1. Melbourne to Ceduna
We left home in late March and headed towards the heart of our travels which will be in Western Australia. On the way, we stopped in Sea Lake, Adelaide to see friends and Maralinga to tour the former British nuclear test site.
Leaving home (well, the caravan storage facility) to start our journey
Sea Lake Lake Tyrrell
Sea Lake: Lake Tyrrell
Sea Lake: Lake Tyrrell
Sea Lake: Silo Art
Sea Lake: Street art
Adelaide: Max and Nanette… Two of my favourite people
Visiting Adrian and his family
Burra: House from cover of Midnight Oil’s album ‘Diesel and Dust’
Burra: Wearing my t-shirt from Midnight Oil’s last tour
Driving past Lake MacDonnell
Driving off the Eyre Highway to Maralinga
Maralinga
Maralinga: Our guide, Rob, is a legend of Maralinga. He has been living and working on the land there for 50 years
Maralinga: The airport. The runway is 5 metres deep concrete at the landing end
Maralinga: Battery powered lights which were lined along the runway
Maralinga village: The old swimming pool is now filled in with dirt
Maralinga village: The old tennis courts have gone to ruin
Maralinga: Remnants of the Australian military
Maralinga: Remnants of the Australian military
Maralinga: One of the many test sites
Maralinga: Metal boxes which contained measuring instruments.
Maralinga: The ground around the test sites has a lot of glass. The sand would be sucked up into the mushroom cloud and be deposited back to earth as glass
Maralinga: The ground around the test sites has a lot of glass. The sand would be sucked up into the mushroom cloud and be deposited back to earth as glass
Maralinga: The sign is a warning for indigenous people. In advance of the actual tests, the government sent out one man to cover 2,000 square kilometres of land in 10 days. The challenge was he could not speak any indigenous language. No one knows how many people were affected by the tests
Maralinga: To clean up the site, the government dug up the top layers of the earth and buried it
Maralinga: To clean up the site, the government dug up the top layers of the earth and buried it
Maralinga: The final test site prepared. Before it was used there was agreed a ban of above ground nuclear testing
Maralinga: Leaving Maralinga
Great Australian Bight: Bunda Cliffs
Great Australian Bight: Millie showing her ‘heart’ sign on the Bunda Cliffs
Great Australian Bight: Bunda Cliffs
Great Australian Bight: Bunda Cliffs
Eucla: The old jetty
Eucla: The old jetty
Eucla: The old jetty
Eucla: The old jetty
Eucla: The old telegraph station