Port Germein

A wind Farm near Snowtown

A Blade from a wind farm on display in Snowtown it is hard to imagine that they are so big

We left Port Broughton yesterday and arrived in Port Germein around lunch time.  We met our hosts Leanne and Allan for a cuppa then parked behind the Railway Institute Hall for the duration.  Port Germein has the longest wooden jetty in Australia. 

Port Germein Jetty

 The jetty opened in 1881 and in 1883 it was extended by 121m to 1680m long.  Following storm damage the present length is 1532m.  The town itself is very small with just a hotel and a general store which also contains hardware, bait shop and Post Office and a very quaint collectables store, which I will tell you about later.  The streets are nice and wide as seems to be the norm around here and the people are very friendly.  There seem to be some heritage houses around and even a hotel converted into a home, we may be here for a few days as we have to wait for some mail to arrive from Carnarvon in the West. 

Here I am trying to keep warm

 It is bitterly cold here and we have experienced some rain, and of course it is lovely to free camp but having no power to fire up the heater isn’t ideal but I think we will survive.

Port Broughton and Fisherman's Bay

Port Broughton Hotel

Port Broughton is a delightful seaside town situated right at the top of Yorke Peninsular.  It is 176 kms from Adelaide, travelling on Highway One through Port Wakefield, then Kulpara and Bute.  Major centres are nearby with Port Pirie 58 kms to the North and Kadina 46 kms to the South.  Port Broughton makes an ideal base to visit the adjacent Mid North – lower Flinders, the Clare Wineries and the Copper Triangle. 

The town has picturesque character, offering a safe and protected beach area for the children, and easy access to the Gulf Waters.  The streets are very wide and the area is very clean.  The people are very friendly and I sensed a great community support, with an aging population everyone seems to look out for each other without being too intrusive. 

Fisherman's Bay

Saturday we caught up again with cousin Phyl and her daughter Gail in Snowtown with an added bonus of Phyl’s brother Pike and his wife Lorraine visiting over from Wallaroo.  We went through lots of old photos, but unfortunately there were none of my dad but some photos of my Aunty Joyce that had an uncanny likeness to my sister Beth.  Sunday we reconnected with cousin Basil and Maureen and enjoyed a very pleasant few hours with them.  Maureen also does patchwork and scrapbooking.  She is working on a candlewick quilt at the moment and the embroidery is beautiful.

The view out of the window of the bus early morning

  I joined the ladies at Port Broughton Quilters for the day at their base at the Golf Club.  They were also very prolific and enthusiastic patch workers, so I was able to while away a few pleasant hours with their company.  I went to the Barunga Village Aged Care facility on the way home and had a brief visit with my dad’s last living sibling, my Aunty Joyce, she suffers from dementia but she seemed quite lucid and remembered Dad, although she said he had been gone for a long time.  We leave this lovely spot tomorrow for Port Germein about 80kms north of here.  It will be sad in some ways because I have grown to love this little spot and it was rather nice to meet some of my relatives.  Bill informs me that when we are at Port Germein we will be less than 2000 kms from Kalgoorlie, so nearly on home soil.

The Heritage Centre

Cream Puff Corner near my fathers childhood home (in Oct every year there are stalls selling produce and of course cream puffs or so I have been told)

I am sitting here today feeling very overwhelmed.  I have just returned from the Port Broughton Heritage Centre in the old school building after fossicking in all the mountains of old records and memorabilia.  What an amazing place and equally amazing collections all very well documented and Grace the lady in attendence was a wealth of information.

The ruins of my dad's childhood home

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any references to my father or to the period he was here from 1904 until 1928 when he left for Western Australia. 

Was dad here in 1910?

The record books from his old school and I presume it was the Wokurna School later named the North Barunga School that he would have attended didn't shed any light and I was unable to unearth any photos of the school either.   I did find references to some of his younger brothers and sisters but nothing prior to about 1924 so his younger life it is still very much a mystery to me.  I don’t know if he ever played football or cricket or where he worked before leaving SA.  I mean he must have worked or how would he get the money to travel to WA?  Why did he go to WA?  Was it because his older sister Jean was there? Who were his childhood friends?  I may never find out unfortunately as it is all lost in the bowels of history.

The kitchen in the ruins of the house

 
I had a very informative afternoon tea yesterday with my Aunty Barbara and what a lovely amazing woman she proved to be.  In her late eighties as sprightly as ever and with a mind as sharp as a tack, she baked an absolutely perfect carrot cake that left my offering of a lumberjack cake purchased at the local bakery desperately in the shade.

The ruins from the side

I also met my cousins Lynton and Sandra in their charming home last evening and quess what everyone she is a patchworker!!!!  Lovely pieces of handicrafted work was on display everywhere I felt right at home.  So my head is still spinning a little.  Another cousin Roma just pulled up at the bus with her daughter Vicky we actually passed each other in the bakery but didn’t realise we were related.  Grace mentioned us to them when we left the Heritage Centre.  It is a very small world and it seems to be getting smaller by the minute. I haven't given up as yet and I am very determined to keep trying to find some information on my father.

  Today my father would have been 107 years old if he was still alive.

 RIP Dad.

Wallaroo and Port Broughton

Town Hall or Soldiers Memorial Wallaroo

We arrived in Port Broughton today and parked at the Boat ramp right in town.  Have managed to speak to a few people in town whom I am related to. It seems that there isn't many that I am not related to in some way.  I am on a mission and am determined to resurrect my ancestry.

