The Stuart Highway has proved to be really interesting.
We have really enjoyed brushing up on our geography.
-Uluru . Biggest rock in the world.
world. Visible from space. Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is a massive sandstone monolith .It’s sacred to indigenous Australians and believed to be about 700 million years old. It’s within Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
Height =863 m
Circumference at base=9.4 km
-Mt Conner. Located on a private property, Mount Conner is a distinctive flat-topped sandstone capped monolith. Has trees growing on top. In parallel line with Uluru (previously Ayers Rock,( named Sir John Ayers) and Kata Tjuta ( previously The Olgas , named after Queen Olga of Wurttemberg of Russia)
-Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) also home to the Valley of the Winds and Walpa Gorge, a Magnificent towering sharp gorge, carved from sandstone .
Kata Tjuta, are a group of 36 large domed rocks or bornhardts.The 36 domes that make up Kata Tjuta cover an area of 21.68 km2 .The highest point, Mount Olga, is 1,066 m and 198 m (650 ft) higher than Uluru).

Some Cattle stations became Roadhouses, wayside stops and camping grounds, such as :

Kulgera is the first and last pub in Northern Territory. Also operates as a roadhouse. Kulgera is the Pitjantjatjara name for an outcrop of granite rocks just east of the settlement. The name Kulgera is derived from kalgka in the Pertam language of the mountains and that word “refers to a particularly private recess of a private part of the female anatomy” . A pastoral lease of the area has been operating since 1928.

Curtin Springs … In 1957 the Severins installed fuel tanks to service the bus tours that had commenced from Alice Springs to Uluru and provided food and drink to tourists on board. Later Severin acquired a liquor license and started a pub which later became part of the restaurant. It now also has a large camping area for travellers.
After destructive fires in the ’70s, The station lost over 250,000 acres (101,171 ha) of bush, nearly a quarter of its pasture land

Mt Ebenezer…Mount Ebenezer Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the NT, and operates a fuel stop and small Indigenous art gallery.
Erldunda…Erldunda is a homestead at the road junction of the Stuart Highway and LAsseter HIghways. Erldunda Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station. It occupies an area of 1,200 square miles.

Marla…Marla is a small town on the Stuart Highway in north-western South Australia. It is located near the Ghan railway line. At the 2006 census, Marla had a population of 72
-The Royal Flying Doctor has a landing strip on the Stuart Highway, 150 km south of Coober Pedy. Complete with a turning area at each end.

-A mobile phone booster satellite dish is located on the Stuart Highway about 50 km from Alice Springs. You place your mobile phone on a pole which is located below a large overhead booster dish. Excellent idea. Hope the future will see more of these, along the long stretches of highway where mobile phone reception is non existent.
– A loaf of Helgas bread is $6.50 at the IGA, Yulara. And it’s been frozen. Most bread available in the outback has been frozen
– Kangaroo Tails were packaged ,frozen, and available to buy, skun, ready to use ( maybe for soup or casserole) and located in the icecream freezer at Stuart Well Roadhouse/Tavern.
– Australia produces around 90% of the worlds opals, at Coober Pedy, Andamooka and Mintable
-Lake Eyre is the largest salt lake in Australia, and currently flooding. Teaming with bird life and fish
-Woomera as a town, didn’t exist until 1947