day one of the shortest holiday ever

I arrived in Port Pirie a little before lunchtime, we'd made good time. I collected my luggage and decided to walk to my hotel. It wasn't far, about ten minutes walking. I'd booked a room a few days earlier, but was surprised to find it was a motel room located in a string of them down the side of the hotel.

The website had described it as a hotel/motel, but I'd assumed there were rooms in the actual hotel part.
Didn't matter, a room is a room is a room, as long as the bed is comfortable and there is television and airconditioning, I'm okay with it.

The television was a decent size, bigger than mine at home. I wasn't planning on watching much, or anything, unless I wasn't able to sleep. I had my camera and my kindle.

This is the art work above the beds, too large to fit in my luggage, dammit!  The colours are a perfect match for my curtains here at home, except for that white patch, but I could live with that. It isn't as bright as in the photo, the light from the window was shining right on the white bit, so the effect is a little like a flash.

Even the quilted bedspreads are a good match. One of those wouldn't fit in my luggage either.....not that I tried, I could see straight away it wouldn't fit. Probably the hotel manager wouldn't be too happy to see room contents missing either. That's my small roller case sitting on the bed.

the drawers beside the door are much older than anything else in the room and had no knee space so I couldn't use the surface as a desk. There wasn't a straight back chair anyway.

I pulled the gigantic armchair out of the corner and set up the laptop on the bed instead. The chair weighed a ton, I think I nudged it a quarter inch at a time.

After checking the internet connection was working, I packed it all away, and went in search of lunch. I'd seen a McDonalds and I haven't had any of their food in yonks, so decided on a burger and fries/coke meal. Normally I'm a pepsi drinker, but they don't carry it and I really wanted some cold fizz rather than my usual water.
Then I went in search of a bus stop.

Found it! There is no sign that says Bus Stop, no yellow framed timetable attached to any post as there is here in Adelaide, just a park bench style seat pushed against the building wall and this yellow rectangle on the road.
So I sat and waited for the bus. And took a few photos while I was there.

this beautiful old church is now a Barnacle Bill's restaurant.

See? I'd planned on Fish'n'Chips there for my dinner on my last day, but we already know that didn't work out.

oh look! there's a bank, that's handy to know.

this cheeky fellow amused me for quite a while, he kept trying to swallow that crust of bread and of course it was too big so he kept dropping it. Luckily the other gulls hadn't spotted him or he would have had a fight on his....err...hands?

Eventually the bus arrived, quite late, and I visited my sister who lives a lot further out of town than I thought at first.

this is my sister's street, see the unsealed footpaths?
Away from the city centre, this is what you get. If you wear sandals you'll be stopping every few metres to shake out the grit, as I found out the next day when I wore my sandals.

After visiting for a few minutes, (longer would drive us both crazy), I went to the bus stop opposite where I'd got off to wait for a bus going in the direction of the city. A bus passed going in the opposite direction, the same way the bus had travelled when dropping me off there, so I waited for one coming my way. I'd thought there should be one, why else have a bus stop on that side of the road? But after waiting over an hour, I walked back to the hotel. It's about five kilometres and took me quite a while since I stopped fairly often in various patches of shade.
When I was almost there, one street away from the hotel, I spotted a BBQ chicken shop.

Chicken, roasted potatoes, gravy...all acceptable. Carrots...a bit mushy so I only ate half.
Peas were canned, which I hate, hate, hate, hate, so a small mouthful was more than enough.
I guess a few vegetables are better than none. 
I used the kitchenette tray that held cups, spoons and a small dish of sugar packets, coffee packets and tea bags as a table, I didn't want to be spilling gravy on the bedspread.

After dinner, I showered off the sweat and planned the next day.