Does anyone have any info re: Thumrait or Salalah? (Muscat)

I am having fun trying to discover Oman via the Internet without ever having been there - at least not yet! I have applied for a new position at the Thumrait AB just north of Salalah. Most of the information I have seen so far is in and/or around Muscat. It looks like there might be a mountain range between but there's a pretty solid highway connecting the two. Anyone out there have any info specifically about the southern Oman area?