Port Lincoln - Part 2

We stayed three nights in Port Lincoln, and packed so much in I think it needs two blog posts. While in Port Lincoln we also went to visit the Glen Forrest Animal Reserve. It was further off the beaten track than we had anticipated, and it was a funny little set up when we finally got there, but what it did offer was hand-feeding the kangaroos (which we all loved) and petting the koalas at feeding time. It wasn’t quite the ‘cuddling the koala’ I had set my heart on before leaving Canada, but it was pretty close. The baby koala was particularly cute. We also enjoyed the other animals on offer (rabbits, guinea pigs, ostriches, emus, donkeys, ponys, sheep, cattle etc) and as it’s also a working farm we saw some sheep shearing as well. As the girls are animal obsessed it was a sure-fire hit.

Afterwards we drove into the Lincoln National Park on the tip of the peninsula. We ended up alone on a beautiful beach, collecting sea shells and swimming in the green water. Then it was into Port Lincoln for fish’n’chips on the foreshore. Not a bad way to put in a day!

Who doesn't love a good belly scratch

Feeding the koalas

Ostriches are crazy birds

Why the long face?

Indie took some nice pictures of the birds in the aviary

Port Lincoln - Part 1

Basically, as we were planning our journey westward we had to be a little more strategic about how many places we could actually visit – of the three ‘peninsulas’ around Adelaide in South Australia (Fleurie, Yorke and the Eyre peninsulas) we chose just to come down the last. I don’t want to know what amazing things we missed with that decision, but we are rapidly coming to realize that, try as we might, we just can’t see it all. I think we did choose the most rugged and remote peninsula to visit and after Whyalla we drove down to Port Lincoln on the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula.

It’s a great spot. Known for its huge seafood industry (specifically tuna and prawns amongst others) it’s got a lot on offer. Not least of which is cage diving with Great White sharks. Toby and Indie were the chosen ones… I think Toby’s video says it best about that experience! Indie and Toby cage dive with the Great Whites.

Anna, Zoe and I were supposed to do a boat tour of the tuna farms and say hi to the sea lions in the bay while Toby and Indie were away but sadly the booking wasn’t communicated properly and so we missed out. Never mind – we enjoyed the dolphins swimming past our campsite, the pelicans on the shore and the 10-week-old puppy in the campsite next to us! There was also a really nice walk along the foreshore 3km in either direction from the campsite, and Zoe and I enjoyed a visit to Shelley Beach. (There are a lot of Shelley beaches in Oz, it seems, following along the theme of ‘Australians say it like it is’. These beaches have sand made of – surprise! – crushed shells. Hence, Shelley beach. And sadly, not some fixation with the Romantic poets, as I first hoped…)

More pelicans as promised

We treated ourselves to breakfast out when Toby and Indie were on the boat

Shelley Beach

The water was so clear

Shells!

BJ the puppy! He was right next door to us. 

OK - so we did spend rather a lot of our time in the campsite stalking the puppy

What can I say - we're missing our dog terribly. 

We almost took him and ran. Forget all the Australian wildlife - we'll take the puppy, thanks.

Whyalla

After our fun afternoon wine tasting in the Clare Valley we managed to get a decent amount of driving in and we went up and through Port Augusta and started the Eyre Peninsula with an overnight in Whyalla. Why Whyalla? Windy Whyalla? Convenience, really, but it was a nice park and we enjoyed a sunset walk on the beach along to an incredible playpark on the foreshore and Toby had a swim in the pool in the harbour. There was even a little aviary to admire in the park. Even a brief stop brings its own set of joys.

We loved that each swimming buoy was capped by a seagull

A wondrous bird is the pelican...

Pelicans! My new favourite bird. You can expect a lot of photos of pelicans to come because I am a little obsessed with them - they really are the most wondrous bird and there are so many of them to be found on the coast in Australia. 

I must insert the compulsory limerick at this point (attributed to Ogden Nash but others take credit too) because I can't help reciting it whenever I see one: 

A wondrous bird is the pelican

His beak can hold more than his belly can.

He can store in his beak, 

Enough food for a week, 

But damned if I know how the helli-can.

These pelicans were at our campsite in Port Lincoln, hanging out by the fish cleaning table. The fisherman kindly let Indie feed a few of them some fish scraps, and let me tell you, those beaks can move fast. Indie was lucky to come away with her fingers. We must have spent more than an hour just hanging out watching them by the shore.