The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
With Woomera receding in the distance, the expedition hurtles south toward civilization and lunch.
Real topography!
An odd piece of industrial equipment on the move.
TWO pieces of odd machinery!
And with that, the expedition entered Port Augusta for a quick bite to eat before proceeding to Clare.
The expedition arrived at Woomera, a formerly closed-to-outsiders Australian Defense Force facility.
Welcome to the Rocket Holiday Park.
An appropriate moon for an appropriate facility.
The expedition’s campsite.
The local colourful bar complete with a surly bartender who had many wonderful stories of high adventure with rockets. She had a well-stocked bar, too.
One of the many rockets on display in Woomera.
The symbol of Woomera.
An old Canberra twin engine bomber.
rocket range equipment.
Petrel supersonic target rocket.
Blue Steel air to ground missile.
Rolls Royce RZ2 Engine.
The remnants of a Blue Streak missile.
A Black Knight rocket.
A Sea Slug missile guidance system.
Target drone.
A Jabiru.
Parts of a Redstone rocket that was recovered from the desert.
A JINDIVIK target aircraft.
Meteor MK-7
A Black Arrow.
A Thunderbird.
Cluster bombs.
Protest moments.
The small hobby telescope at the edge of Woomera.
Americans and Brits spent some time in the desert with the Aussies.
South from Coober Pedy, the expedition encounters yet more flat earth.
Every 20 kilometers or so, small installations of solar power dot the highway. The small huts contain what appears to be primitive fiber-optic signal repeaters.
A microwave repeater tower.
Now entering the Woomera Prohibited Zone.
Caution: Runway ahead.
The highway is an emergency landing strip for aircraft operating in the Woomera Prohibited Zone.
It seems several languages are needed in this part of the world.
Actual trees!
A long line of freight cars headed somewhere.
A vast, semi-dry lakebed.