Kimba is a small country town that is the half way point from Sydney to Perth. For our overseas visitors that is exactly the middle of Australia. It is also only a few hours from Adelaide, another Australian capital city. The towns folk in Kimba are very entrepreneurial. To help bring people to the town they have created Australia’s best free RV camp. As voted by those using it. They have also built a medical centre complete with housing to encourage a doctor to the town. They even advertised on Sunrise. A popular national morning TV show in Australia.
When we were travelling through we didn’t get to spend much time in the town but the camp was amazing. We look forward to staying a few days next time we are travelling to the west coast of Australia. The Big Galah and other sculptures at the Kimba roadhouse were fun.
Today I have gone slightly off script as I have looked for a straight J word for over month and came up with nothing. Therefore I have used the blogging trick of having a J in his name.
Edward John Eyres and his aboriginal companion Wylie was the first European to explore the interior of South Australia. They explored the area around the Flinders Rangers s well as The Great Australian Bight and Nullarbor Plain.
This sculpture to celebrate them is very striking and overlooks the lands that they once explored. They can be found at Whites Knob Lookout outside of Kimba.
The Eyre Peninsula and Lake Eyre in South Australia are also named in his honour.
This area is very arid, lacks water and has extremes in temperatures so it would have been hard work to explore.
One of the first tours we took on our trip to South Australia was of the HMAS Whyalla. The Whyalla was the first ship built at Wyalla’s shipyards in 1941. It was one of 66 ships built in Whyalla and one of 4 Bathurst corvettes built for the second World War. Whyalla, South Australia has a steel works which made ship building easy. After the war the HMAS Whyalla was sold to Victorian Public Works and became the Rip and spent 38 years working as a lights maintenance ship. In 1984, she was sold to Whyalla City Council to become the centre piece of the Visitors Information Centre and Maritme Museum.
Photo credit: Google Images
Nobody would have thought that 46 years after her birth on the Whyalla slipway, the HMAS Whyalla would go back up the same slipway as she began her journey to her new home. Moving the Whyalla however didn’t go according to plan and became an engineering feat initself. It took major planning, problem solving and machinery to finally complete the task. The teams were given many sleepless nights and in the end according to the following documentary it took 220 tonnes of trailers, 328 wheels assisted by 2 prime movers to take her the 2 kilometres from the slipway to her final resting place 2 metres above the ground.
https://youtu.be/L4CAlQU_PV0
The HMAS Whyalla has now been restored back to her former glory as a WW2 corvette. Our tour guide was amazing and she was filled with interesting facts about the ship. I was fascinated to see what life on board would have been like for the young sailors. It was definitely a unique experience and worth staying the weekend in Whyalla to see. The Maritime Museum is on site as well and was also very interesting covering all of the areas varied maritime history.
I loved that they have used the ships chain and anchors in the garden area.
The Great Australian Bight is the southern most area of land in mainland Australia. It runs from west of the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia to Western Australia. The area is made up of limestone cliffs, 60-120 metres high just off the Nullarbor Plain. The cliffs are about 820 kilometres in length and are said to be the longest cliffs in the world.
The following photos of the Great Australian Bight were taken at Head of Bight. This is the most northerly point of the Great Australian Bight. There is an amazing whale watching centre there for both Southern Right Whales as well as Humpback Whales. The Southern Right Whales come into this bay to have their babies and then stay around to months as the babies grow and develop. Unfortunately for us, we missed the last mum and calf by a day. Whilst this was very disappointing I am sure you will agree that the views of the Great Australian Bight were definitely worth the trip.
On the eastern side of the Eyre Pennisula, South Australia lies the sleepy town of Cowell. With a regular population of approximately 1100 Cowell loves the tourists. They keep their economy running. As it is known for its fishing and seafood industries this is not a problem.
I personally love the town’s peoples creativity. The local artists instead of using an art gallery to display their art, they chose the towns public toilets. They call it Cowell’s Crap Art. Every wall that would normally be blank was filled with fun artwork including the artists name, contact number and price.
In Australia a crapper is slang for toilet and crap is slang for poor quality or to defecate. The art here was definitely a play on word as the quality of the artwork was great. I think it was very clever as people can chose to go into an art gallery but very few can avoid the town’s toilet.
During our travels we have found many interesting seats. They are often made into works of art which draw us in to photograph them. So recently I was excited to find a new weekly challenge to join others who enjoy similar things. Thanks to XingfuMama for hosting.
While wondering the streets of Port Lincoln we noticed this beautiful lounge display outside a church. Initially I didn’t notice all the details but as we got up close and sat down, I smiled. It was covered in mosaics and they were beautiful. The ottoman even had a game of scrabble on it. There was also an exquisite mosaic rug both on the back of the lounge and on the ground in front of it.
To start 2023 with some excitement I am joining Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge. The challenges are divided into series which cover 5 weeks. This year starts with the series theme of Body Parts Human or What??And this weeks topic is – Eyes.
For me the answer was simple. The Big Galah. Australia has over 150 big things made specifically to attract tourists. The Big Galah is 8 metres high and is found outside a road house in Kimba. Kimba is half way between Sydney and Perth. In Australia galahs are found everywhere, often hanging out in groups. They are a type of cockatoo which is pink and grey.
I love the Big Galah. She is gorgeous. Her eyes call tourists and other travellers to stop their journey and visit. When I saw her I stood staring at her for a good 5 minutes from many angles. As I moved it felt like her eyes were following me. Thinking about her still brings a smile to my face.
