We have been here for about 7 days already and it is such a relaxing place. The first night that we arrived the wind was howling through, and being only about 50 metres from the beach, it sounded like the waves were lapping the outside of the van. You will be happy to know that we did not get washed away. After the week here, it is obvious that this would be a beautiful place in the summer. Most of the Yorke Peninsula caters for the fisherman, snorkellers or kids swimming on the beaches.
When we arrived there were only 2 other vans in our section of the park so very peaceful. The weather has been pretty good most of the time that we have been here. We have even had our washing on the clothes line.
We went for our customary drive around the area and visited the little town of Kadina. This is the biggest shopping area in this zone. They even have a Woolworths supermarket. How awesome is that. Nothing much else in the town though. From there we went to check out the town of Port Broughton. The guide showed a town called Alford, on the way, so also worth a look. Yeh sure. Maybe 10 houses, no shops, no signs of life, only an old pub. This does not bade well for Port Broughton. The tourist guide had a great picture of the town but I have no idea where they took the photo, obviously not the Port Broughton we visited. Plenty of boats at the harbour but very little life in the town. Spoke to the café owner and according to him, the entire Yorke Peninsula closes down from April to November, except for the fishermen. Now they tell us.
Next it was off to Wallaroo. No big expectations of this town but it was a surprise. It is a part of the history of South Australia. It was the site of a huge copper mine back in 1863 and some of the ruins of the mine are still standing. The entire area bounded by Moonta, Wallaroo and as far away as Kapunda were all huge copper mines. The workers from these mines were mostly imported from Wales and as such, there is a huge Cornish influence to these areas, from the cafes to the architecture.
On return to the park we found that we had been inundated with other residents There were about another 10 vans in the park and next to us were a group consisting of maybe 4 families, all in tents. Watching the tents disgorge all of the little savages was quite frightening. They just kept coming. In the end there was probably about 10 kids ranging from 2yrs to 12yrs. Awesome.
Had another exploring day to the south and visited first the town of Maitland. On the tourist map it is a virtual tourist hub. Yeh sure it is. I know it was Sunday, but it was a long weekend, but nothing was open. Nothing to see or do here so we bravely pressed on to the next town of the Tourist Guide, Port Victoria. What a mistake. We should have given up at the last town. Oh well, at least this place had a pier and a maritime museum. Oh sorry, it was not open.
As intrepid travellers we did not give up, next town to disappoint us was Currumulka. This was mentioned in the tourist bribes as having a good Sunday Market. Great, lets go there. Sorry but we got there just before 1 and it was due to close at 1. They were right on the money as everyone had finished packing up. Not that it would have been huge anyway, it was only in a space about 25 metres long.
We Victorians don't give up easy, so on to the next place, Minlaton. This place at least has an air strip and a National Trust Museum. We are bound to have a win here. Sorry. The museum was not open but at least we got to take a photo of the plane piloted by Capt. Harry Butler. He was a part of South Australian History, being the first person to fly the mail into the area. That was it for us. We were all touristed out and returned to the kindergarten to relax for the rest of the afternoon.
Still not giving up, we decided on another day to check out the tourist area of Moonta. This was a huge copper mine from the 1860's. It is unbelievable how huge these mines must have been. Out at the Moonta mine they even put up 3 schools just for the children of the miners, and there was even a tram line running from the mines into the town and to the port. Just as in the other mines, most of the miners were imported from Wales.
We decided to go for our own walk around the sites, not bothering with the marked tracks. Deb can be seen walking across the desert, approaching Ayers Rock. This is actually a huge mountain of the slurry that was removed from the mines 100 years ago. The wooden staircase leading up to the top of this mountain was closed but that did not deter your intrepid travellers. We just climbed and clawed our way up the side of the mountain. The lengths that we will go to, just to provide you with the full picture of the area. After that it was time for Deb to give the locals a quick sermon at the 150 yr old church, before heading back for a nap at the kindergarten.
On Tuesday I had to go to Port Augusta to get the jeep serviced. Just a little trip of 240 k's each way. Still, it had to be done before heading into outback N.S.W. next week.
Let me tell you about the town of Port Augusta. What a sh#t hole that is. I was dropped into the town by a worker from the jeep dealership. I should have been suspicious when he put his ballistic vest on for the trip. But regardless, I strode into the shopping area. How frightening was that. The first thing that I noticed was the smell. The entire shopping area smelt like a toilet. There were about 3 pubs in the short main street and I am sure they don't have toilets inside, as the clients just use the footpath outside the pubs. Of course, there were also several areas that must be set aside as boxing rings, as there were 3 separate areas where lots of blood had been shed. Not to be put off, I continued my stroll and sadly, the only locals in the street were of the indigenous variety. Ages from 10yrs to 80yrs and several involved in serious domestics outside the post office. Being the only Caucasian in the street was really quite daunting. Still, had a coffee and decided how to escape this hell hole. The only thing to do was escape back to the safety of the jeep dealership.
That's enough of an overload for now. We will be having our final exploration to the east tomorrow so more later.
By4now.
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