Andamooka and Roxby Downs

We are so pleased we decided to visit these towns - no more are they just dots on a map to us! You could never find two towns so different - Andamooka’s town planning was non existent as the houses and streets are all randomly placed among mullock heaps. Roxby Downs however, is very organised and set out to a plan - maybe a bit too much as Darryl and I got lost this morning on our morning walk! 

Andamooka is such an interesting place and the people are so friendly and happy. We were amazed at the early houses and how simple they were - often built with whatever materials were available. We imagine in the heat of summer and cold of winter, life would have been tough. 

I was pretty keen to see Lake Torrens, so we took a fairly rugged 17km trek to the edge and really couldn’t see much. The joke was, back in town, we had a much better view of the lake - which is a huge salt lake that fills very rarely. 

We have never before taken a beer as an entry fee to anything, but that’s what we did to see Cal the Stoner!

His work is amazing - that tiger was made from all different small pieces of stone - the stripes are natural tonings in the rock and the claws and tail are made of opal. It took him 8000 hours to complete it - and now he is working on a full sized lady - she is coming along beautifully. In between, he showed us other projects which are incredibly intricate.  It was well worth giving up a beer!

Talking to locals, we learned such a lot about the opal business and the ebbs and flows of success. The community is very strong and we enjoyed a coffee in their community hub and every Sunday, they cook up a big breakfast - pity we will miss that. 

We came onto Roxby Downs and two things surprise us. One, it’s so clean tidy and organised and two, there are many empty shops in the shopping centre. That is the result of the centre management in far off Melbourne, setting rentals far too high, and possibly Covid, which encouraged online shopping. 

We watched a video on the Olympic dam mining which was very informative, and we did try to visit the mine today, but it’s all a prohibited site so we saw nothing. It’s unbelievable that there is 400kms of roads up to 4 kms under ground and that the uranium deposit is the largest known in the world - plus is has the 4th largest copper deposit. Gold and silver are minor by- products. It certainly is a huge mine and judging by the number of accommodation places - both here at Roxby Downs and at Olympic Dam, must employ hundreds of people. 

The caravan park here is excellent - we have the use of free washing facilities, can walk into town (probably taking a map would help) and are able to have our camp fire. The staff are very obliging and friendly - seems a common theme in these remote places. Tomorrow we will head off up the Borefield track to the Oodnadatta track and onto Marree and Farina. The weather has been mild and we’ve yet to pack away all summer gear - though we do believe some rain could be coming. After last years wet trip, this year we haven’t struck any rains. Good for camping - maybe not for farmers. We trust all is well with our readers, and send our love. ❌❌❌❌