Monday

Well today was what tyre can we get day. Well it ended up we could get a new tyre same as we had before from Northern Motorcycles here in Port Agusta.

So with a bit of spanner work we had a new tyre on the bike by 11.30am and after a light shop we were on the road by lunchtime.

The road to Whyalla was across some fairly dry parched landscape. The distinctive feature were the twisting black wattle trees - they lept from the ground like they were writhing in some internal fire, bending back on them selves and then finishing with a flourish of leaves that almost look loke pine needles.

We stopped at the Whyalla Conservation Park just to get up close and personal with a few. Really exciting trees.

Whyalla is quite interesting , a small patch of industrialization in a old and dry landscape. I warmed to the rusty red of the factories and the touquise sea. Unfortunately for us they were having a burn off up on lookout hill, so we couldn't go up and get a good view.

We moved further South, the temperature in the high 20's and the sun all a shining down. We stopped in a small shelter shed for a drink and there we found a small swallowesqe bird in a nest with his parents going out and catching food for him/her. Sue was able to stand up on the picnic table and get some good shots of feeding time - all beak and not too much in the feather department.

The wheat fields down here are large and I reflected on the fact that while I am not an apologist for the mining industry, sometimes it seems they completely trash a limited are of the landscape, where as broad acre farming just pretty much takes the lot. A token strip of trees like lace around a table cloth is all that is left for any birds, insects etc. I marveled at the destruction that rabbits cause to the environment but humans leave them in the shade -

We camped at the small caravan park in town and walked out to see the birds and mangroves. Today's photo is of a Pacific Gull who came in to land on a post just above me as the low setting sun warmed his tummy feathers.

The wind died away and we slept undisturbed - what a change.