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Andamooka is the friendly heart of opal country, South Australia. We are situated some
580 kilometres north of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. The Stuart Highway
will bring you through Port Augusta and as far north as Woomera where you must turn right
for Roxby Downs and Andamooka. The road is a good sealed road all the way to our motel unit
doors!! Don’t believe what you see on a lot of the maps. The road has been sealed all
the way into town since 1997.
There are many places to visit along the way and we recommend the following if you are
travelling the Stuart Highway from Adelaide.
Port Augusta is your halfway point. Visit the Wadlata Outback Centre on Flinders Terrace
to discover what the Outback is, where its origins lie and what the future holds. A fascinating
journey into past, present and future.
Stop in also at the Arid Land Gardens which are situated a couple of kilometres north of
Port Augusta on the Highway. They have a great café for your rest break, a great
view of the Flinders Ranges as well as an excellent display of flora, polished native wood
and handcrafted souvenir items.
Coming on to Woomera, have a break at the Heritage Centre where you will learn all about
the fascinating history of this custom-built defence town. Just over an hour from there
and you will be in Andamooka.
Try to plan your visit so that you will be here for a Monday, Thursday or Saturday so that
you will be able to take the WMC Olympic Dam Site Tour, which departs from the Main Street
in Roxby Downs at 9am. We can also make arrangements for an evening tour of the Arid Recovery
Reserve. This is an area reclaimed from the WMC Lease by WMC and fully fenced. All feral
animals such as rabbits, foxes and cats have been removed and native species such as the
bilby are being reintroduced. Roxby Downs is a very new town and also has a Cultural Precinct
and visitor’s information centre.
There are several options to travel on from Andamooka. If you wish to do a small loop to
head back to Adelaide, you can travel up the Borefield Road (out of Roxby Downs) turn right
on the Oodnadatta –Marree Track to visit Marree, then south via Copley and Leigh Creek
to Adelaide. This Road will give you access also to Arkaroola, Wilpena Pound and many other
historical towns throughout the Flinders Ranges. Try to visit or stay at the Tarlee Antiques
& Tearooms. They are situated just over an hour from Adelaide, have great rooms available
with good access to Clare and the Barossa Valley.
For those wishing to do some 4 Wheel Driving, access is available on the Torrens Track
which heads north out of Andamooka toward the Stuart Creek Opal Fields then east across
the top of Lake Torrens through Mulgaria Station and Farina to connect once again to the
Leigh Creek Road. The Mulgaria road is a private road and there is a fee payable per vehicle.
Further information is available at Dukes Bottlehouse Motel.
To travel further North you may also travel up the Borefield road and turn left on the
Oodnadatta Track to head past Lake Eyre South, William Creek, and on to Oodnadatta, Coober
Pedy, Marla Bore and on to the Northern Territory.
These tracks are not sealed so, although they can normally be negotiated by conventional
vehicle, track information must be obtained before travelling The RAA also have a great
publication by Stuart Nicol called ‘ Outback: South and Central Australia’ that
covers all the tracks and travelling information.
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