Australia here we come!

2/10/12

We left the caravan park at 9.15am and did some emergency shopping. Then we went to the Telstra Shop because our mobile phone has been playing up. A knowledgeable young man couldn't work out what was wrong with the phone but he somehow fixed it.

We had lunch in the car park of the Whyalla Visitor Information Centre so we wouldn't miss the 12 midday tour of the HMAS Whyalla. This was the first ship to be built and launched from the Whyalla Ship Yard using steel from the steel making plant that used iron ore from Iron Knob. It was launched in 1941 and was an anti-submarine and mine sweeping Corvette. It was to be scrapped in 1984 but the City of Whyalla bought it and sailed it back home. Then brought it back up the same slipway that it was launched from and moved it 2kms inland to its present location. They built a visitor information centre next to it as well as a maritime museum and a beautiful treed garden and grounds around it.

The tour was great and I will definitely not be a sailor in my next life. The maritime museum is huge and contains very interesting displays. It was that huge that I missed the spectacular model railway display contained in the building. Karen and Mary-Anne found it and didn't tell me about it until we had left the grounds. Thanks GIRLS!!!

Next we visited Harry's Camping Store and found the first LED replacement lights for sale since Darwin. Mary-Anne bought one and we bought two. Then the girls wanted to visit the Westland Shopping Centre with all the shops open. It is the largest Regional Shopping Centre in South Australia and my feet were sore when we left.