I had arranged to visit the Mazda guy in Port Pirie so we headed off there after an early breakfast.
The initial diagnosis of the oil on the tyre was a leak in the hydraulic brakes. The parts for the repair will have to come from Adelaide or Melbourne so we camped up in the best caravan park in town The news is that the parts will not be here before Wednesday so we settled in. Jean has hag some trouble with toothache so we made an appointment with a dentist.
On Tuesday, Jean visited the dentist . She was a delightful young SE Asian lady dentist trained in Adelaide and willing to see a traveller as a matter of urgency. The result of the visit was that nothing untoward was found and the pain was put down to exposed nerves at the base of the tooth. She applied some kind of protective covering and prescribed an antibiotic in case there was an underlying infection.
The weather has turned overnight from cool and windy to hot and still. In the afternoon we veged out in the airconditioned comfort of the Motley until it cooled down.
On Wednesday, the parts arrived from Melbourne so we took the truck in for repair.
While they were working on it, we went into town to wait for them to complete the job. Having some time to kill, we walked to the docks to see the ship which we had seen arriving in the morning. I spoke to a tug sailor and he immediately recognised us as the founders of the Homeless Network. He had been parked close by at the rally at Paskeville. He invited us to join him on the tug next time he had to bring a ship in.
We visited the Museum in the old Railway Station. This is a remarkable place with lots of interesting photographs and displays which gives a very good idea what the town was like in its heyday.
When the repairs were complete, we returned to the caravan park to sit out the hottest part of the day in the comfort of the airconditioning. In the evening, Alan , the tugmaster, rang to invite us out on the tug in the morning.
On Thursday, we got up and out really early for us and spent a pleasant hour with Alan on his tug, Nungara, as he helped the pilot put a ship which was leaving port out into the channel.
We decided to stay another night at the caravan park so that we could catch up on the laundry.
Once again, the heat got the better of us and we veged out for the afternoon.
Whenever we asked the locals what there is to see and do in Port Pirie, the universal answer was "Not a lot". We, however, have found it to be a nice place with plenty of character and a really comfortable atmosphere. Clearly, we aren't dedicated tourists and places we find pleasant others might not appreciate at all. We have our list of good places and Port Pirie is on our list.