Blogs from Whyalla, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

We spent this morning exploring the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens in Port Augusta. The number of Australian plants that have adapted to survive in Australia’s harsh arid interior is astonishing. Although I was very concerned about the number of warning signs asking us to stay on the paths to avoid snakes it proved to be the ants that were more of a problem. They were everywhere! Big black ones that inevitably made it into my sandals and delivered a bite or two. Fortunately their bites do not seem to be as bad as those delivered by their smaller ant cousins. After completing the ‘Regional Walk’ circuit we took a break for some morning tea. A highlight was sitting beside a small pond which seemed to attract quite a few birds including a wattlebird, who took ... read more

Having a view of the ocean from our little cabin, we ate breakfast on the little deck, drinking our coffee while drinking in the view of the turquoise ocean. If it wasn't for the cold, one would have thought we were somewhere tropical. A check that we had all of our gear and we were off for a short 20 minute drive to Point Lowly, the main spot where groups of people from all around the world come to snorkel and scuba dive to see the giant cuttlefish gather in the largest quantities in the world to spawn. Now to clarify, the male giant cuttlefish can reach up to 1 metre long and weigh around 6kg. I had mentioned I was swimming with giant cuttlefish to a friend who was horrified, assuming that they were gigantic ... read more

During my trip to Whyalla , I was constantly amazed at the dessert-like terrain that meets the bright water of the great Austrailian Bight. Just as they say, it is where the outback meets the sea. Whyalla has its roots in steelworks as the major port for iron ore shipments from the surrounding iron ore deposits, so I was a bit sceptical at first about Whyalla tourism and finding cool things to do in Whyalla. But I quickly found Whyalla to be a dazzling country town with fantastic weather, beaches, and water sports. Several Whyalla attractions are of great interest and they added to a most pleasant trip to this town in the state of South ... 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