Kimba, Iron Knob and Whyalla

We packed up on Monday morning in the rain! After 2 days of 40 degrees plus and now rain! It was a nice cool change!

Our plan was to travel to Kimba where they have a number of attractions, trails and sights - and stay there the day... however, the weather had other plans! By the time we arrived in Kimba it was pouring so we quickly got our photos - 'Halfway across Australia' and the Big Galah.  Then we drove to the sculptures of Edward John Eyre and unnamed indigenous man who helped him survive the trek from Sydney to the Swan River (and other exploration treks). Since it was still bucketing with rain we nominated Mars to hop out and take the obligatory photos while we laughed at him from the car!  Thankfully Karli had packed an umbrella so he didn't get too wet!

Guess who lost his first top tooth???

We missed out on doing a few Nature Trail walks that the kids would've enjoyed due to the rain but we decided instead to keep going to Iron Knob.

We spent some time at the museum here looking at the tools they used to use and photos of the first mine / miners and how it progressed to a full blown operation. We also watched a short dvd. The tour which usually runs to the mine had been cancelled due to the rain. The museum and tour operation is run by volunteers and the town has approximately 130 people living there. It really is quite eerie.

From Iron Knob we drove on to Whyalla - where they transport all the iron ore by train to be processed and then shipped.  It became a booming town then later was proclaimed to be a city.

We've noticed that along the coast of South Australia there are very big tides. The bays are also very shallow and consequently there's usually very long jetties (in comparison to our jetties).  Whyalla is no different and the jetties stretch out a long way for the freight ships to be able to load up the ore.

Low tide

We drove through Whyalla then headed out to our camping spot at Fitzgerald Bay. We set up and the boys quickly got their fishing gear ready and Chad caught 4 whiting. He was really chuffed.

In the late afternoon we could see the York Peninsula. Later the clouds come in so it was no longer visible. The beach was all rocks and no sand.