One is of a sign in a park near the opening bridge in Renmark. Enough said about that.
This one was taken when a speed boat raced past on the river towing 3 people on what looked like a three seater blow up lounge. They were having a great time and were being spun around at a great speed.
Next stop after Renmark was Port Germein. We stopped at Burra for lunch and got to Port Germein around 2pm. The usual breeze was blowing and it was a nice day. Ray was going crabbing the next day but apparently it was no good for crabbing as there were only 2 tides on Saturday, one high and one low. This is a phenomenon which happens commonly in the upper Spencer Gulf. All of the daylight hours the tide was out over 1.5km so there was only shallow water off the end of the jetty.
Anyway he went crabbing on Sunday and came back with 6 good crabs which he cooked up and we we enjoyed for lunch on Monday.
The temperature rose quite high on Monday afternoon. It was 41 degrees under the awning at 6pm.We had a magnificent sunset on Monday night as there was a bit of cloud around. The vibrant colour in the western sky was the brightest I have seen.
Later that night a storm came and by Tuesday morning the temperature had dropped to 17 degrees.
On Wednesday we left for Moonta Bay which is about 140km south of Port Germein. It is on the part of the Yorke Peninsula called the Copper Coast. The area is well known for its Cornish heritage and was home to a large number of mining families back in the late 1800's when copper was discovered. A lot of the miners came over from Burra as the ore was running out there. We visited the Miners Museum today and learnt a lot about those tough cornish miners and their families.
They have left a lot of history in Moonta. Every bakery makes its own version of the traditional cornish pastie, which those old miners used to eat when they were working down the mines.
They even had one which was meat and vegetables at one end and apple or jam at the other separated by a strip of pastry. The pasty had a thick twist of pastry on the top so the miners could hold it without the dirt getting on their food. Then they threw that handle of pastry away when they were finished.
Today, Friday we went for a drive about 10km north on the coast to a town called Wallaroo. Wallaroo was the site of a huge smelting works where copper from Wallaroo and Moonta mines was smelted. Large numbers of Welsh people were employed at the smelting works at Wallaroo.The smelter closed down in 1923. When the jetty was constructed in 1861, Wallaroo was the busiest port in South Australia. Now the ships which pull into Wallaroo are transporting wheat and barley.
There were quite a lot of fishing trawlers anchored in Spencer Gulf at Wallaroo. A large prawn fleet operates in the Gulf and the prawns are very tasty.
The weather is a bit cooler here in Moonta Bay but that is a blessing after the 41 degrees.
We are moving on further down the Yorke peninsula on Sunday, possibly to a place called Point Turton.
Will Blog again soon.