Prince Edward Hotel in Wallaroo

Yesterday while we were in Wallaroo we visited the Nautical Museum for a poke around in the town's history.  Found a reference to our friends Merv and Irene from WA.  His father was one of the oldest residents in town but we can better that.  There is a street named after our family name.  It was very interesting and a good place to visit.

This old cash register was in the museum now isn't it a beauty

This tower marks the Museum

The Smelter Chimney all that is left of these works

Wallaroo Station now used as the Council Offices and Library there are no trains running these days.

Moonta S.A.

Old Moonta Railway Station and now Info Centre

Moonta was a quaint historical old Copper Mining Town, with traces back to Cornwall.  Apparently they first discovered copper there years ago when a chap fell down a wombat hole and discovered unusually coloured stone and hence began the first copper mine.  I am not sure if that is true or if it is just hearsay.  We decided to try the Cornish pasty for lunch.  Now as a bit of trivia the miners used to get their lunchtime pasties served with the pasty separated into two one side was for the meat or the main dish and the other side of the pastry was apple or something sweet or the dessert and the reason why they were crimped at the top was because the men were extremely dirty from working the mines and they used to hold the pastry from the top and eat the rest and throw away the crimped part as it was too dirty.  Interesting theory!!! 

A lovely church in moonta

Now I was always led to believe that the difference between a normal pasty and a Cornish pasty is because the Cornish version doesn’t contain carrot, this is what I learnt in cooking class as school.  I asked in a bakery in Burra and was told by the very young assistant that the difference was because of the crimping at the top instead of the side, and another bakery said it was because the Cornish pasty didn’t contain meat.  Now I am pretty sure my version is the correct one, even though nowadays they do put carrot in the pastries.  It could be an interesting debate.

This Quilt was hand Made by Quilters in Cornwall and sent over to Moonta in 1999.  It now has pride of place hanging in the Old Railway Station.

Moonta Town Hall C1900

The Jetty at Moonta

Simms Cove

Wallaroo

Parked up at the Adelaide Tram Museum

I am sitting in the bus overlooking the sea and the boats in the Marina in Wallaroo SA, quite reminiscent of home; I could even get a bit homesick (or more homesick to be precise).

The view of the Prawn Trawlers through the windows of the bus



The weather is very wild and windy with a black cloud descending on us from above and the sea is very rough and choppy and I am very glad that I am tucked up inside here.lol   We left St Kilda today and travelled 120klms north west through very flat countryside, with hardly a glimpse of a tree in sight for miles and arrived here about lunchtime and set up camp at the Boat Ramp near the Ferry Crossing. 

Parked at Wallaroo

 The ferry used to cross near here but it has been inactive for some time and I am not sure if there are any plans afoot to reopen the services, so it is very good for us as we have the whole area to ourselves. 

The Grain Silos

 We explored the township earlier but will venture out tomorrow, may even go over to Kadina or Moonta for the day who knows.  We had a very refreshing couple of days with Pat and John at their Adelaide House in Ascot Park.  Had some very much needed retail therapy (Thanks Pat) much to Bill’s disgust?  We drove over to Brighton and along the beach for another look at a different part of Adelaide.  A few wines, scintillating conversations, and the added enjoyment of the lovely company of two very good friends and then on Sunday it was back to reality with the usual washing, ironing, packing up in readiness for the big move today.  Another farewell to more newfound friends and it was on the road again.  We have met some very nice people on the road and I know I will miss this companionship when we are back home.  A bit too windy for photos, today, as it is too strong even to keep the door of the bus open without it being blown off its hinges, so tomorrow hopefully will be a better day.

Glenelg

Inside Adelaide Train Station

One outstanding day during our stay here in St Kilda and as transport is free to us seniors we took full advantage and caught a train from Salisbury Station into Adelaide city.  On our arrival in the city we were lucky enough to board a tram destined for Moseley Square in Glenelg from right out front of the Adelaide Train Station. 

The Tram to Glenelg a more modern one than those at the Tram Museum

 So we were both able to sit back, relax and enjoy the interchangeable view through the windows of the Train and Tram. 

Jetty Rd Glenelg looking towards the tram stop

Naturally the first place we headed for in jetty Road, Glenelg was to Bracegirdles Chocolate Shop for another of their delicious Hot Belgian Chocolates and then down to the beach to stroll along the Jetty in front of the Stamford Grand Hotel.

The Stamford grand Hotel

This majestic regal hotel stands prominently adjacent to the beach proudly merging into the surrounds as if it has always been there. 

The Historic Glenelg Town Hall

 A bit further up and on the left is the Historic Glenelg Town Hall now reutilised into the local information centre. 

The Memorial at the beach

Glenelg is where early settlers came ashore in 1836 to survey and establish Adelaide.  The Old Gum Tree still stands at the site where the colony’s first government was proclaimed. 

Glenelg Beach

 Early afternoon we again boarded the Tram for our return journey back into Adelaide City.  Alongside the Adelaide Railway Station is the Adelaide Casino, well worth a look even if like us and don’t gamble.  The Casino has lots of eateries, bars and coffee bars, on hand to replenish the thirst of even the most persistent punters or for a quiet rendezvous with some friends.  After a delightful visit here we made our way to the station and on to the Train to return to our car which was patiently waiting for us at the shopping centre in Salisbury.