Good Morning Kimba!
Low 7°c (45°F) – High 19°c
(66°F)
245km
Well the traffic noise didn’t keep us awake, but the late arrivals last
night – at least their two dogs – certainly did. Apparently both dogs slept outside the
caravan and around 2.00am they both started barking furiously. It’s all well and good to have guard dogs by
your van, but gee it’s disturbing to the other campers if they are barking for
no good reason which appeared to be the case in this instance. Then again around 6.30am off they went again. That was the end of sleep for me and I ended
up getting up while trying not to wake Shane.
After getting ready to move on again, and being the last to leave the
park, we stopped in Kimba to take a couple of shots of the local icons
including the big Galah an 8m (26 ft) tall sculpture that has had a bit of
work since we last passed through here.
In the past he had been looking a bit tatty but has had some patching up
and a new decorative paint job. There is also some silo art here on the huge
silo towers in town. Kimba is a
rural service town which as at the 2016 census, had a population of 629. The galah sits beside the highway,
marking halfway between the east and west coasts of Australia.
The word "kimba" is derived from the
local Aboriginal word for "bushfire", and the District
Council of Kimba's emblem reflects this in the form of a burning bush. Two
properties in the Kimba district were nominated in 2017 for a proposed National
Radioactive Waste Management Facility, to store low-level and
intermediate-level nuclear waste. A Kimba town vote demonstrated support
for further investigation of the prospect, resulting in a vote of 396 to 294 in
favour.
On 1 February 2020 federal resources minister, Matt Canavan,
announced that 160 hectares (400 acres) of property, 20 km (12 mi) west of
Kimba, would provide the location to permanently store low-level waste. The facility would also temporarily store
intermediate-level waste from Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, until a
suitable permanent site was found. The federal
government is allocating a A$31 million community development
package to boost the skills of local businesses and workers to build and run
the dump. The facility would cost A$200 million, and create 45 jobs during
construction and 25 ongoing jobs. Let’s
hope “Kimba” doesn’t live up to its name once this little project is in place.
We were now back into familiar territory as we have been through Port
Augusta and around the Eyre Peninsula on previous holidays and sadly as we made
our way through to Port Augusta we passed the turnoff which takes traffic north
on the Stuart Highway. As tempting as it
was to turn left and start our trip again, we continued on in the opposite
direction. It also means we’ve
officially completed a figure 8 of Australia, even though it has taken 3 trips
over 6 years to cover it and had us recalling some of the great memories of all
three adventures.
Our destination in Port Pirie today was a caravan park that we have
stayed at many times, Port Pirie Beach, and we were fortunate to obtain a site
with a view over the water. We’ve
captured many lovely photos in this spot before. By the time we were set up, the sun was
shining and there was a light breeze and I had the bright idea to do a bit of
washing, in particular the bath towels which were really in need of refreshment. Shane had headed out to pick up fresh fruit
and vegetables, leaving me to get some laundry done and an opportunity for
Kitty to spend some time outside in the sun.
By the time Shane returned the heavens had opened and while I had
rescued Kitty’s dog bed, blanket and the washing, the outdoor mat was now
soaking wet. I should have known better
really as the weather can close in VERY quickly here – and it didn’t disappoint
today – leaving me with 2 quite wet bath towels and a selection of men’s and
ladies underwear requiring the caravan Chinese laundry to be set up again to
get them dry.
It was around this time too that the infernal infected tooth, having
not had any antibiotics to keep it subdued for a day and a half, decided to
make its presence known with the gum getting quite red and a little swollen again. I put in a call to the dentist to make an
appointment and Shane and I decided, despite wanting to continue with our
holiday plans, it was probably best to head home keeping medical services close
by in the event of this happening again, and get the issue resolved. We’ll stay in Port Pirie tomorrow to see how
it progresses and then make our way back.
It was disappointing but not knowing what to expect, I think we’ll both
be more comfortable knowing we have everything we need at home, and there is
plenty to get done once we get back to fill in the last 2 weeks of my leave
from work.
Sadly no photos worth having of our water view due to the rain and wind
that prevailed into the evening.
