Sun, 16th June, 2024 Community Campground, Pimba to Community Campground, Andamooka, SA (Woomera, Roxby Downs & Cal’s Sculptures)

6.7 degrees, clear sky over us now but there is a heavy cloud band in the south.

Packed up and headed off for the big drive to Woomera - ha ha 5km. Warning sign as we neared the town.

Stopped at the entrance and checked out the info etc. Water, of course, was very important. The public has access to lots of things these days.

Found a few ‘pet rocks’ we have seen at different sites.

Drove into the village - there is a caravan park here now too. Jon stayed here somewhere when he was doing a drilling job at one of the BHP sites and they needed accommodation. He had sent us photos of some rockets. We parked near St Michael’s Catholic Church and a map of the village.

Walked down past the history museum and the Rocket Park. The museum doesn’t open till 11am. Lots to look at in the park and even more across the road. A few didn’t have plaques.

Remains of the first stage section of Australia’s first satellite, sent in 1967, which they recovered from the Simpson Desert, 18^th April, 1990.

A bit of info as we head down to the Heritage Centre and cafe.

On the corner is a sculpture and the survey marker set by Len Beadell who suggested this location for the village.

Behind that is the Theatre which was opened by Burt Newton in 1963.

Another rocket - the Thunderbird.

Outside the Heritage Centre is the amazing story of Len Beadell. We have read his books, listened to a talk on the ABC and been on a few of the tracks he pushed through the remote centre of Australia. A very amazing, witty and talented man.

More info about him inside.

A bit of info about Andamooka too.

Lovely cafe area with two museums. Great displays and so much information. More about Len too as he was such a big part of this area’s history. All those calculations and mostly done at night by the rover’s headlamps in the cold and the heat. Amazing. His cartoons were fabulous too.

Into the next museum that was full of rockets. Unfortunately they did the writing in white on light yellow which made reading a bit hard in there. So much to read and see.

Found out about the dish at Island Lagoon.

Back to the Museum but it was still closed. Maybe they only used the other one now - should change the sign then.

Using their map we tried to drive out to the cemetery but the road is now closed. Drove around the village checking out the accommodation, parks etc. Found the ‘guard’ gate that we saw on the info at Pimba - now looks like someone lives there. That entrance road was changed to the new one we came in on.

Back out to the main road then along a bit to turn right onto the Olympic Dam Highway. Straight ahead is fenced off Defence Force restricted area. We drove along the road a bit then found the cemetery. Len and Anne’s memorial stands out.

The others were flat and sadly so many were for children during the 50s and 60s - a lot of stillborn babies. There were more graves on the bottom section of the cemetery but I didn’t walk down to see them.

Back onto the road which was open and treeless. Passed the turn off to Arcoona Station. There are three lots of power lines beside us obviously heading out to the mine.

We pass under two lots and one lots stayed on our right.

Turned off onto Olympic Way and into Roxby Downs - a BHP mining town. Very neat, clean and lots of grass and trees.

We parked near the sporting area to have lunch but stayed inside as the breeze is still quite cold.

Walked into town for a look around. Nice mural and some funny advice.

Around to the Information Centre. A rolling copper drum gives the milestones of the mine and township.

The Info Centre is now in the library but there was some good info on display. I wondered where it got the dam name from. A lot of info about the arid plants and animals etc.

Back to the truck then a drive around the streets checking out the area - very nice. Back out the main road and along 9km to the mine site. No lookout here unfortunately to look over the mine area. There were some workshops and accommodation then the gated entrance to the mine. You can do a mine tour but we skipped that this time.

Back to the turn off to Andamooka. We are driving parallel with a sand ridge then we turn and cross it. Back into the open treeless plains again. Into Andamooka Station.

5 wedge-tailed eagles and some crows were enjoying a roo lunch by the roadside.

Stopped at the Information Board before we head into Andamooka. Great map. View across to the town.

Lots of white mounds everywhere and a ‘lost’ bus. I wonder where he was going to use the boat. Lots of homes, no underground living here.

We headed around to Cal the Stoner’s place as the brochure we picked up said open 2-4, bring a beer or make a donation. We found the road and drove up onto a flat area but only saw and old shack and big bus. Nothing that looked like it would showcase an amazing stone masonry art piece that he had made - a huge Tiger like on his brochure.

We were about to drive off when Cal came out and waved to us. We backed up and parked.

He was a very ‘interesting’ chap - we didn’t have beer so put some money in his donation box. He showed us his new project, Goddess (his 16^th intricarved sculpture) which he has been working on over the last 8 months. He was happy for me to take photos. Steve was impressed with his ‘inspirations’ hanging on the wall. He has the hair and breasts (4 stones to just make the nipple) ready and is working on her face. He had worked for 30 years as a stone mason working in the cities but gave that up to come up here and work on his art. He explained how he used Grampian Sandstone from Dunkeld, Vic and each 1 inch deep piece has to be shaped to fit in with the colour etc. Amazing. He works out here in the shed. He had just finished choosing and cutting the sandstone to make the Goddess’ tattoos. She will have opals everywhere too. Will have to keep an eye on his Instagram to see the end result - @calthestoner, he was uploading his latest progress on the Goddess when we pulled up.

He has a ‘quirky’ bar and said to come down to he could take a photo of us. He had a couple of other pieces wrapped in plastic to keep the persistent dust off them as they are sold.

We went back up and he uncovered the Andamooka Tiger. It weighs 1.2 tonnes and is made around a basic metal skeleton welded to the base. All the markings are in the stone, not painted on. Over 2000 pieces of stone are carved to make the Tiger. As Andamooka Opal is the most stable opal it won’t fade, craze or crack. The Tiger’s claws are made from rainbow matrix opal. The tip of the tail, fangs and his nose is also the same. The eyes are honey matrix opal with red rolling flash opal as the pupils. Unfortunately he has been undercover for a while so the opal brilliance wasn’t as good as it all need a good clean but you could easily see the beautiful colours in the sunlight. He is planning to display it in a shop at Roxby Downs later on and will have it gleaming then. He started it in August 2018 in St Kilda, Vic but he needed a different location to concentrate on it so he moved here in March 2019. He brought it all up in the old bus and finished the creation here after 3 and a half years (8000 hours).

We thanked him for his time and for sharing his story and showing us his amazing sculptures. He has a great view from up here too. I said he needs a big sign on the bus so people know they have the right place. He gave us another brochure to share with someone else.

We drove checking out the ‘homes’. They are all above ground here, some are just shacks and others are substantial homes. Up the hill to the Andamooka lookout sign. Great view from here too.

Around to the cemetery. I went for a wander while Steve put the kettle on for a cuppa. The couple from Pimba came by so we gave them Cal’s brochure so they could check it out. Lots of different nationalities are buried here - all looking for the big opal find and a better life. Lots of different graves decorations too.

Steve found a big piece of gypsum.

Back to the Community Campground. There is a powered section in the middle but we went down by the ‘creek’ and set up camp.

We had a wander around and chatted with a couple. He had found a small bit of opal on a rock from the noodling area nearby. There is a playground and a few kids were having fun. Starting to cool off so we headed back to our home.

A few birds in the creek. Quiet night.