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The
tracking station is located 35kms southwest of Canberra city.
A pleasant 45 minutes drive through forest and farmland.
Directions
and Maps
Travel to the Canberra Deep
Space Communication Complex takes about 40-45 minutes from the
centre of Canberra city. We are located approximately 35 kilometres
southwest of the city and can be easily accessed via the route
known as Tourist Drive 5 (TD5).
TD5 is a 73 kilometre loop
taking you through the beautiful Tidbinbilla valley and there
are several attractions along the way. The road twists and winds
a bit, but you can't get lost on it as it's a single road with
only one or two turn-offs.
Northside
Access
Best from Belconnen,
Woden and City...
Travel to Cotter Road which branches from off from Adelaide Avenue
(not far past Parliament House and The Lodge). You can also access
Cotter Road from Belconnen by driving down Tuggeranong Parkway
or Coppins via Crossing Road. Pass by Mount Stromlo on towards
Cotter.
Once on the Cotter Road keep
following it past Mt Stromlo Observatory, over the Murrumbidgee
River and past the Cotter picnic area where the road turns sharply
to the left (at this time there is a lot of works going on associated
with the construction of the new Cotter Dam - until 2014).
After 16 kilometres of former
plantation forests and farms in the Tidbinbilla region you will
reach a turnoff on the left - Discovery Drive - for the Deep
Space Complex.
Four kilometres to go and you
will come over the hill and see the large antennas of the Canberra
Deep Space Communication Complex.
Southside
Access
Best from City,
Tuggeranong or Queanbeyan...
From Queanbeyan you must travel on the Monaro Highway towards
Cooma. There is a turn-off on the right for Johnson Drive. Follow
this past a number of roundabouts till the road becomes Woodcock
Drive.
From the City, take Adelaide
Avenue past Parliament House, then watch for the turn-off onto
Cotter Road. Along Cotter Road take the turn-off for the Tuggeranong
Parkway which later becomes Drakeford Drive. At a large roundabout
take Woodcock Drive. Two kilometres along Woodcock Drive is a
turnoff on the right to Jim Pike Avenue for Point Hut Crossing.
Pass over the crossing (a popular swimming area) and at the end
of that road turn right towards Tidbinbilla.
Ten kilometres along that road
(Tidbinbilla Road) you will pass the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
on the left. Two kilometres later is a turnoff on the right -
Discovery Drive - for the Deep Space Complex (aka Tidbinbilla
Tracking Station).
Four kilometres to go and you
will come over the hill and see the large antennas of the Canberra
Deep Space Communication Complex. |
