Late in the morning we ventured down to Pinky Point, 3km east of Ceduna and in an area known as Thevenard or Thevenard Point, after the island of the same name just out to sea. Just why its called Pinky Point is anyone's guess. My guess is that if you look at a map of South Australia, there are a series of headlands jutting out into the Southern Ocean just like fingers on a hand, and Thevenard point / headland is being the last smallest has been dubbed 'pinky' after the finger of the same name.
Anyhow, at the point, apart from the dominating port facilities where they load a zillion tons of grain, salt, gypsum and sand, there is a small monument to sailors lost at sea, a plaque to remember the Dutch seamen who bumped into the place first, and a story board attempting to create a link between the several distant islands and the inspiration for Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. All of these fascinating things were overshadowed by the pod of dolphins circling around that appeared to be rounding up bait fish for their lunch.
Those freight trains that feed the port rumble in and out all day and night. They are as long, maybe 100 carriages. And they come from here....
... and go down here.
...before deciding that the only possibility of getting a sensible lunch was the pub, or more correctly The Ceduna Hotel, which is conveniently set right on the water's edge and overlooking the 365 metre long jetty built in 1905.
The hotel was the first thing built, back in 1901 when the town Ceduna was officially surveyed and released upon the public for sale, who continued to call it Murat Bay after the big lump of water right outside the front door. In 1901 it looked like this...
... and was called the Murat Bay Hotel. Only after the railway came past town in 1915 to the terminus at the port which they called Ceduna, did the locals adopt the right and proper Government ordained and proclaimed name of Ceduna for their little village. The hotel changed hands a few times, and in 1949 the land freehold and hotel came up for sale. The canny local council pounced on it, paying ￡30,000 for the privilege, but wiggled out of ￡2,750 of it to cover the cost of bringing the ablutions up to the stringent standards of the Licensing Board. Ownership has stayed with the council, and hence community, ever since. What a great little money earner it is too, good on them. In 2005 they decided that heritage was bunk, cleared the site and built the current hotel.
Stepping inside, it was obvious that this was indeed where one came for a feed. Lunch was delicious. I had a Steak Sandwich that was big enough to choke the proverbial pig, Judy has the Whiting fillets, which were 'tasty' but miniscule. For a change it was I who shared my lunch this time.
Anyhow, that was Ceduna, tomorrow we head west and onto the Nullarbor, but not before we go and see the whales now starting to come into the bay at The Head of Bight.
No comments:
Post a Comment