Saturday 21^st July

Our trip from Coffin Bay to Port Lincoln was only a short one, however upon looking at tourist brochures it seems there will be quite a few attractions for us over there so we will book into a van park, unhitch the caravan and be tempted by all this town has to offer us.

Much to our surprise and lack of researching the place before we arrived, the place is a city and has a population of 14,000 people.  Again our friend Matthew Flinders placed his mark here by discovering the harbour in 1802, and because it was a good harbour he named it Port Lincoln, after his native Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom.

Port Lincoln is known as the “seafood capital” of Australia with tuna, rock lobster, prawns, abalone and oysters being the major catch from around here. Most of the tuna, lobster and abalone are destined for Asian countries, while the others have an Australian market.

Since our travels began on the Eyre Peninsula we have seen many grain silos and here in Port Lincoln is the final destination for the many grains as it is loaded onto bulk ships for overseas markets. 

The bulk grain silos here on the bay could not be missed  - they don’t add to the attractiveness of the region, however they are certainly a reminder of one of the valuable industries.

The tourist information office saw that we were laden with brochures so we decided the first box to tick on our list was a tour of the city by car.  The tourist map had a clearly defined route and it took us along the attractive foreshore, past the life size statue of the racehorse Makybe Diva and then a meander around the perimeter of the city.  This was valuable as we are now orientated and have some priorities mapped out for tomorrow.

The Old Mill was built as a Flour Mill in 1846 but never commenced operation. It is now a historic lookout with views of Port Lincoln and Boston Bay. While I am generally not fearful of heights I was only able to walk 2/3 of the way up the outside spiral staircase before I got a case of the “freeze frame”, and had to go back down to the base and let Bob tell me about the view.  I will go again tomorrow when the weather is better and hope I can get to the top.