Sorry Greg, I've been a bit busy the last couple of days. I just found this waiting for me.
Out that side of The Alice, what you see is what you get.
The Newman Range is Just about solid Iron Ore, don't hit that, it will really hurt.
From there to Alice, is red sand and gibber desert with low scrub and Spinefex bush. The inland of Australia is all massive pastoral or grazing leasehold "Stations". You call them ranches.
But, they are measured in square miles of area, because the acreages are huge. Ooh, yeah. The Droughtmaster. A home grown "whiteface" Hereford derivative.
Better you hit the mountain, it just don't pay to upset a Droughtmaster bull.
A track a couple of miles wide? Mate, no where big enough. It might take years to find it. Rocks, sticks, sand, a lizard or two. What collateral damage?
There are remote Aboriginal settlements, scattered all throughout our desert lands, out that way from memory the land belongs to the Atatadtjarra peoples.
These overlap with the Pitjajindjarra lands and the Arunta.
Very complex tribal and clan structure in the old civilisation.
A lot of the desert lands, have been returned to the stewardship of the original clans and tribes of the Aboriginal people. And then the Station leases are sub-leased, back to the pastoral holders.
Very complex, thank's to the "public servant".
But, I reckon no problems with crashing a space vehicle out there. We crash all sorts of stuff out there all the time. We crashed the very first vehicle that ever went out there. A Whippett Overlander.
FYI. It has long been my belief there should be a linear accelerator launcher out there. Near enough the Equator, to get some good impetus from Mother Earth in an East-wise launch. Plenty of room for a nice big long track.
Pine Gap, near Alice, for coms, Woomera not far South, and for night landings, keep the big green glow of Maralinga Atomic Testing Grounds to your south.
Lake Disappointment? Named perfectly. If you expect to see a lake there, you will be sadly disappointed.
What's it like out there? Picture Nevada's Death Valley, grab the corners, and stretch it out by a thousand miles more.
Give me plenty of warning, the Land Rover ain't fast. But, I'll be up there to meet the crew.
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