Whyalla to Renmark

January 15 to January 22

Iron Knob Campground

Sunday we left Whyalla, not before receiving a bagful of homemade morning tea treats as a departing gift from the caretaker of the RV Friendly Park. We can’t speak highly enough of the hospitality we have received from the businesses and residents on the Eyre Peninsula. We also visited the Mount Laura Homestead Museum before leaving. This an original farming homestead that has been “engulfed” by the expanding town, and is now an historical collection of restored buildings and items. Although interesting, the whole place needs curating, it is currently just a massive collection without much organisation or effort put into the display.

We drove to Iron Knob, “the birthplace of Australia’s steel industry”. Iron ore was first mined by BHP here in 1896, to be used as flux in the production of lead at Port Pirie, from Broken Hill mine ore. They soon realised that the quality and quantity of the iron ore was so high, it changed the BHP director’s focus towards steel manufacturing, and justified the construction of the steelworks in Newcastle.

Original Iron Knob mine

The township of Iron Knob is only just hanging on as a town, the pub closed and there is no “council”, a volunteer group levy a small fee to the residents to help manage the town. They also run the visitor centre and tours of the mine area, as well as a well-resourced historical display. We stayed at the free RV Park in the centre of town on Sunday night, a well frequented stopover point for people travelling towards (or from) Western Australia.

Monday was due to reach 38⁰C, so we arranged for an early tour (we were the only customers) as they don’t run it if the temperature exceeds 36⁰C. Our personal two hour tour was really enjoyable, including a town tour and the history of the mines and BHP’s historical successes and missteps.

Port Augusta from the Water Tower Lookout

Following the tour we drove to Port Augusta, and after a visit to the Information Centre and the water tower lookout, we decided to check in to the Shoreline Caravan Park (right on the Spencer Gulf) for two nights. We had the usual washing to do, but Monday was to reach 39⁰C, and Tuesday 42⁰C, so we opted to hide away in our air-conditioning for the worst of this hot spell. Port Augusta is having a tough trot as a town, the power station recently closed, and the residue ash storage had been causing dust cloud problems.

Spencer Gulf, not a breath of breeze

Tuesday started out not too hot, and with no wind (WHAT??!!) I quickly rigged the kayak and went for a quick paddle and fish before it got too hot. A lot of fish travel up to the tip of the Spencer Gulf to spawn, and at the right time of year (not now, of course, late winter and spring) king fish, mulloway and snapper are resident. I had plenty of bites from small fish, and I had a great couple of hours in glass-like water, with a dolphin slowly tracking me for a while as I paddled up to Red Banks, “where the desert meets the sea”. By 11am and 35⁰C I decided to yield and enjoyed watching tennis and cricket in comfort. Even though it is a drier heat, 42⁰C is still crazy hot.

Red Banks, northern tip of the Spencer Gulf

Wednesday morning was cooler after a windy change during the night, and we headed out of Port Augusta after a visit to the town centre and doing some shopping. As Port Augusta is at the northern tip of the Spencer Gulf, we drove south following the coastline to Port Pirie. Port Pirie is a very industrial town with a large smelter and grain handling facility. A trip to the Visitor Centre and a walk around the waterfront before lunch (and the resumption of the heat wave), then we headed to Crystal Brook to an overnight free camp in town. We enjoyed the evening’s free entertainment from the Rural Fire Service volunteers training across the road from us.

Morgan Museum

Thursday we headed towards the Murray River. We have explored most of South Australia to the south of us at the start of our trip, so we’ll head along the Murray before visiting some central/western Victorian areas we haven’t seen yet. We drove through some very picturesque farming countryside once we left Crystal Brook and crossed the southern Flinders Range, through Spalding and Burra and on to Morgan, on the Murray River. Morgan was a busy rail and port hub (second only to Port Adelaide) from 1878 when the railroad was completed. We walked the heritage walk around the town and river precinct, where many historic buildings and structures are still standing.

The temperature reached 37⁰C by 3pm and with the temperature not dropping until 9pm, we chose to drive to Cadell where a low cost campground (at the football field) has power available. A long line of thunderstorms passed through around 9pm, plenty of lightning and thunder but not too severe. Other areas around South Australia received 120km/h winds.

Murray River camp, Waikerie

Friday we crossed the Murray on one of the many free vehicular ferries and did a scenic drive along the northern side of the river. We crossed back at Waikerie and spent the day exploring the heritage sites in town and riverside cliff walk. Friday night we stopped at the free camping area on the Murray just outside Waikerie, where we watched the sculling rowers training in the evening and morning.

Saturday we drove to Barmera, about 50km along the Murray. Barmera is popular due to the very large Lake Bonney, where water skiing is big. It is also where Donald Campbell set the Australian water speed record in 1964. We enjoyed a lazy Saturday, walking along the lakefront and watching the watercraft. In the afternoon we did the scenic drive around the lake and visited Berri before driving to Renmark and another free camp on the Murray at Plush’s Bend. This is a low lying area that was made boggy by the Thursday night’s storms, but had dried out enough (just) to access.

Lake Bonney, Barmera - Donald Campbell Statue

Sunday the weather was due to get hot again, with 36⁰C today and 39⁰C Monday. We visited the riverfront and walked the river walk, before deciding our next move. We had thought we would leave The Riverland area and drive to Mildura, but their forecast was even hotter. I had one other idea for somewhere to visit and manage the heat, I’ll let you know how we went next week………