Were in Port Lincoln

I forgot to mention in the last blog that Richard didn’t end up getting the camera he’d ordered from Harvey Norman at Whyalla.  The order was supposed to be in store within 5 days from the date of ordering it. He rang several times but the order couldn’t be tracked and as there was no sign of the camera being in-store any time soon – he politely told them to “ forget the order” (Richard is not blessed with an abundance of patience at the best of times, so this didn’t sit well with him).  It’s considerably cheaper to order on –line so he’ll order it to be delivered to Daniel’s address in Perth for when we get there in early June.

Monday 29^th April  -  We left Port Gibbon for our next destination Port Lincoln.  We had heavy rain overnight, so the dirt road was very slippery getting away.  We drove out slowly and were relieved when we got to the main road once again. In less than 1 ½ hours we arrived at Port Lincoln Caravan Park, North Shields, which is a 10 minute drive into the main part of Port Lincoln.  This is the only caravan park that takes dogs in the area, so most people here have their canine companions with them. We had a lovely waterfront site.  The sites were very wide and spacious with tall bushes on either side offering some privacy from our neighbours. The park had a Roadhouse/garage at the front with a variety of home cooked goodies for sale. We had the homemade lasagne and it was delicious.

The first job on the agenda was to wash the car and caravan which were caked with thick red mud all over from the wet dirt roads at Port Gibbon. They both looked very neglected and unloved.

We got settled in and went for a drive into town.  We headed straight for the Tourist Information Centre which is what we do at every new destination.  We booked a boat trip to see the sea lions for the next day which I was really looking forward to.  There were tours available to “Swim With The Tuna”, “Swim With The Sharks” and “Cage Dive With The Sharks”, but we decided to leave them for the more adventurous types.  They are the main tourist attractions with cars with huge tunas and sharks on top of them driving around everywhere to promote their tours.  We had to do a big re-stock shop as we were almost out of supplies and catch up on the washing as we don’t have enough water free camping to use the washing machine – just rinse out the smalls and spin them when the generator’s going.  It’s tough I know but well worthwhile when you see the beautiful “off the beaten track” places we’ve free camped at.

Port Lincoln is a coastal town on Boston Bay and is known as  ”The Seafood Capital of Australia” and provides most of Australia’s seafood.  It has a population of 14,000 and is one of the largest protected harbours in the World and three times the size of Sydney Harbour.

The statue of MaybeDiva in Port Lincoln

Tony Santic the owner of MakybeDiva - the three times Melbourne Cup winner- is a tuna fisherman here.  The town proudly honours a life-size statue of his horse on the esplanade.  Dean Lukin the Olympic weightlifter and his family are also tuna farmers in the area.  The Australian netballer Lauren Nourse also began her netball career in Port Lincoln.

The eating area at the front of the caravan park

Tuesday 30^th April  - We headed off to Lincoln Cove Marina for our  sea lion tour.  The marina was very modern with the largest commercial fishing fleet in Australia catching mainly prawns and pilchards.   Million dollar properties surrounded the Marina Hotel.  Our trip was with Triple Bay Charters with local operator Peter Dennis.  We headed out through Boston Bay and past Boston Island which is a fully operational sheep station 5km off the coast.  It was discovered and named by Matthew Flinders in 1802.  Our host Peter was quite a character and very informative.  We learnt how the tuna are caught and taken to aquaculture holding farms to be fattened up for the Japanese sashimi/sushi industry.  The best quality Blue Fin Tuna sashimi sells for $2,000 per kilo in Japan and the lesser quality still sells for $1,000 a kilo.  The tuna are fed semi frozen pilchards twice a day, costing about $7,000 a day to feed.  Some of the holding pens have up to 2,500 tuna inside.  We pulled alongside one of the holding pens and saw all the tuna swimming inside.   We also tasted some (a box worth $100) rolled with pickled ginger, horseradish cream, wasabi and soy sauce. I was very surprised how delicious it tasted, very much the consistency of avocado.  I like all my meat and fish well cooked, so was a bit apprehensive to taste raw fish at first.  We headed over to Hopkins Island where the sea lions live and saw New Zealand fur seals lazing on the rocks and black sea lions frolicking in the water.  They were so funny laying on their backs flapping their fins with not a care in the world.  Captain Peter spotted a pod of dolphins with their young and we chased them to get closer.  Peter told us that many dolphin mothers proudly show off their offspring to the boats whilst others are very protective and dive deep when the boats are around.  Our pod did a few jumps and disappeared.  Magnificent creatures.

Peter reckoned one in 45 people living in Port Lincoln were millionaires.  On the way back into the marina he pulled up alongside  a local multi-millionaire wine label maker  on  board “The Battler” one of his many million dollar yachts  anchored in the marina outside his huge and very expensive mansion.  He had just ordered a new Ferrari costing $750,000 because there was a problem with the timing change in his current one!!!    How the other half live!!!!   Our three hour trip was over and we thanked Peter for a very interesting and humorous trip.

The black sea lions(not the best photo)

Millionaires' row at The Marina

A fur seal basking in the sun on a rock

Wednesday 1^st May - We went for drive back along the coastline to Louth Bay a very small but pretty place.  We drove further back to Tumby Bay a much larger tourist spot.  Driving along the main road we noticed the CWA Caravan Park which is located in someone’s property with room for about 5-6 small vans.  Someone had mentioned this to us but we didn’t realise it was quite so small.  Our van definitely wouldn’t fit in there.  The other caravan park was at the far end of town.  We drove past “The Ritz Café” on the way to look at the main caravan park.  There were quite a few tourist shops along the main drag and lots of tables and seats along the sea front to stop for a rest/cuppa or to eat.  It was an interesting place.

