Apr 22, Yorke Peninsula to Murray Town

We drove around Wallaroo to the Cornucopia Hotel, having the same name since 1862, and the 1914 Railway Station, now the Council office and the library.

At Kadina, we drove by the Wombat Hotel. Wombats played a role in the copper mining here and in Moonta. Shepherds in both areas found copper bearing ore in wombat holes and the finds led to mining in those towns. Kadina was a lovely town, hotels with iron lace balconies, Cornish cottages, lots of history.

Port Broughton had a long, recently extended jetty with fishing boats and pleasure boats. On the jetty was a family fishing. The dad was encouraging his two daughters and son and exhibiting great patience, putting bait on the hooks.

Port Pirie was a larger, industrial town. Some of the things we wanted to see weren't operating, so we went on a tour of the lead smelter. It has been in operation for 123 years and is now Nyrstar, a Belgium company. The ore comes here from Broken Hill to be refined. The ore also contains zinc, silver, gold and cadmium and they get sulphuric acid from it too. What was impressive was that they send all the byproducts back through the refining process, so that the final leftovers are free of heavy metals and is used in making highways. It sounded as if the company and the government environmental oversight organization have put much effort into making sure no dust or gases get into the environment. That wasn't always the case and there is a big push to lower blood lead levels in children.
The workers all wear protective clothing and respirators on site and they are strictly monitored with lead testing every 6 months. There is random drug and alcohol testing. Also outside of the employee parking lot is a self testing station. If an employee has been drinking, he can test himself and report that to his supervisor. The supervisor can tell him to rest and retest later that day.

We drove north along the coast and then turned east to Telowie Gorge. The road to the gorge was not suitable for the motorhome, so we went on. The road we were on wound through narrow canyons on the way to Murray Town. We're in a community camping area, with about 6 powered sites and space for lots of unpowered parking. It has an honesty box to pay for the space, extra charge for showers and water fill ups.

Pictures - Cornish cottage in Wallaroo, Wombat Hotel, Victoria Square in Kadina, Off the jetty in Port Broughton, Greek Orthodox Church in Port Pirie, Hotel in Port Pirie with typical vehicles, Port Pirie RR Station with Nyrstar in the background, Road past Telowie Gorge