We left Ceduna just after sunrise, which seems to be getting later the further west we go.

Today we travel to Maralinga the site of atomic bomb testing in South Australia. As we leave the Eyre Highway and travel north we travel through some old age mallee country and in what seems damper country as these areas are covered with melaleuca woodlands. There is a salt lake to traverse and we travel along the shores of other lakes for a short distance. The mallee understory has a good cover of what looks like blue bush, it’s the rolling hills, the dark green of the mallee, their silver trunks and blue bush that makes this country very picturesque. As the timber fades away we enter the Nullarbor and as we approach Maralinga we climb up into hilly country covered in mallee and spinifex. It’s not long until we cross the Transcontinental railway line, impressive train engineering but the crossing these days is a little ordinary for such a feat.

The entrance to Maralinga is interesting and entry is controlled, part of the fee of entry and tour involves covering the permit to enter this country of the Aṉangu people, their language is Pitjantjatjara Ngaanyatjarra or Yankunytjatjara.

We are greeted by the friendly caretaker at the gate and given a brief run down of the facilities and while many buildings have been removed there is ample here to highlight this was once a sizeable town. If you are interested in the tours here check out Maralinga tours. The campground is comfortable with old building pads serving as campsites, the concrete pads are a metre thick? There are solar hot water showers, flushing toilets and screened camp kitchen that has a gas cooker and sink.

We visit the museum and hospital, at the hospital you can watch old 1950’s film about the atomic bomb tests. It’s an eye opener and only reinforces our need to never use nuclear technology in warfare.