The Stuart Highway

From Port Augusta (see Eyre Peninsula) the Stuart Highway begins it's long and often monotonous journey through the centre of South Australia's arid and hot outback, en-route to Alice Springs and the Northern Territory. Not dissimilar to the trek across the Nullarbor, the highway is serviced by several roadhouses and small towns, although there are barren gaps of up to 254 kilometres. Travellers need to be well prepared for the trip by carrying adequate supplies of water and food, and some extra petrol is not a bad idea either. The temperature is another consideration, with the mercury consistently reaching up to 50 degrees Celsius during the Summer, so you might like to plan your trip for an alternative season. Also, remember to give your vehicle a thorough check over before departure, and keep an eye out for loitering livestock, kangaroos, and wedge tailed eagles.

180 kilometres north of Port Augusta, the first sign of civilisation lies seven kilometres off the Stuart Highway at the township of Woomera. Established as a British rocket testing site in 1947, the township has only been open to the public since 1982. In town, the Missile Park and Heritage Centre provides some insight into Woomera's interesting past, as well as displaying an array of missiles, aircraft, and other weapons. Places to stay include a pub and a travellers village offering camping, backpacker, and motel styles of accommodation.

Directly north of Woomera, Roxby Downs is a modern company town built to support the enormous operations at the Olympic Dam mining project. The mine produces over 2 million tonnes of copper, silver, uranium oxide, and gold annually, and surface tours of this impressive set-up are available from March to November. The same tour company also offers trips around Woomera, and to the nearby opal-mining township of Andamooka. Roxby Downs and Andamooka both provide a couple of accommodation options.

Back on the Stuart Highway, the next services are found at Glendambo , 113 kilometres north-west of Woomera. Considering that Glendambo was established less than twenty years ago, the tiny settlement has a good range of facilities including a motel, two roadhouses, a caravan park, and a friendly pub. Beyond Glendambo, the highway travels through the Woomera Prohibited Area, and besides from the immediate roadside, people are unable to enter the surrounding land without a permit (it's not that inviting anyway). It's also the highway's longest stretch without a sign of civilisation, and it's 254 kilometres up the road before it finally reaches Coober Pedy.

Supposedly Aboriginal for "white fellow's hole in the ground" Coober Pedy is Australia's (if not the world's) premier opal producing regions. Enveloped by some of Australia's most inhospitable landscape, this remote outpost halfway between Alice Springs and Port Augusta receives over 150 000 visitors every year! Although many use the town as a rest stop to break up their long journey, most come here to experience a community unlike any other in the world. Churches, shopping centres, hotels, hostels, and over half of the resident's homes are carved out of the earth, due not only from the area's total lack of timber, but because the thick dirt walls and ceilings create the perfect protection against the area's climatic extremes. Tours operating within the town include a gander inside a number of the "dugouts", and most visitors are extremely surprised to discover just how lavish and comfortable they are.

Opals are obviously the other reason that Coober Pedy is so firmly established on the tourist trail. There are over 250 000 mine shafts surrounding the town, and literally hundreds still working. You can have a fossick yourself, but be very wary as many of the old shafts and diggings are unmarked and sometimes well camouflaged. You also have to be extemely careful not to trespass on somebody else's claim, as the minimum fine is one thousand dollars. The safest option is to jump on a mine tour, or visit the fossicking area set aside by the Jeweller's Shop at the north east corner of town. Other most notable attractions in town include the Big Winch Lookout, the Old Timers Mine, Umoona Opal Mine Museum, and a myriad of opal outlets demonstrating the process of cutting and polishing.

23 kilometres north of Coober Pedy following the Stuart Highway, a track (usually OK for conventional vehicles) branching to the right runs past the barren but striking rock outcrops contained within the Breakaways Reserve. So impressive is this unique arid landscape, many commercials and the feature films Mad Max III and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert have all used the area as their natural backdrop. 129 kilometres north of the turn-off to the reserve, the Cagney Homestead represents the next opportunity to fill up your tank and your stomach.

Benefiting from the re-routing of the Ghan Railway (Adelaide to Alice Springs) in 1980, Marla is the relatively new regional centre of the of the upper stretches of the South Australian Outback. 83 kilometres north of the Cagney Homestead, and only 150 kilometres from the Northern Territory border (169 kilometres to fuel at Kulgera see Central Australia N.T.), Marla serves as a popular pit stop as well, offering a good array of services, and several places to stay.

If your not quite ready to leave the South Australia yet, or if you've just arrived from the Territory and ready to do some serious overland exploring (4WD's only), the famous Oodnadatta Track branches east from Marla and arrives at the classic outback town of the same name a bumpy 200 kilometres later. From Oonandatta it another 405 kilometres to Marree (see adjacent section).