Thursday 2^nd May  -  We went for a “big day out” drive around the east side of the Lower Eyre Peninsula stopping off first at Coffin Bay, about a thirty minute drive from Port Lincoln.  Matthew Flinders named this area in honour of his botanist friend Sir Isaac Coffin.  We were very amused at the boat ramp by the amount of tractors with empty boat trailers lined up.  They’re very serious professional fishermen around here, coming in with boat loads of fresh local oysters, King George Whiting and Garfish.  The surrounding coastline was very scenic and it’s a popular tourist destination, with a permanent population of 584, which can reach over 3,000 in peak periods.   We stopped there for our morning cuppa and drove further along the coastline past Wangary, Dutton Bay and onto Farm Beach where we wanted to check out a cheap camping area listed in Camps 7.  It costs $5 per night to stay there for 4 weeks maximum.  It was a  very short walk to a beautiful wide beach that stretched for miles.  Sally enjoyed a good run along the beach and we earmarked it for a potential stay.  We saw a stone memorial marked Gallipolli with a signpost above it to Gallipolli Beach.  We’d heard the 1981 Australian blockbuster by Peter Weir was filmed in the area, so I really wanted to visit Gallipolli Beach which is where” Anzac Cove” was recreated in the movie. Some of the other filming locations were in Adelaide, Coffin Bay and Port Lincoln. Unfortunately this 6km track up the hill was very, very rocky and uneven and a bit hairy to say the least.  Once on the track there was nowhere to turn around, so we had to proceed onwards and upwards until we came to an area where we could turn the car around.  It was a spectacular view looking down on the cliffs and the ocean, which was not accessible by foot.   Richard kept complaining “this will wreck the new bloody tyres” (did I mention part of my Valentine’s Day present was 4 brand new, black shiny tyres – Richard ever the romantic ).  The tyres, car and ourselves came off the track unscathed fortunately.

After that little escapade, we proceeded further up the coast to Sheringa Beach which we’d heard so much about that we wanted to check it out for ourselves.  There was a roadhouse just before the turn off where you need to buy a permit to stay and they also have basic supplies as there’s nothing else around for miles. We saw lots of wild cats on the track up to the beach.  They are a real problem in the area. It took about 5 minutes to get to the spot where caravans park up behind the sand dunes.  It was a magical place with a huge pristine white beach.  The beach was full of fishermen trying their luck. We walked over the dunes to the beach and thought it was just B E A U T I F U L  - yes wow we just have to come here for longer   -  our next destination sorted!!!  We were so glad we’d taken the time to drive here.  We stopped off at the roadhouse to find out the cost of a permit and were told it was $10 per night.  Just turn up and buy a permit and park wherever you want.

On the way back to Port Lincoln we spotted Winters Hill Lookout an emergency observation tower 5km outside of Port Lincoln and just had to go and have a look at the stunning views over Boston Bay, Boston Island and Port Lincoln. It had been a long day driving but we’d really enjoyed the scenery.  We finished the day off at

The Wheatsheaf Hotel – a 5 minute walk from the caravan park.  Thursday night was “schnitzel night” .  We’ve never seen such big portions – the schnitzel was the size of our plate, really thick (must have been one whole chicken breast per person), really moist and cooked to perfection.  Mine was covered with delicious home- made mushroom sauce and chips.  Salads were on a separate plate – help yourself style – and were all delicious home-made too.  We’d pigged out on the salads whilst waiting for our meals, unaware of just how big they would come out.  What great value for $14 each.  The pub itself was lovely and cosy with a great atmosphere and was packed.  There was a mural of sheep shearing covering the wall halfway down, hand painted in oil and corrugated iron on the other half, giving a rustic, country appearance to the place.  We left there so full that we could hardly move.

Friday 3^rd April  -  Another lazy book reading day.  We went to The Pier Hotel on the esplanade for dinner.  It was really packed and very nicely decorated.  We thought we just had to try some seafood as we’re in the seafood capital.  I had stir fried seafood with chilli and vegetables.  It was sensational with a really spicy sauce.   Richard had seafood crepe with zesty salad which he really enjoyed too.  Once again the portions were HUGE.  The steaks we saw coming out were monstrous.  We’re at a loss to know how you couldn’t help but put on weight if you stayed here too long.  The Pier Hotel had bands on Friday and Saturday nights.  We were keen to hear some live music again.  The band were average so we didn’t stay too long once they started up.  Nevertheless it was good to get out and we did enjoy ourselves.

The weather has been quite windy during our stay at Port Lincoln.  It hasn’t stopped us taking Sally for long walks on the beach adjacent to the caravan park twice a day and she’s had a ball chasing the seagulls.  I’ve even had to get my flannelette pyjamas out.

Next Week:  We’ll be going to Sheringa Beach for 3 nights then on to Elliston. We’ve now got to be in Perth before the 14^th June as Karina and her boyfriend Kieran are coming over to Perth for a week’s holiday 14^th – 21^st June and will be staying with Daniel.  I’m really looking forward to seeing her again and also to spending time with Daniel once more.