Flinders Ranges Trip (Roxby/Oodnadatta Track)

We got a couple extra days off this weekend for R&R (rest and recreation). Tim went to Adelaide to meet his wife who is visiting for a week. Christa and I did a tour of the Flinders Ranges to the East of Woomera.
We started in Woomera (H) and did a clockwise loop, spending most of our time in the Flinders Ranges (D, E, F), before returning to Woomera.

The first day, we went as far as Roxby Downs (B) where we typically go for our grocery shopping and ankle x-rays (if we are Tim). We stayed overnight and did a tour of the Olympic Dam Mine just north of Roxby the following morning. The town of Roxby was built to support the mine. Pretty much every one there is directly or indirectly related to the mine. It is one of the largest copper and uranium mines in the world. It also produces small amounts of gold and silver as byproducts. At the moment, the mine is completely underground, though it is possible some areas of strip mining may open in the future. Unfortunately, we were not able to take our cameras on the tour nor did the tour take us underground. I would have loved to take the 4.2 km tunnel drive down to the main working area in the mine.

After that, we headed up north onto dirt roads to meet up with the Oodnadatta Track which is along the Old Ghan rail line. At one point, we drove for 70 minutes without seeing a single other vehicle. Just miles and miles of this:


Once we reached our northern most point and turned onto the Oodnadatta Track, the traffic increased to a car every 10 minutes or so.
Turning onto the Oodnadatta Track:

Along the track, in the middle of nowhere, we stumbled across the Mutonia Sculpture Garden; a gallery of large art along the road. The little information I found on it is that mechanic Robin Cooke started it in 1997 and added a piece a year. Some of the older pieces were starting to deteriorate and/or been vandalized.
A bus mounted on a section of train bridge:

Two planes welded together:

The thing I found most interesting (as usual) was looking for remnants of the old rail line that paralleled the road.
An old section of rail bridge. Occasionally, these areas flood as you can see from the way the land has been washed out below the bridge. It is so hot and arid, though, it is tough to imagine that happening.

The old Wangianna Station. The remnants of the track pass about 30 yards in front of it.

Path of the railroad track:

An old water tower for the steam engines:

hi-res photos