Friday, March 8, 2013

Whyalla, Wild Dog Mountain and Fitzgerald Bay

Whyalla is a red town. No need to paint the town red it already is! Check out OneSteel Whyalla Steekworks, it transforms the Middleback Ranges iron ore into 90 different grades of steel.
Whyalla Steelworks
We drove out to the Wild Dog Hill where a pleasant surprise arose from the flat plains. The 90 metre high hill is formed from the red and purple sandstones and is part of the Pandurra formation, with an age of between 1.6 and 1 billion years. Kai was the king of the mountain. Whyalla Conservation Park is a significant site for lichens, which are found on rocks, trees and covering the ground.
Wild Dog Hill
We camped at Fitzgerald Bay. Dad wanted to visit the sinuous shingle beach deposits that were two metres high.  The shingles were flattened quartzite pebbles derived from the nearby plateau. Strong wave action during a previous sea level may of placed the shingles ridges.

Fitzgerald Bay shingle deposit

After a quick peep at the ridges Isaac decided skimming rocks at the shoreline was much more interesting. 

Rock skimming

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