Johnstons Tour Aus: Love Port Lincoln

It was a bit of a slow start this morning. I didn’t get out of bed until 8.45am, and I wasn’t the last! I guess we are lucky that Damian (who runs Modra’s Apartments) is such a friendly, relaxed kind of guy and that he doesn’t charge a penalty for a late checkout!

Eventually we hit the road. It was just a short drive (less than 50 kms) to our destination of Port Lincoln.

First stop, Del Giorno’s Café for morning tea.

Fletcher has turned into a little monster lately. He was at his evil best in the café. While we were singing “happy birthday” to Caitlin on the phone, he ate almost all of Jarrah’s chocolate chip biscuit (after devouring all of his own). Jarrah was Not Happy Jan!

We wandered over to the foreshore area where we found a life sized statue of three time Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva.

The super-mare’s owner, Croatian born Tony Santic, is a local fisherman. The $180 000 bronzed statue (no wonder it said ‘Do Not Climb’) was made by a local artist and funded by the tuna industry and local government. It’s made from 5000 kgs of plasticine on a steel frame. Go figure.

The weather was glorious so we headed to Town Jetty to enjoy the Port Lincoln's new half million dollar swimming enclosure.

Here we partook in one of Port Lincoln's self confessed favourite pastimes - Jetty Jumping.

Both within the swimming enclosure,

And outside it.

After picking up a few supplies, we thought we’d better get the kids some lunch. It was 3pm, after all. As Port Lincoln is well known for having a vast variety of seafood harvested from the beautiful pristine waters of the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula, we went on a local recommendation and checked out the Fresh Fish Place.

The fish and chips were some of the best I’ve ever eaten, but when did this much fish and chips cost over $30 ?

Fletcher could eat that much just on his own!

We thought about getting some lobster for New Year’s Eve.
At this price, maybe not.

With our tummies (partly) full we followed the ‘tourist drive’ around town. Apart from the Winter Hill lookout, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the ‘tourist drive’ is sponsored by Port Lincoln Realty because I think we saw every house in Port Lincoln!

But it was a good view from the lookout!

Lincoln Cove Marina accommodates the largest commercial fishing fleet in the Southern Hemisphere. It wasn't really evident today.

To be honest, I’ve seen more fishing boats at Fishing Boat Harbour in Freo. They must have been out fishing. Yeah, that’d be it. The Marina incorporates fancy real estate, hotel accommodation and an indoor pool. Yup, an indoor pool. Weird.

Not so weird is the Fisherman's Memorial, which was established to honour those Port Lincoln fishermen who have lost their lives at sea and were never recovered.

After circumnavigating Port Lincoln a couple of times it was after 5pm and well past the time we should have been looking for somewhere to park up for the night. We headed south towards the Lincoln National Park.

About 30 kms south of Port Lincoln we found the most exquisite campsite. We are all alone perched high on the top of an ocean cliff, overlooking Fishery Bay.