Day 80: Mon 10 Aug 26 - Roxby Downs to Spalding

August 10, 2026

Mon 10 Aug 26 - Roxby Downs to Spalding (415km)

The strong continued at least until about 0300 then it seems to settle by daybreak, still blowing madly, just not as bad.

We drove away from Roxby Downs at 0830, and enjoyed the green countryside with clumps of of bright Sturt Desert Pea close to the roadside. 83 km later, we stopped at Woomera on the way back to the Stuart Highway before heading southward to Port Augusta. When we arrived, I checked the heat of the rear passenger side wheel again only to find it was much hotter than it should be. It wasn't as hot as it had been previously, so I thought I would just drive on and monitor it. We had a look around the Rocket Park and through the Heritage Centre at Woomera for about 45 minutes, grabbed a coffee and muffin to take away, and were on our way again by 1030. Woomera is a very interesting place, but sadly in decline, and nothing else here to see or do - not even a caravan park or free camp to stopover. The exposed open and undulating road from Woomera to Port Augusta, with a strong side wind, was not kind for our fuel consumption. I stopped a few times and the rear left wheel remained too hot for my liking (much hotter than the other wheels and almost untouchable), but I decided to leave it until we got to Port Augusta, giving me time to think about my next course of action. Apart from about a 15 minute delay along the highway about 50km north of Port Augusta for a road train with 3 trailers that rolled over to be cleared from the road, we had a fairly good run into Port Augusta. Here I refueled again, then used the large concrete parking area to the side to remove the problematic wheel to reset and tighten the bearings again. Amazing how it happens to work it self loose each time. It was obviously too loose last time, so this time I used the other hole (also drilled off centre), to put the pin through, which took a bit of jiggling to get through, but I reckon it is now too tight. Checking the temp further on down the road it was still very hot, so my assumption is probably right. I really need to get this sorted when I get back home - hopefully it gets us there. We took it easy along some backroads to our planned overnighter at a very small country town called Spalding where we have set up for the night by ourselves next to a large grassy footy oval. After setting up, I went for a nice long walk around town while Noel took Olli for a walk, then Olli had a ball chasing a ball on the oval for the next 30 minutes. He hasn't been able to run around freely like that for a long time, and I think he will sleep well tonight, as I will after driving 400+km and dealing with the frustration of this damn overheating wheel again.

Woomera Rocket Park

Woomera Rocket Park - Blue Streak

Woomera Rocket Park - Redstone First Stage

Woomera Rocket Park

Woomera

Woomera Heritage Centre

Woomera Heritage Centre - Cluster Bomb consisting of 100s of small anti personnel bombs

Woomera Heritage Centre

Woomera Heritage Centre - Magnetic Tape recorder recovered from a test satellite in 1966

Northbound roadtrain rollover (semi and 3 trailers) on the highway 50km north of Port Augusta. It came to grief after hitting the soft edges. Thankfully only a short 15minute wait for us. One more carriage to be lifted of the road (see the crane ahead which took up most of the sealed road surface)