The end of this paved section the road ended abruptly where it continued like an unmade bed full of tyre eating, potholes as the National Highway continued bone jarringly south for over 100km to where it joined up with the civilised section of the National Highway just a few km out from Port Augusta.
Up to the mid 80's Woomera was a closed town, any visitor wishing to visit the town was required to stop at a road block guard house and enter the building to fill in a visitors form, this included, name and address drivers license along with time of arrival, intention of the visit, names of anyone you intend to visit while in town and the time of your departure. (Note: Not this is not an estimated time of departure).
Woomera was home to 2000 American Airforce personnel who talked and listened to satellites they drove about in space from a secret base just a little way to the south on the shore of Island Lagoon.
Woomera also housed a number of personnel from the Australian Airforce and a contingent of boffins from the Australian Weapons Research Establishment who played about with stuff no one was suppose to know about. Occasionally the odd smoke trail shot skyward at one hell of rate, letting off coloured explosives along the way or the occasional appearance of weird flying machines that spluttered about, sometimes a Mirage jet or two were spotted racing over the nearby flat salt pans letting loose some new type of ordinance that occasionally identified one of the concrete filled army tanks out on the lake as either a national threat or simply something that got in the way of it's ground skimming capability.
As a gliding instructor I knew a few of the glider pilots from the Woomera Gliding club having had a hand in their initial training at the Waikerie Gliding club. Also having been one of the training instructors I had also had a hand in the training of their flying instructors.
I sometimes visited the club simply as a means of getting away from the mine site for a while.
The club had two gliders an old but very well kept K-13 two seater and a KA-6 both kept in a far corner of an enormous locked hangar. Often when retrieving these aircraft other military aircraft would be discovered quietly parked in another corner of this enormous building which took a good fifteen to twenty minutes to unlock, walk the length of the hangar, retrieve the gliders, exit and re-secure and lock the doors while pretending to ignore the other aircraft with their load of weaponry and coloured painted bands in place didn't exist.
A few of the US airforce personnel joined the club and learn't to fly gliders while stationed in Woomera.
One morning I was assisting with the instructing when a short gentleman with a severe crew cut approached, his presence producing an instant response from the other Americans. As they stood to attention and acknowledge his presence.
Walking up to me he reminded me of an Ernest K Gann character out of the book, "Fate is the Hunter" and announced, I am Colonel Pepper and I would like to learn to fly.
The thought of teaching an American Airforce Colonel to fly struck me as a little odd, then he went on to inform me not all Airforce personnel fly airplanes, I fly satellites.
A local plumber was doing a job in the nearby town of Pimba just 6km south of Woomera.
For almost a week he had been going back and forth several time during the day stopping at the guard house each time to show his pass, and sign the book, even though the guard knew him quite well as a local.
In a bit of a rush and having passed through the gate three or four time during the day, the plumber slowed and waved to the guard as he continued on his way.
Retrieving his weapon from inside the door the guard shot out a rear tyre of the plumbers vehicle effectively bringing it to a halt, he then walked to where the shocked plumber had come to a halt only a few meters past the gate.
Peering in at the plumber the guard said, "You forgot to show your security pass and sign the book".
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