I went to Port Pirie...

 ...with my brother R, to visit our sister J. She is the oldest of us and the oldest living member of the original family and will be 74 at the end of this month. It's a long trip by car and we stopped at the halfway point, Port Wakefield, to eat lunch. 

We walked around a bit and I took a few photos of a part of Port Wakefield I had never seen. When travelling through there as a child with my father, the old road was still in use and we only stopped for petrol and sandwiches which we then ate in the car as we continued on our way. (to Murray Bridge to visit with my mum and the other kids), But this time we were on the new highway which R knows well as he drives around the country a lot, for work and to catch up with old friends in different areas.  I'll show the photos on Sunday. 

Here's what I forgot about the mid north in summer: dusty dry heat that has sweat pouring from your hair within minutes. Bush flies by the dozens, we walked around swatting and wishing we had those hats with corks bobbing around the brim. I was glad to get back in the car, a modern Kia with all the bells and whistles that I know nothing about, but the airconditioning was great!

A few hours later we were in Port Pirie and parked outside my sister's home which I didn't recognise, it has been painted and had a new fence. I'd last been there ten years ago. We had a lovely visit on her front porch, she doesn't like people coming into her home and we respect that. We gave her Christmas gifts, she doesn't need or want anything material, so I gave her some Chocolate coated gingerbread shapes of the kind our mum used to buy for us every Christmas. When we left J's home, R drove us all around Port Pirie to look at every home we had lived in over the years, so much has changed I didn't recognise many of the streets and one home I particularly liked was no longer there, a smaller, modern home had been built in its place. We drove past the beach, our old schools, primary and high schools, both much changed now and the old swimming pool was still there too.

The flies were just as bad and there were mosquitos too. Our rooms at the Hotel International were nice enough, very large rooms, shabby, but clean. After resting and washing off some of the sweat, we enquired as to what time the dining room opened for dinner and breakfast and were told "Oh we don't do meals anymore." anyone reading here and planning to stay in Port Pirie take note: that big old grey hotel at the corner of Ellen Street and David Street, does not serve meals.  We were directed to another place down the block and around the corner where we both had very nice fish and chips for dinner, then walked to the local Woolworths and bought breakfast supplies. Cereal and milk for R, yoghurt and fruit for me. 

We'd planned on leaving right after breakfast around 7.30-8am, but I was wide awake at 5am, so spent some time on the hotel balcony, dusty and covered in pigeon poop, but lovely and wide, feeling the cool of the early morning breeze before the sun began to "bite". On the way home we took a different road and passed through Port Broughton, which I had never seen and then on to Bute where we stopped for lunch and stretched our legs walking around. I took photos there too. After Bute and closer to home we passed a place where someone had made large metal statues, a giant cockroach, Ned Kelly, a space ship. I took photos of course and then we were back on the Northern Expressway and R pointed out which bridges he had helped construct over his three year contract. 

The best part of the trip, for me, was arriving back home.

Comments

  1. Thanks for taking us on this interesting little road trip - back in time to your childhood. I am looking forward to seeing some of your pictures on Sunday.

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    1. Yorkshire Pudding; it was nice to see J again and also nice to be away from home and the computer for a while.

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  2. Oh my, what is a Bush Fly? They don't sound fun.

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    1. The Happy Whisk; a bush fly is a smaller version of the common house fly and there is never just one, they come in packs, tribes, swarms of a dozen or more depending on weather conditions.

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  3. Like YP I am looking forward to seeing photos. And well remember those flies. And shudder.

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    1. Elephant's Child; I'll have to get busy and start sorting the photos.

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  4. That looks like a lovely drive up the coast. I could live forever without flies- ewww. annoying at best! Glad you made the trip. Looking forward to photos.

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    1. Linda Sue; the road doesn't hug the coast so there were no ocean views along the way, but we did see miles and miles or dry brown farmland. I could live forever without flies too, and ants.

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  5. I look forward to your photos! I couldn't resist looking up your hotel on Google Street View. Looks like a nice enough place -- but it's funny that back in 2015 they were advertising their bistro, "Open 7 Days." How things change!

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    1. Steve Reed; I guess things were better in 2015. I know more places were open when I was last there in 2013.

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  6. Eagerly awaiting the pictures. I look forward to a road trip (like when we used to drive 9 hours to visit The Pony at college), but agree that returning home is great!

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    1. Val; I don't often look forward to road trips, especially in the summer, but R has a modern car with airconditioning, so I knew the trip would be okay. Getting back home is always the best part for me.

