Blogs from Whyalla, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

We've been very slack with our blog and are going to try and continue with our blogging and maybe even back track to catch up. We are currently in Whyalla, fourth day here, 9th straight of sleeping in the car as it's easier than putting the tent up and down all time, plus we've made it more comfortable with a double blow up bed. We travelled from Northshields which is down near Port Lincon roughly 300ks, took us about 3 hours of driving through the Eyre Peninsula with the idea of stopping at Whyalla information centre to get accommodation details for Port Augusta. After being informed that Whyalla was bigger than Port Augusta and was where the outback meets the sea- literally...we decided to stay. We experienced seeing wild dolphins at the jetty which was a ... read more

April 27th & 28th Another bright morning and we set off to Whyalla down a largely straight road through salt bush plains to the coastal industrial town. We saw the iron ore trains testing the line to Iron Knob, and later loaded trains of ore arriving at Whyalla. Some ore is exported while One Steel uses the ore to create steel products for Australia. One thing we noted in the older part of Whyalla was how iron oxide had impregnated many buildings and particularly rooves. The small city has the steel industry plus, just a little out of town, Santos has an LPG processing site at Lowly Point, the place where we were going to camp for the weekend. But life here was really tough. Read the inscriptions quoting the words of a new bride arriving ... read more

Finally, finally tore ourselves away from the sirens of Mollydooker. We could never work there – we’d drink our wages and more! Forgot to mention that they have got 99 points (twice) from Robert Parker (USA wine guru) for their top wine and we can finally get some wines from Fine Wine Co. ALL their wines that are exported to the States have got 90 or above. Really big wines, not your (thin) Bordeaux style. Everyone here is frightingly perfectionist and achieving great results. When we last visited, we learned a lot about viticulture and winemaking and learned even more this time, but we still know nothing!! We left with a dozen under the bed! We can’t thank Leigh and Janet enough. Before we left, drove up to Adelaide and played Royal Adelaide. Don won, so ... read more

The morning flies made it impossible to do our planned maintenance. Not only were they trying to get up our nose and in our ears but they were very interested in the engine bay! We gave up and drove to Whyalla to find the camping shop. As we approached Whyalla we were greeted by the sight of huge steelworks pumping smog into the air. A seaside town with smoggy steelworks reminded me of places in the North East of England. We arrived outside the camping shop to find that it had long since failed and closed down. In fact it had been closed so long that a cycle shop had replaced it and also since failed. Disappointed we decided that since we were here anyway we may as well have a look around. We found that ... read more

Die University of South Australia (UniSA) ist eine staatliche Universität im australischen Bundesstaat South Australia. Es ist die größte Universität in Südaustralien mit ca. 36.000 Studenten. Sie wurde erst 1991 gegründet. Jedoch wurde eine vorgängige Institution der University of South Australia, die Termine der South Australian School of Arts schon im Jahre 1856 gegründet und ist damit eine der ältesten Kunsthochschulen in Australien. Die Universität verfügt über vier Standorte zwei in Adelaide und zwei regionale Standorte: Whyalla (in welchem wir unser Büro haben) und Mount Gambier. In den regionalen Standorten kann man fast alles studieren. Da kommt es dann schon mal vor, dass eine Studentin die Jus studiert alleine im Klassenraum sitzt und die Vorlesung per Videokonferenz in Adelaide mit verfolgt. Mir gefällt es hier sehr gut, trotzdem war ich etwas schockiert... read more

10-4-10 Saturday Happy Birthday Kirsty, we miss you, have a good day. This morning the sun is shining & no wind , we tidied up & Den & Tony got their fishing lines ready to go later, I caught up on my diary & photos . We decided all to go the Point Lowly & see the lighthouse & go fishing off the rock harbour. Cheryl caught a Leather Jacket & we caught a lot of Trumpeters which were small & no good for eating. We came back on the dirt road to camp & had tea & played cards. It has been a really nice day today about 24 deg. 11-4-10 Sunday, Cheryl & I had a lazy day & the boys went into Whyalla to see the Model train & the maritime ship The ... read more