We had just the single night in Ardrossan so we just wanted to cover off a few loose ends before leaving. The first of these was breakfast, something very important to me, not so much for Deb. There’s one coffee shop in town, so I had a Bacon and Egg roll and a coffee while Deb had a chai latte.
The last thing we had planned was to take a few photos from the jetty, but some of the local fishermen told us about a colony of seals that had taken up residence on the rock wall next to the boat ramp. I managed a couple of photos as well as some bird photos. The wildlife is certainly abundant in this part of the world.
As we left Ardrossan, we reflected on how helpful and friendly people were. Not far down the road was a lookout that was on top of a dolomite mine tailings heap that provided panoramic views, even better when I launched the drone. The mine itself is still active and extracts about 90,000 tonnes every year. It is operated by Simec who are owned by GFG the current owners of the Whyalla steel mill, which was once one of the big employers of the region.
We had only planned to travel to Edithburgh today which is about 75kms from Ardrossan, so we visited lots of the beachside towns along the way. The first place was James Well, which is a small collection of retiree and holiday homes. It is teeming with wildlife, including a large population of flies. Good spot for some more drone shots though!
The next stop was Port Julia which like many of these towns was used as a port in the 1800s, but ceased operations once the railway from Adelaide was built. It is now a quiet town like James Well that people come to for retirement and quiet holidays. I say quiet, because there isn’t a shop or a pub to be seen. We soon realised, there would be no lunch here!
About 20 kms down the road was Port Vincent and you guessed that it used to be a port. Unlike some of the other ‘port’ towns, Port Vincent was still in use for grain shipments until 1970. These days it is a well known tourist destination that is well-known for it’s crabs and local oysters. We ate at the pub which also had a quite extensive wine list. According to the barman, this was necessary to cater to the folks that owned the beachfront houses along the foreshore. He didn’t use the words ‘tosser’ or ‘toof-toof’, but one sensed that was his intent. Lunch was good, which was just as well as there weren’t too many other options – german sausage for me and King George whiting for Deb, .
The last leg of our day took us past Wool Bay, which is still used as a large grain port. Its other claim to fame was that it had a Lime Kiln. In the early 1900s lime was burned and then used as mortar in the construction of buildings. The Wool Bay Lime Kiln was never a commercial success because it was built on the edge of a cliff and the tricky wind conditions caused production issues.
Unlike our Queensland trip a couple of years ago, there has been a distinct lack of country churches to photograph. This has been disappointing for Deb, who photographed a lot of these on the last trip, not because of any religious significance, but they make great photography subjects. Upon arriving in Edithburgh we found that not all of the Yorke Peninsula was god-less.
Our accomodation in Edithburgh is clean and fresh and a step up from the motel room of last night. Another day on the road exploring awaits.
Until tomorrow!
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