2013 #4 More at Port Lincoln

We are still in Port Lincoln on the southern part of the Eyre Peninsula.  The weather stayed wet and dark as we struck out for the Whaler’s Way which is on the very southern tip of the Peninsula.  Due to the weather our photos were not fantastic.  The following day we went to Coffin Bay, and the Coffin Bay National Park. The kangaroos with joeys, and emus, were abounding and friendly.

The first person to greet us when we pulled in to Coffin Bay was a fisherman. He was fishing with his adult son.  He said to me, “I bet your husband’s name is Graeme”.  I said, “Okay, how did you know that”.  He replied, “We were on the vehicular ferry with you.  You called out to your husband, “Graeme” and every man in the café looked up at you.  You responded by saying, “what a lot of Graeme’s on board”.    ….. Sounds just like me, I seem to get noticed!!!!  And between the two of us everybody notices us!!!   With his wonderful, favourite hat, I have been known to introduce Graeme as Steptoe and Sons offsider!!!!  We all have a good laugh.

Joy of joys. Today dawned sunny and even warm.  Fortunately, Graeme had booked us a boat trip to learn how Tuna are farmed.  There were three couples on the boat.  We bobbed, ducked, flew, bounced around the ocean as we were shown the sights of town.  Oh – the rich houses – to challenge anything on the gold coast.  The biggest belongs to the Croatian King of Tuna with an unbelievable house on the most favoured corner, facing out towards the Tuna and the sea. The financial statistics are unbelievable, so I won’t try to quote them!

Port Lincoln has the largest fishing fleet in Southern Hemisphere, so it is mind-blowing to actually see it.   All types of fish are farmed or fished here.  It’s all very hi-tech.  The Tuna are treated like Kings and Queens, literally in every way.  What a shame they cannot be left to live out their lives in joy instead of having to swim round and round in a pen.  The water is pristine and clear as crystal. The fish were about a metre long in the pen we visited. 

On the islands all around the area, we saw plenty of Sea Lions, seals, every kind of sea bird, shags, Cape Barren Geese each pair with about five chicks.  At first I thought they were Emus, so large. Apparently the ocean was full of Great Whites as well, and all the beautiful fish that they can catch here.  The seals and sea lions put on such a show for us, diving into the water and swimming close by.  The Skipper of the boat treated us to a feast of A grade Sashimi (raw Tuna) served with various Japanese condiments.  It was like a ceremony.  He was a real entertainer but he spoke so fast, with so many words, that it was hard to follow everything he told us.  A very knowledgeable man.

When we docked, we were right opposite the ‘state of the art’ swimming pool, so, of course we had to have a swim to test it out.  It has a giant water slide right in the middle, for the children. What a heavenly day!     The foul weather returned Friday night with winds all night.