25/5/2022 – Wednesday – 7km

It rained & was very windy last night but we woke to a clearing sky & the wind abating. This morning we are at the Edithburg Museum just after it opens & stay until it shuts at 1pm. The museum is very interesting with part of the museum devoted to shipping, shipwrecks & the industry that Edithburg was built on, the shipping of salt, gypsum, wheat & barley from the port. Other parts focus on agriculture & personal stories, there is one lady with nearly 5,000 prize certificates from exhibiting at shows all over Australia. Her paintings & her needlework were extraordinary. Two old Edithburg fire trucks have been lovingly restored to working order & are a credit to the men that did the restoration, an amazing labour of love. There are also pieces of equipment from the saltworks plus photos of what the town looked like in its heyday, vastly bigger & busier than it is today.

Next was lunch at the Location café on the corner, formerly the butcher shop, the food was delicious & filling. The craft shop in the museum grounds was next on the agenda & the amazing work by the locals is extraordinary with all the proceeds going to charities, flying doctor, museum & fire brigade.   We spent a fair bit of time looking at all this lovely work as well & bought a couple of pieces as the donations are going to good causes.

A walk down onto the Edithburg jetty helped settle lunch down & we chatted to a few of the locals fishing, some with success, others not so much. It is hard to imagine this jetty was such a hive of shipping activity all those years ago. The Edithburg Tidal Pool is close by & the locals have made a great job of creating a safe swimming environment & taking care of the pool so well. The murals along the wall look great.

Our next visit is to the water tower on the small rise behind town to view the seascape mural, the artists have done an amazing job, particularly the weedy sea dragon & the cuttlefish. We drive through town past the large nature park & drive out along Sultana Point, site of the wreck of the ship “Sultana”. There are lots of houses built along the seafront along here, some shiny & new, others have been there a very long time.

Back to camp & a bit of repair work on the Karavan stone guard with a piece of broken elastic cord needing to be replaced. Another great day.