Long Road to the Alice: Port Augusta to Alice Springs

For the first leg of our journey we went west to Iron Knob, a once thriving iron mining town. Next we explored the Gawler Ranges and Mt Ive Station and visit Lake Gairdner, a large salt-lake, splendid at sunset. Now our journey went northwards to Kingoonya and the Transcontinental Railway Line. And finally west into the Great Victoria Desert and Goog's Track.

The weather was threatening to rain as we travelled down the desert sand of Goog's Track. Instead of camping by the salt-lake, we continued down to Ceduna, a seaside township. We tackled some beach driving near Ceduna and further west at Fowlers Bay before travelling north, across the railway line, heading for Maralinga, the atomic bomb testing site.

At Maralinga we joined a full day comprehensive tour of the complex of the atomic testing site lead by Robin Matthews. From the township and airport, we drove out to the testing sites where 7 atomic bombs were exploded. The next day we travelled north into the Great Victoria Desert to meet the Anne Beadell Highway.

We travelled further west along the Anne Beadell Highway and stopped to explore Emu, the first atomic testing site on mainland Australia. Little remains there today except for the airstrip, first surveyed by Len Beadell, whose company built the desert highways. Along this way we saw Serpentine Lakes, crossed into Western Australia, visited the crashed plane site and camped at the old homestead.

We visited Surveyor-General's Corner, where the state borders meet, before travelling north along Sandy Blight Junction Track. We climbed the Sir Frederick Range for some stunning views. Finally we turned east to for Alice Springs, via the meteorite crater of Gosse's Bluff, followed by the beautiful Palm Valley, before tackling the Finke River Track and the unusually flooded Finke River.