Friday, Jul 22, 2005 at 19:48
Hi Wolfie,
We went thru there in October. For some unknown reason, it was the hottest day of the trip and we came out sunburnt :-))
But I find it a fascinating area. There were plough marks either side of the track to Totem, which I was guessing was a token effort at buring some radioactivity. And there appeared to be lots of stuff buried on the western side of Emu Claypan.
The stuff I found interesting was the Totem sites themselves, with the eerie lack of vegetation, the bent and destroyed tower footings, the black glass sand, and the schrapnel lying around. And that huge coax cable on the road to Totem 1, which I guess was used to detonate the bomb. We also found Sturts desert pea on the track in, and lots of rabbit burrows - but didn't see any rabbits with two heads :-)) We also went out to Observation Point, but like you say, only bits and pieces of cable and pipe there. I assume this was
the spot where all those guys stood with their welding glasses waiting to turn around. We read the last chapter of "Blast the Bush" there which sort of made it come to life.
I guess you passed Camera C site at the
Dingo Claypan turnoff. And there are a couple of areas of the old Emu township that were recently buried over when we were first there a few years ago. There was a track heading south just before Emu claypan that leads into an
open space, with remains of the old railway line, and even trucks that had been buried. And just west of the Emu claypan track, theres the terraced areas where I assume the tent city had been.
It would be great to have had a more definitive guide as to what was originally there. Might do some more reading before the next trip.
Cheers
Phil
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