Tuesday 26th Nov
We arrived in Moonta (pronounced like the lunar moon-ta) and have absolute water frontage sites. It is beautiful but hard to enjoy it when the SE wind is gusting at over 30 km/h and not expected to abate until 9pm. The tide is on the way in. At midday it was 0.4 m and will be at a peak high of 1.8 m at 4:40 am which means right at our doorstep. First things first, time to get a load of sheets and towels washed. At least it dried quickly.
Once that was dry we drove into town and found the Tourist Info centre located in the beautifully restored old railway station. Moonta is known as 'Little Cornwall' because in its heyday it was a thriving copper mining town with a big Welsh influx making up the population. Eric first sourced the local outlet that serves the best cornish pastie. Unfortunately it is closed for the day. Tomorrow we will do the mining history in detail but for this afternoon we were satisfied with getting some groceries, a book and, as an unexpected bonus, some camping side tables we've been looking for.
There are some very interesting old buildings in town and a trail to follow but in this wind we are not interested in walking far. We did manage the length of the jetty but were nearly blown away.
Once the Munday's returned from their outing to Port Hughes we shared dinner and watched the sun go down. The second pic was taken from inside the van as we were too cold to sit outside! Looks a lot warmer than it really is.
Wednesday 27th Nov
Gorgeous sunny morning. Light winds. The tide is still high in the early morning. From the caravan we could spot pied and sooty oystercatchers, white necked herons, pacific gull, silver gull and welcome swallow feeding on the shoreline.
We could have taken a small-guage train out through the copper mining area and history precinct. I have a dear friend who would jump at the chance, but we did the self-drive route instead with me driving, Eric navigating and Jenni and Glenn in the back seat. In all there are over 60 listed sites spread over about 16 kms. The Moonta Mines were a series of successful copper mines that operated in the 19th Century. We began in the Hamley Flat area at a restored Miners Cottage which has a garden lovingly cared for by volunteers. We had stopped too early though and explored another home which would be someone's private property before we realised our mistake!
Nearby was the first of the many huge tailings heaps which dot the local area. Mind you, without them the outlook in all directions is deadly flat and featureless in this part of the country. These heaps are treated byproducts of the copper production which have been carefully mounded in to small hills. The drive continued into the actual copper fields themselves where we viewed a number of shafts and climbed up a tailings heap. There still appears to be a lot of copper content in the tailings if the green is any indication.
The magnitude of the Enginehouse buildings was the best indication of how enormous the operations were until economics gradually caused their closure around 100 years ago. The shafts were deep; one we read about was over 300 m. Men were lowered and raised in skips driven by the steam engineroom which also removed the ore and pumped the water.
We didn't like to contemplate the tough lives these workers, some of them children, experienced. Nor the many early deaths caused by accidents and illness.
Time for lunch! Eric had his heart set on that cornish pastie so we returned to the Cornish Kitchen then walked the streets that feature some lovely examples of C19th buildings. Former hotels, stores, banks and the Moonta Institute reflect the wealth enjoyed here in days gone by.
After a few relaxing hours back at the beachside vans Jenni and Glenn decided they would definitely head towards home tomorrow via Handorf, Mt Gambier and Melbourne. They are hoping to catch up with Stu and Carol as well as Keith, all of whom we spent time with in Yarrawonga and Tocumwal some weeks ago. We will head south on our own to continue around the Yorke Peninsula. It has been fabulous to travel with, and enjoy the company of, these long term friends. When you travel together as we have, you all make compromises but when we are so compatible its not a problem. Their company has enriched our journey. Safe travels home you two.
We arrived in Moonta (pronounced like the lunar moon-ta) and have absolute water frontage sites. It is beautiful but hard to enjoy it when the SE wind is gusting at over 30 km/h and not expected to abate until 9pm. The tide is on the way in. At midday it was 0.4 m and will be at a peak high of 1.8 m at 4:40 am which means right at our doorstep. First things first, time to get a load of sheets and towels washed. At least it dried quickly.
There are some very interesting old buildings in town and a trail to follow but in this wind we are not interested in walking far. We did manage the length of the jetty but were nearly blown away.
Gorgeous sunny morning. Light winds. The tide is still high in the early morning. From the caravan we could spot pied and sooty oystercatchers, white necked herons, pacific gull, silver gull and welcome swallow feeding on the shoreline.
We could have taken a small-guage train out through the copper mining area and history precinct. I have a dear friend who would jump at the chance, but we did the self-drive route instead with me driving, Eric navigating and Jenni and Glenn in the back seat. In all there are over 60 listed sites spread over about 16 kms. The Moonta Mines were a series of successful copper mines that operated in the 19th Century. We began in the Hamley Flat area at a restored Miners Cottage which has a garden lovingly cared for by volunteers. We had stopped too early though and explored another home which would be someone's private property before we realised our mistake!
The magnitude of the Enginehouse buildings was the best indication of how enormous the operations were until economics gradually caused their closure around 100 years ago. The shafts were deep; one we read about was over 300 m. Men were lowered and raised in skips driven by the steam engineroom which also removed the ore and pumped the water.
Time for lunch! Eric had his heart set on that cornish pastie so we returned to the Cornish Kitchen then walked the streets that feature some lovely examples of C19th buildings. Former hotels, stores, banks and the Moonta Institute reflect the wealth enjoyed here in days gone by.
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