29/09/21 A Tale of Two Towns: Whyalla

When I lived in Mt Isa in the 90s, it was always clear that the town was and always had been a mining town. The smokestacks were always visible, the lights and sounds of the mine seeped through my bedroom window at night, and wherever you were during the day you could, if you paid attention, feel the underground blasting reverberate through the ground under your feet. In Mt Isa an ocean of spinifex lapped up against the colourbond suburban fences.

Whyalla reminds me of Mt Isa. There's no underground blasting but Whyalla was a BHP town until the 70s and the smelter, power station, and iron ore export facility are both visible and audible right beside the old main Street, and an ocean of saltbush laps up against the suburban fringe.

Power Station, iron ore export, and steel smelter from the top of Hummock Hill.

Heat and steam.

The industrial side of Whyalla.

Unlike Mt Isa, Whyalla has a slightly split personality in that the real ocean also laps up against its foreshore and ocean-going bulk carriers line up patiently in the gulf waiting for their bellyful of iron ore. The foreshore has been beautified and planted with vegetation to prevent the sand blowing into town from the beach (this sand is coyly called 'fugitive sand' in the informative billboards down at the beach). There is a circular jetty, the purpose of which is unclear other than that it is the only one in the Southern Hemisphere. The sand is white, the water glitters clear and crystal blue, and if I could ignore the wind that originated in Antarctica I could be on a beach in a tropical paradise. 

Iron ore carrier and pilot boat.

The circular jetty which appears to serve no purpose other than to provide a platform for fishing, and bragging rights for Whyalla.

Caspian terns practising social distancing.

The beach, Whyalla, with the circular jetty in back ground.

One lone pelican waited patiently beside the fish-cleaning tables.  No one was cleaning fish.

 

We had a very relaxing day in Whyalla.  We visited the lookout at Hummock Hill at night and in the day. 

We tried to go on a steelworks tour but couldn't because the tour is obviously the most popular tourist thing to do in Whyalla and was booked out until Friday. 

We walked along the foreshore and paddled very briefly to test the temperature of the water (cold!). 

We explored the wetlands (aka flood retention/storm water management dams) and went shopping and attended to all the little life chores that don't go away just because we've gone away. The weather delivered us showers interspersed with sunshine, and we were glad not to be in our tent.

We were briefly entertained by the mildly terrifying sight of these mad men bringing out their portable fire pit and cooking up a storm on the wooden front verandah of their cabin. I'm glad to report that no ambulance or fire service was needed, although I'm not sure that the caravan park proprietor was aware of this activity.