An unusual destination for a holiday (Part 5)

It has been many moons since my last post.  That lovely holiday is just a vague memory now.  How I wish I could be back there again leaving all this humdrum.

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Our week long stay in Whyalla came to an end and it was time for our return drive back to Adelaide.  We left early so we could stop at a few places that was recommended to us.

First stop – Point Lowly Light House.  Spectacular views in abundance and all for free.  Mother Nature really asks for very little.  And it is sad that we take her for granted and fail to preserve her.

Next stop was Port Augusta

Interesting fact – Port Augusta does not have a Port.  Just a Jetty.

These were rather quick stops and the flies gave us the necessary nudge to get back on the road.

And then came Port Pirie.  It’s a bigger town than the other’s we had just passed.  We grabbed our first coffee and the toilet break.

Going into small ports and towns for work, hubby does meet many interesting characters.  One of them is Craig.  Craig is an avid fisherman.  One of his tales is now part of the Port Pirie Maritime Museum.

He accidentally caught a Shark

Well she wandered into his net. As always it happened on a weekend, when officials were scarce, and knowledge of what to do was even more scant.  Initially he was told he could have the shark and an interested party was ready to part with some good money for the teeth.

Then the officials changed their minds.  By then Craig had brought the shark to Port Pirie spending money and elbow grease.  The shark story was a big hit in the town, and it even hit the news papers, but without any mention of the hard work by Craig.  Hubby related this story to me and took me to see the museum.  Like the officials I may have completely got the entire story wrong or at least some parts of it. But the long and short of it is that a big white shark got caught and Craig took it to Port Pirie.

Many a things have been learnt from the carcass.  She had a sting ray spine caught in her teeth.  And they believe that could have been one reason why she got caught in the net.  She was unwell and was trying to catch the fish from the net rather than go hunting.

Next visit was to “The bridge to nowhere”

The bridge to nowhere takes you to a little island.  It may be the bridge to nowhere but once again, natures beauty is everywhere in this part of the nook.

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Hubby wanted to catch up with Grant, a shipping agent who has his office based in Port Pirie.  It was going to be a quick hello and we were going to go on our way.  The quick hello turned into a big chinwag and then further extended to an invite to Brett’s new home.  We were talking about great places to retire.  And I think this was Brett’s subtle lobbying for Port Pirie for our retirement.  Definitely worth putting it on the list.

Thank you Brett for this treat.

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The final verdict for Whyalla and it’s surrounds –

Simply spectacular.  This region is so misunderstood.  Well, it ain’t Paris or Hawaii. If you go Bali and you were looking for the Eiffel Tower,  you would be told that you are in the wrong country.  Same goes for Whyalla, don’t look for the Shangri la, if that’s what you want, then this isn’t the place for you.  But, let me just remind you that, there is no Shangri La on the summit of Mt Everest either.

Whyalla gets a big thumbs up.