Australia So Much to See

The sandy Northern Territory side of the Great Central Road had been recently graded and we made very good time.  The corrugations are never graded right out and soon return with the traffic on the road.  The Petermann Ranges came into view, and the drive was lovely. 

Central Australia 2008.  We leave the Northern Territory via the Great Central Road, and continue into Western Australia, featuring a visit to the Giles weather station and Len Beadell displays. 

Scenery was constantly changing, with areas of spinifex, mulga, mallee and desert oaks and low ranges all around and different shades of sand. 

Our good run on this wide road continued, with only a few other vehicles sharing it with us.  Here small corrugations remain on the graded road where fresh grader tracks can be seen.  After a couple of weeks the corrugations will have returned.

Camels are in abundance, from large family groups with young calves to solitary bulls.  Even in daylight hours, driving with caution is needed as they can step out right in front of traffic giving little warning for braking, and may stay there blocking the road for some time, or amble along the road ahead of the car. 

REPLICA JUNE 2000

The camp ground near Kaltukatjara settlement at Docker River is in a grove of desert oaks with hills of the Petermann Range surrounding it, and the local community has set up honesty box camping with flush toilets and cold showers in tin sheds at each camp.  However it has a history of vandalism.  When we arrived we found the water supply no longer worked and the honesty box was smashed. Having made such good time on the graded road, we had no need to stop at this otherwise pleasant location. 

The drive into Western Australia and beyond for some time was through a series of ranges and the country was picturesque.

Here we passed the first Len Beadell plaque of the drive.  He marked this tree with a plaque that reads:

Remains of the first Blue Streak rocket launched from Woomera Rocket Range on 5^th June 1964, was found fifty kilometres south east of Giles in 1980.

This survey peg was placed at the Giles Weather Station by Len Beadell 9^th May 1956.

The Len Beadell team (who called themselves the Gunbarrel Construction Co) grader is on display together with three original Len Beadell marker plaques.  Plaques in the field have been replaced with replicas to preserve the originals.  The map on the signage shows the areas where Beadell’s team formed roads. 

Surveyor Len Beadell, also a wonderful cartoonist, drew this cartoon which is on display in the visitor room at the Giles Weather Station. 

Weather balloons are released from weather stations throughout the world at the simultaneously, giving a snapshot of the world’s weather twice a day.  The balloon released in the afternoon is smaller than the morning balloon. 

The station is staffed by a team of four who run it on a six-month tour. The station has satellite and telephone communications facilities, and hydrogen gas is produced from water on site for weather balloons. 

The original purpose of the station was to provide weather data for the UK atomic weapons tests at Emu Plains and Maralinga and to support the rocket testing program based at Woomera.  Giles Weather Station was transferred from the Department of Defence to the Bureau of Meteorology in 1972.

The Giles Weather Station operates on South Australian time, so remember this when going to see the morning weather balloon release. The stations was established in 1956 by the Weapons Research Establishment (now known as the Defence Science and Technology Organisation), a division of the Department of Defence.

The enclosure pictured at right contains the evaporation pond, thermometers and wind gauges.  Wind at the taller on one the left is twice the speed as at the shorter on to the right of the picture.  

Other measurements taken include temperatures at ground level, half a metre and one metre below ground, minimum and maximum temperatures over preceding 24 hours, evaporation over a 24 hour period, humidity and wind speed at two levels.

The balloon has a small transmitter dangling from it to transmit comprehensive weather data.