Monday 30^th July

This morning we walked the jetty – I estimated it to be about 1500 metres long, and I wasn’t far out. The jetty was opened in 1881 and extended by 122 metres to a length of 1680 metres in 1883. The present length following storm damage is 1532 metres. The jetty was used to load grain onto sailing ships from all over the world.  About 100,000 bags of wheat were loaded per year by winches or shute at low tide.

I wanted to count the number of upright metal posts along the jetty, so counted them on the return 1500 metre journey – there were 602 on one side, so double for both sides.  When I related this to the caravan park managers they were not surprised as they told me that two separate people had counted the number of planks on the jetty – now that would be a challenge.

The area is famous for blue swimmer crabs, so I wanted to find out when these are ripe for the catching and was told that in any month with the letter “r” in the name there will be crabs available.  The park was very well set up for the cooking, cleaning and freezing of any catch in the “crab hut”.

We left Port Germein and headed for a town which had been recommended to us by a few different travelers, Burra.

At this stage I only know it was a place where copper had been discovered and that Welsh miners lived here.  More tomorrow as I uncover the story of Burra and the history of this quaint little town. 

Burra is marked with the white star on the green background