built and reminded me very much of my student hall of residence, same industrial paint on the walls, filthy carpet, and vinyl tiles, but what can you expect? There is no call for a luxury hotel out here, the only people who stay are the workers from the base and they don't really care for any degree of luxury, so long at the place is clean and the food is good, that's all they need. To be fair, the food in the restaurant was quite good, a decent choice on the menu, nothing to complain about. It's odd when you read some of the trip advisor reviews, some people really go on about how basic it is, and others are more pragmatic, we decided before we even got there to take the second view, it was only one night after all in the middle of the desert!
We did the sightseeing tour of the town in about half an hour! There is a display of rockets and things, and a bowling alley, closed, as well as a museum, closed, and a heritage centre, you guessed it, also closed!
Needless to say, the next day we didn't hang around and set off early for Coober Pedy.
Not a very exciting stop-over I know, but you can't win them all!
Sent from my iPad