Whyalla & Iron Knob SA

The Port at Whyalla from Hummock Hill

We spent a lovely three days at Whyalla camped at the Showgrounds.  We went to pay our fees on Monday and they said we couldn’t park there any more; we were planning of staying a bit longer but decided to move on the Tuesday.  Whyalla was a bit like de ja vu, we had previously explored most of the town when we were there for 5 weeks in April 2009. 

The Beach at Whyalla

 Nothing much had changed and it was still a nice place to visit.

A House in Iron Knob

  We drove over on Monday to Iron Knob, a small mining town 52 klms North West of Whyalla.  Not a very pretty town, but with a population of about 200 and the mine still working there were still some very proud local residents about. 

We certainly know what this is

 The town boasted a lot of Murals which added a splash of colour to further boost its charms.

The Emus

  It is not unusual to come across Emus roaming the main streets and there are signs advising people that emus were crossing. 

The Mural outside the Info Centre

 The Information centre was manned by some lovely volunteers and coffee and tea is available to quench your thirst as you wander through the many exhibits.  BHP mined here until about 1999 then the mine was used by One Steel who are still currently the occupants of this present day.   

The Mine

Today we left Whyalla and are bedded down in a lovely seaside town of Cowell, 110klms south.  There is an Oyster Outlet opposite the RV Caravan Park, so we plan to visit there soon.  A permit is needed to stay here if you are self contained for a small fee of $5 per night; there is a dump point but no other facilities.  The area is lovely and green and flat and not many trees to shade the solar panels and we have the whole area to ourselves.  The township is very nice and clean and consists of 2 pubs, an IGA, Chemist, Op Shop, Deli and Bakery as well as other incidental stores.  It also had a community run Art and Craft Shop and a Patchwork and Gift Shop called Stitch and Bits.  This is a beautiful shop and you could browse for hours, we visited here as well in 2009 for the day and the shop is still very interesting.  The town also has the Black Stump mounted on the main street.  Have to catch up on some household chores tomorrow but we may visit other towns in the area in the next few days.