Car Rental Olympic Dam Airport

Olympic Dam is a mining site 15 kilometres north of the nearest town, Roxby Downs. Located 562 kilometres north of Adelaide, Olympic Dam and Roxby Downs are in the heart of the South Australian outback. The town is surrounded by giant dried out salt lakes, red sand and sweeping plains. The town was built as a service town for the mining communities of the area, with a cinema, shopping centre, sports facilities, accommodation (motel and caravan park) and police station.

The famous town of Coober Pedy is not far away, known for its underground dwellings called ‘dugouts’, used to escape the heat, so naturally, Roxby Downs is also a hotbed for heat, known to reach nearly 50 degrees Celsius in the summer months. This extreme heat leads many visitors to venture into its natural landscape at other times of the year.

The main urban attraction in the area is the mining site at Olympic Dam. Roxby Downs does offer a tour known as the Roxby Discovery Tour that takes you behind the scenes at the mining site as well as the town. A particularly interesting part of the tour is the Arid Recovery Centre, a large wildlife reserve dedicated to the conservation of threatened species. The site includes a number of native species in a closed setting, studying them to figure out the best ways for them to survive in the future. On-site, you will find the greater bilby, Burrowing bettong, Shark Bay bandicoot and other small mammals and reptiles native to the area. The tour will take you to the recovery centre, where you can watch the sunset with light refreshments. 

Use your Rental Park to see Alien-like National Parks

The flat salt lake pans of South Australia can seem otherworldly, and the best place to fly in and see them is Olympic Dam, close to both Lake Torrens National Park and Lake Gairdner National Park. Most of the year, the lakes are completely dried up, and while occasional heavy rain can see a small amount of water sitting on the lake bed, it seldom lasts long. In some sections of the lakes, the salt can be over a metre thick. The best way to see the lakes and surrounding parkland up close is with a rental car, driving around the perimeter and then taking stops to walk on the set trails. Due to the long flat surface, the lakes are often used to try and break land speed records, with Lake Gairdner hosting the annual Dry Lake Racers event. The lakes are popular with photographers for their unique scenery, native wildlife and unique flora and fauna. 

Coober Pedy and Other Regional Towns in Your Car Hire

There are a few scattered regional towns in this unique area of the world, all accessible from Olympic Dam Airport with a hire car. Woomera is 55-minutes south, home to the Woomera National Aerospace and Missile Park; also in town are the Heritage Centre, History Museum and heritage buildings such as the Eldo Hotel. The most famous town in the area is Coober Pedy, a 4.5-hour drive, stopping off at other regional towns such as Glendambo. Coober Pedy is famous for its underground city dwellings, opal mining and outback scenery. The dugout homes are more than just unique places to stay; they also serve an important purpose, with the dugouts being some 20 degrees cooler than the surface on extreme heat days. Visit the town's museums, Aboriginal interpretive centre, art galleries and mining sites.