We left Hamilton last Tuesday, the 28th of May, and what a stinking day we chose for our first day. It rained on and off for most of the day. What a great start to this trip. We are not sure exactly where we are heading just yet but more on that later.
Our first stop was for a coffee, yes I know, I am an addict. We stopped at a small farming town of Edenhope and went to the bakery for our fix. It had changed a bit since we were last in that town and the new owner appeared a bit out of his depth. His English was fairly good for basic requests but nothing too complicated please. It was just before lunch time and there was not even any hot food in the pie warmer. There was very little on display of other bakery lines and the shop did not have a good feel to it. The coffee was okay though, so all was not lost.
Our next stop was at the town of Pinnaroo in South Australia. We had been through here before but only stopped for coffee. This trip the town was upgraded to an overnight stop at the Caravan Park. Apart from the permanents, I think we were the only paying guests, which is a shame as the location is quite good. The park is a bit run down but the facilities were clean.
Just next door to the caravan park is the Pinnaroo wildlife park. It has a good supply of kangaroos, emus and a couple of good aviaries. I got some shots of the animals but of course, the best shot, was ruined by the emu that tried to eat my phone. Just as I was about to snap the award winning close up he pecked the phone and nearly pulled it out of my hand. Maybe next time for my award winning photo.
Up bright and early next morning and we are heading to the lovely old copper mining town of Burra. The day was a bit similar to yesterday, with a bit of rain, but mainly it was windy. Not good caravanning weather. When we arrived at Burra we had a bit of a look around the town and went up to the lookout. The old open cut copper mine is now closed but some of the historical buildings look to be in relatively good condition. We checked out the town area and snapped the town's war memorial which is a very impressive statue perched atop a tower with an old army cannon at its base. Pretty impressive.
We then pulled into the Burra Showgrounds which was our overnight stop. There were already quite a few vans in the prime spots but we didn't really care as long as we could get a powered site. Need power as it has been freezing overnight. There was no water connections available but we have enough water in our tanks for whatever we need. The facilities here were very RUSTIC. Very limited number of male and female toilets and only the ONE shower.
After a very cold night it was off again towards our start destination of Whyalla. The day was just perfect for towing, with very little wind and no rain. After about 2 hours we drove into the town of Port Pirie. This is one of the bigger regional towns in South Australia and is home to a huge lead smelter. It is located in the main town area and is on the railway line as well as on the Port. The smelter has had huge problems over the years with complaints of lead saturation levels being too high in the township but at the moment it is still operating. No doubt, a closure would cripple this town. Checked out a very well done mural on the wall of Woolworths. Not sure who it is though. After having an enjoyable coffee in this lead rich environment it was off we go again.
Our next stop was at Whyalla. It has seemed to take forever to get here but it was only 3 days and about 1000 klms. Whyalla is at the northern end of the Eyre Peninsula and is a fairly big city. After getting settled into our caravan park, right on the ocean, we went for a bit of a look around.
The first impression is that the city is heavily reliant on the steel industry. The steel works are huge and they are definitely not pretty with their vast steel plants belching smoke into the atmosphere. This is no doubt another town heavily reliant on this industry. In the towns formative years BHP virtually owned the town, providing the towns commissioner and board. It wasn't until 1970 that the first local government was elected. As an aside to this BHP sold out some time ago to One Steel and recently the entire business was sold by them to an Indian Billionaire. (maybe Raj from Big Bang)
Driving into town they have the ex HMAS Whyalla in a dry dock situation at the Information centre. This was the first warship that was produced at the Whyalla shipyards during WW2. Tours are available of this ship if you are so inclined.
We headed up to check out one of the lookouts at Hummock Hill. This was a wealth of information. It overlooks one of the steel plants with its very long pier heading out into Spencer Gulf. The steel plant was a huge part of the Australian war effort and 4 anti aircraft guns were erected on Hummock Hill to protect the plant.
Next morning we headed out to Point Lowly, about 15 k's from Whyalla. This is where the Australian Giant Cuttlefish come every year from May to August to breed. Every year around 250,000 of these fish come to this same spot. I really don't know what the hurry is, for as soon as they breed they die. These are the largest cuttlefish in the world and can grow up to 1 metre in length and weigh up to 5kg. They have the ability to change their appearance to resemble rocks, sand or seaweed if threatened. They are related to the Octopus and the Squid and also shoot out black ink when threatened.
Due to overfishing by professional fishermen in the late 1990's they were almost totally wiped out, but now fishing is banned in this breeding area. On the day we were there, about 5 or 6 hardy souls went into the water to observe the fish. A few wiser people in wetsuits and one bloke just wearing his shorts. We chose to view theses creatures through 3D glasses the next day which was fantastic. If you get a chance, go on to You Tube where there are heaps of sites of Giant Cuttlefish in Whyalla.
It was pretty amazing but just next to this environmentally sensitive site, protected by a cyclone mesh fence, is a huge oil and natural gas storage depot. It is owned by Santos and it is on a place called Port Bonython. The crude oil and natural gas is delivered to this facility by a 659 klm pipeline from a place called Moomba S.A. Their is a 2.4 klm jetty coming from this place and it loads about 50 ships every year with crude oil and LPG. 70% of this is exported overseas. There was an accident in 1992 when a huge tanker was holed whilst docking, causing significant damage to the local mangroves as well as wildlife. The damage was felt all the way to Port Pirie. That remains as Australia's worst ever maritime disaster.
The Point Lowly lighthouse is still standing at this location. It was erected in 1883 and it lasted until 1993 when it was decommissioned.
Another of the monuments to the past in Whyalla is the Flinders/Freycinet lookout. It signifies the achievements of these 2 explorers in the history of the area. Matthew Flinders left England in February 1802 to explore the south coast and Captain Freycinet left France in April 1802 with the same mission. Flinders of course arrived first and named numerous peaks before the Frenchman arrived. Thank god for that or we could have all been speaking French.
We went down to check out the local marina and of course the coffee shop. In the marina we were lucky enough to find a small pod of dolphins frolicking. Deb was almost having a coronary as every time one of the fishing boats would return they appeared to run right over the top of the dolphins. It did look that way I must admit. Maybe a bit too much juice on a day of fishing but they didn't appear to see the dolphins in the water.
Ever since we arrived there has been a big tanker moored in the bay and yesterday it became apparent why. The big tankers are not able to come right into the port to load up the steel products so they moor in deeper water and a huge barge is towed out to sea and propped next to them. They then spend a day or 2 unloading from off the barge onto the tanker. It is a few klms off shore but I think you can work it out from the photos. It is just amazing. They obviously have their own cranes and whatever else they need either on the barge or the tanker itself. Just amazing.
I will sign off for now and have another entry in a day or so. Just let you absorb this first.
Barry and Deb.
No comments:
Post a Comment