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.