Day 34 - Tuesday 31 January - Whyalla and surrounds

DAY 34

TUESDAY

31 January 2017 – 

Whyalla

With a better nights sleep we woke feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead. First job was breakfast and then it was off to do some laundry. It had been raining earlier, but this had subsided while the wind was still howling. Paul opted to take the bike for a ride, seeing it was off, while I stayed behind.

With the washing hung and Paul’s return we loaded up the car and headed out for the day. We eventually found the Flinders & Freycinet lookout, the signage to it was abysmal. This lookout has statues of the two explores and overlooks the Spencer Gulf, Southern Flinders Ranges and the Middleback Range.

From here we drove back through the centre of town and out to Point Lowly to check out the lighthouse. The lighthouse was complete in 1883 to 15m and extended to 23m in 1909. The original cottages attached to the lighthouse are now used as holiday accommodation.  It was fun wandering around the seascape grounds, checking it all out. Just wish it had been a finer day.

We made our way back, passing Point Bonython, where the Santos plant looms large processing LPG and crude oil. It isn’t a particularly pretty picture. Hungry for lunch we stopped at HJ’s for a burger and it allowed me to use the free wifi. Once the burger was devoured we checked out the Westland shopping centre, the largest centre outside of Adelaide. We did our shopping after we checked the mall then it was on to the next stop, the Wetland Walk.

This walk is 1.3km long and is built where the old aerodrome used to exist. The land has been reclaimed and storm water is harvested. The bird life was abundant.

With walk done we made it to the tourist info centre, which also houses the maritime museum and the hull of the Whyalla. We weren’t really interested in looking around, I just wanted some postcards and then it was a quick stop at the marina to see if the dolphins were about, they weren’t, before heading back to the van.

We brought in the dry washing, I wrote out the postcards, then it was back to the shop to post the cards and get dinner, a quick stop for fuel and we returned to the van for Paul to start loading up ready for tomorrow’s departure.