"Australia's Little Cornwall"

Cornish through and through well nearly... with an added bit of Plymouth and Surrey!

Having just left Adelaide in our tiny Hyundai i20 (Dad & Jed I am sure you have already googled this!) we sifted through the things to do. 

We stumbled across Moonta  "Australia's Little Cornwall". 

We both looked at each other... this can only mean one thing! 

CORNISH PASTIES! So off we went. 

The Copper Coast is a string of old mining towns littered down the Yorke Peninsula west of Adelaide. 

It seems we have taken the duty to regulate the quality of the Pasty, in these foreign lands. So let the tasting begin...!

 After popping into the information center, posing as Cousin Jack & Cousin Jenny and dragging Dean off the children's play train we drove to one of the Cornish copper mine engine houses.

Moonta and the surrounding towns did not exist until the mid 1800's when copper was first found in the region. What followed was influx of Cornish miners who came over in there hundreds in search of a new life as the tin mines of Cornwall began to dry up.

Moonta is full of old Cornish miners cottages, built from stone looking exactly liked they had been plucked from St. Agnes or Bodmin moor and placed right here on the South Australian coastline.

The mines themselves have all closed down but the remaining pump houses have been preserved by the National Trust leaving iconic remains all over the town. 

After heading in and around the mines we seemed to get a much more sobering image of how the towns and miners were living. Pictures assisted our image but the mines seemed to be slightly better preserved of those back in the Land of the Cornish. 

This may be due to the work of the National Trust but my feeling was it was due to the incredible stillness and heat of the surrounding area.

After exploring the tiny town and surrounding area we were advised to pop to the local cemetery. It seems a bit morbid I know but our real interest laid in the heritage and past of these almost forgotten Cornish men, women and children.

There laid many unmarked graves with signs that simply read two words below the person’s details.

Mining Fatality.

Some of these read ages as young as 11 years old.

We headed out of Moonta towards The Gap a beautiful beachside camp area to watch the sunset and of course to cook our Gourmet Dinner. 

Tonight ladies and gentlemen we have on the menu Super noodles! 

I can assure all you panicking parents out there this is not our usual menu choice we usually have at least one vegetable with our noodles! Nah I am kidding….

But at times like this I start to remember why we are travelling, and am grateful for the freedom to just travel this big and extraordinary world!