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  7. Giant cockroaches ... I retain my judgement until I have seen your photo, but this is one animal I simply cannot stand. It sounds like a nice, but strenuous trip.

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    1. Charlotte; I hate cockroaches too, but this giant one is metal so it won't be sneaking into anyone's home. The trip wasn't at all strenuous, we had nice chats along the way and the car radio worked almost all the way, at one point we had to tune into a regional radio station.

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  8. Your last sentence made me chuckle. Oh, country NSW flies I remember well. They would land on you faster than you could wave them away, leading to a crazy dance as you flung yourself around to get rid of them...and did for five seconds. The photos should be good. More is better.

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    1. Andrew; you know those flies well, did you ever spend time waving dozens off each other's back before entering any building? As children we walked around waving a leafy branch torn off the nearest tree.

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  9. Family visits are precious. We will have our annual sibling reunion next week. I can't wait.

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    1. Granny Annie; I'm not as family oriented as some are, I'm a loner as is my sister, but we catch up at least once a decade. It might be more if we lived closer, but I can't say for sure.

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  10. I'm so glad you and your brother got to see your sister. It sounds like a mostly good time, although tiring.

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    1. messymimi; I'm glad too, but Port Pirie does drain me. I was glad to get home.

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  11. I guess I've been a long time customer here; I remember your last trip to J's was by bus, followed by a long walk. Either she was not home or not receiving guests. You came home, same way. That's the synopsis; most details omitted.

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    1. Joanne; she was home that time, same as now, no people come into her home, she has always been like that. A hoarder with no room for people to move anyway.

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  12. It sounds great! And I look forward to your Sunday-pics :-)
    You really had those hats? LOL. Cliché, I always thought! We had nets - or waved a lot...
    Aircon... na. We had a mini-window in front to open.

    This sounds like a bitter-sweet journey. Same when I come to my old home town - so much has changed or is entirely gone...
    Giant cockroach... eww. Thanks for the warning!
    Ned Kelly... Jesters has a pie named after him. Great. Now I´d like a pie and here you cannot buy that.

    Oh, I remember times being but with my Brother, too. We talked our heads off! :-)
    Now there is always someone else around, his kids, his wife (argh)! or Ingo.
    We used to do renovations together it was always great.

    Did you talk about the old times, too?

    Sounds like a great trip and I like your respect for your sister concerning home and pressies.

    Thank you, this was a very nice read!
    I don´t think we passed Port Pirie, but it sounds nice.

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    1. Iris; we did not have those hats, but we wished we did. We walked along waving the flies away. I think all modern cars have aircon. We talked a little about old times, be we have separate memories of the years we spent apart. We both remembered a very strict infant school teacher (grades 1&2) who once washed out his mouth with soap because he used swear words at age five! Look on google earth and see where Port Pirie is.

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    2. The soap-story is true?! OMG.
      Oh, there is a Railway Station Museum!
      Ack! It´s near The Flinders Ranges!!! I was so exhausted going through there, I cried! LOL. Not so happy memories...
      No, we were not in Port Pirie. From Port Augusta we went to Woomera...

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  13. It's always good to arrive home, safe and sound. I don't envy you the heat and flies. I wonder why someone would make a giant statue of a cockroach, but there's beauty in all things if you look carefully enough.

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    1. jabblog; coming home is always the best part for me. I think the person who made the statues just had plenty of time and scrap metal and it does make an interesting point somewhere along the highway.

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  14. I think perhaps the best part of any trip is arriving back home.

    So the pub wasn't a pub with no beer, but one with no food!

    I, too, look forward to seeing the photos you took, River. :)

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    1. Lee; coming home is always the best. We were disappointed about the No Food, but R goes there often enough to see old friends, so he knows the places to eat.

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  15. sounds terrific except for the fly's...eeew..

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    1. yellowdoggranny; the flies are more annoying than anything else, they hang around for moisture and latch onto any part of the body that's exposed. A flick of the hand has them flying off and resettling, so we walked around waving our hands constantly when outside.

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  16. I can't wait to see your pics. I watch the Aussie Today show on YouTube because we're always talking about taking a vacation to Australia. I looked up those bush flies. I think we'll come during your fall or winter. :)

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    1. MMM; the flies are mostly in the interior regions, big cities rarely get them, it depends on weather patterns, but late fall/early winter is a nice time to visit. April/May/June.

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