Jetty Tour Day 14 - Wind Farm, Lighthouse, Shipwrecks & Town Tours

Catholic Church
Edithburgh

Oh how lovely it is is to make a slow start to the day.

We started with coffee at the only cafe in town, which led me to be dubious but in the end, the coffee was delicious and the service friendly. They also had the most unusual ceiling light shades I have seen: silver metal colanders!

Next was a walking tour of Edithburgh which we did in the car. A very well put together booklet guided us, with a good map and just the right amount of information at each stop. Most of the building were built from stone and many of them have lasted well over 100 years. The huge two storey school has been empty of children for some time but a for sale sign on the fence led us to wonder what purpose it might be put to next.

By far the most interesting building was the Catholic Church (find it in the photos) which used a building technique we have seen nowhere else. Where as the stones in walls had been mortared in place and then shaved off to make a squared surface, these had been left as they were. The result was a really interesting texture on the outside walls like no other.

From town we headed south to the Wattle Point Wind Farm and the fifty five giant 67 metre high turbines, which have been aligned in straight lines, unlike any other wind farm in Australia. They have been supplying the South Australian grid since 2005 and generate enough electricity to provide power for Tamworth. I wasn't aware that they don't operate in winds beyond 47km/hr. Our drive took us through them, at times under the wooshing swing of their blades. I can understand why you would want to live beside a pylon but generally speaking, unless right beside them, you couldn't hear them operating. Fascinating and further solidified our belief in creating energy that doesn't required fossil fuels.

We picked up the Edinburgh to Marion Bay scenic road which travels beside the shoreline along the southern shoreline of the Yorke and made our way to Troubridge Point. Like a smaller version of the Bunda Cliffs along the Great Australia Bight, the cliffs along this section of coast a rough and deeply undercut. I was glad I didn't park the car near the edge as there was very little cliff under the last few metres to the edge. Some of the cliff faces featured deep, ocean-washed caves and the water was clear over a sandy bottom for at least a few hundred metres offshore. This coast along the bottom of the Yorke has claimed its share of shipping and its not hard to see why.

Not far from where we stood, the wreck of the SS Clan Ranald lies submerged in twenty metres of water. A turret ship - sides slopping inwards from the waterline and two levels for extra storage - she got into trouble in rough seas and strong wind on 31st January 1909 and listed to her starboard so badly that side submerged and the rudder was exposed from the water. The wind blew her at the cliffs and the buffeting had smashed her life boats. Many of the crew were sucked under as she capsized and sank but those who swam for shore had to confront the steep cliffs and rough seas driving them relentlessly into them. Rescue rockets launched before the Clan Ranald sunk bought locals to the cliffs and they scaled them to help the few survivors. More than sixty drowned or were killed on the rocks but only thirty bodies were ever recovered.

Immediately behind Troubridge Point, high on the hill of the same name, a tall, red-hued lighthouse now stands. Built of specially wedge shaped bricks for added strength, it has been warning sailors since 1980 of the dangers of the coastline.

7th tee, Edithburgh Golf Course

We returned back to our digs for a very late lunch and then Sue went to the camp kitchen to paint and I went for a walk along Edinburgh's section of the Walk the Yorke track which I have mentioned in previous reports. I went back past both Fisherman's Jetty and the Edinburgh Jetty, a wide wooden construction than once carried railway tracks so that good could be bought to waiting ships. Further north was the tidal sea water pool which has an interesting construction. At higher tides, the top of its concrete walls are at least 50cm underwater. I climbed a hill and was walking through the local golf course, which is built along the coastline. Standing on the 7th tee, I wondered if my nerves would hold teeing off across the water in a sweeping concave of coast and hoping to lad on the elevated area of green. Anything short was either in the water outright or if you carried it and land on the hill below the green, your ball would simply run back down the hill and be in the drink anyway! The greens were actually raked oiled lack sand. Golfers!

Click on the camera to see todays photos

The evening was spent watching the NSW election coverage online. For as long as I remember and no matter where we are, its something Sue and I always do together.

Showers tomorrow so I'll be driving a laptop.