Spending a Morning in Moonta.

Roger arrived in Wallaroo and quickly took on the burden of shipping supervision.

"It left early!  Note to self: get to the ferry early if you don't want to be left behind."

 The cats eyed him askance and departed to dark corners from which they could watch him.  Except for Grandma: she took it as granted that he would be no more than a second lap on which she could demand to lie.  There was no chance to be cat-lapping, however.  The wind blew in the right direction, there was a bicycle shop in Moonta, and a rail trail between there and Wallaroo.  I pointed Roger and his bicycle in the direction of Moonta and set off by car, taking my recalcitrant wheel to someone more experienced than me in the arcane art of bicycle fixing.

The road to Moonta spooled past with a fine view of golden wheat, a sliver of deep blue sea, and a bright cloudless sky.  I was in the bicycle shop bright and early at 0830.  "Of course we can fix your tyre," they said.  "But our mechanic doesn't start until  0930 and he has a busy day ahead of him."

Oh.  Looked like I was going to be exploring Moonta on foot while Roger enjoyed a tailwind on the rail trail and my bicycle waited its turn in the shop.  I walked up to the old Railway Station where a very enthusiastic volunteer gave me a copy of the Moonta Historical Walk. I took photos of old buildings and scoped out coffee shops, magnanimously waiting until Roger arrived so that we could have coffee together.

Old pub.

Old church.

Old important building.

Old shop.

Down in the park I met Air Marshall Sir Richard William, who was born in Moonta in August 1890. He had a distinguished career, graduated as Australia's first military trained pilot in 1914, and is considered to be the father of the Royal Australian Air Force. Leaving the Air Force after his distinguished career, he then led the Department of Civil Aviation and eventually died at the age of 89.

The strong, silent type.  Didn't say a word. (Him, not me.  I've always got a word to say.)

After two hours I had exhausted the possibilities for walking entertainment in Moonta, and took myself off to the Library.  Libraries are fantastic places for killing time: plenty of books to read, comfortable seats, air-conditioning, and unlike coffee shops they are free with no need to keep buying pots of tea to justify parking your bottom in a seat.  The Moonta Community Library was also the Moonta Primary School Library, which led to an interesting vibe of on the one hand primary school classes doing primary school library stuff and on the other hand a group of loud and merry mature-aged book-club ladies discussing at length the merits of their latest book ('Gone Girl', if you wanted to know). They really got into the murders and saucy bits too, but no-one else batted an eyelid and the primary school kids didn't seem to care, so I kept my head down, read my book and tried not to snigger too much when they said something risque.

Roger arrived, we had the obligatory post ride/walk coffee, and I retrieved my bicycle.  The good news: the tyre was now seated properly so I could go riding again.  The bad news: they hadn't a thornproof tube that fitted, so I was as vulnerable to punctures as ever.  But now I had someone to rescue me, so punctures would involve waiting rather than walking and hoping for a lift.

We went home via the bottle shop in Wallaroo.

Roger is expanding his bartender skills to include G&T.

 

Now if you'll excuse me I'm (hic) off to watch a sunset.

Obligatory sunset,

with bonus dolphin.