Port Lincoln to Penong

A short drive and we were in Port Lincoln – on the lower Eyre Peninsula opening onto the Spencer Gulf and claims to be the seafood capital of Australia. Due to the thriving fishing industry ( tuna abalone oysters prawns etc ) it is said to be the home of the most millionaires per capita in Australia!  Some of you may remember Dean Lukin the champion weightlifter who was a tuna fisherman here. Population is about 16,000 so not a big town. We hired a car so could easily access the surfing spots as well as the oyster areas! More luck with oysters- had a fantastic lunch at Coffin Bay right on the water next to the oyster beds. Couldn’t be fresher. Favourite was oysters with jalapeno sorbet – very welcome on a hot day! We ate 30!!

Went into the Lincoln National Park looking for surf at a beach called Fishery Bay. Mark was using the car’s google maps for directions. I noticed it had near Morgan St Aldinga 7.5 hrs away written on the screen and did advise Mark who wasn’t interested. Then he said we seem to be going in the wrong direction and checked the google map. Turned out we were heading to Fisherman’s bay back in Aldinga!!! This is why I prefer real maps!! Fishery Bay was beautiful –  deserted crystal clear water but not a wave in sight! Perfect for a walk and swim.

You might recall we were hoping for a latch to arrive in Port Lincoln so the fridge could be fixed. Well it never arrived! And a call to the headquarters of Dometic (the fridge brand) suggested it had never been ordered by the Port Pirie guy. So Mark found a Dometic agent in Ceduna who said he could order it and that it SHOULD arrive by the time we were there. So after a couple of days in Port Lincoln going to restaurants, bars and cafes eating more oysters and fish we set off  heading north up the Eyre highway with the POLE still in situ! We stopped in at Smoky Bay another oyster area and walked along the jetty before heading to an industrial area made up entirely of oyster companies. Not all sell to the public but we found one  with a sign out the front “oysters for sale”. Yippee! Only catch was that his licence didn’t extend to selling opened oysters so we had a quick shucking lesson and bought a dozen to be kept until my birthday. Got to eat a couple he opened and they are saltier than the Coffin Bay variety but just as tasty! We also walked along the jetty- most of these beach towns have jetties, some are very old and have been restored, some are very long- one was over a kilometre. One was famous for its  metal pylons which were screwed in with the help of camels!! All of them seem to have fisher folk at their ends hoping for a catch! And stopped at a surfing beach but no surf. Nice spot to put awning out and catch up on blog though!

Along the way to Streaky Bay we detoured to stop at some sights near Elliston. Firstly to  some spots around Talia beach – huge shelves of granite disappearing into the ocean,  caves and blowholes. Then onto Murphy’s Haystacks, a collection of granite boulders named after the original owner of the land on which they sit. These are properly called Inselbergs formed by the uneven weathering of crystalline rock. Some are boulders, others are pillars. In the middle of a sheep paddock!

We spent a night at Streaky Bay and then set off for Ceduna and were over the moon ( well I was ) to learn  on arrival that the latch had arrived and my new best friend Graham was meeting us in the caravan park to fit it.  He is a long term Ceduna resident who originally worked on the OTC (overseas telecommunications commission) as Ceduna had two huge satellite dishes that could beam the signals into space. Of course that old technology is now obsolete. More exciting for us was discovering that there was a seafood place for dinner along the highway going out of town. It was a bike ride away so off we set – Mark a little concerned as I drifted from the very  side of the road into the path of the huge long trucks heading west!!It was worth the anxiety as there was this ordinary little place just off the highway which had oysters, tacos and sushi on the menu thanks to the cultural diversity of the staff! Very ordinary  small bottles of yellow tail wine to go with it – the owner does not encourage BYO as some bring eskies full of grog!! Great food in quirky surroundings!

Then to Penong a very small place which is the last town before heading off across the Nullarbor.

For us though a small detour before the big drive to a remote and famous surfing spot -Cactus. Both Mark and I have been here before around 1974 although we were not together then. We told the ranger this and turned out he was only born in 1974!! How to make one feel old. And not helped by the fact I was spending my 65^th birthday here- Mark could have planned that a bit better! As it turned out this was the best day of our stay in Cactus- nice sunny weather, Mark had a great surf on his paddle board which I devotedly captured on film, followed by a fabulous frittata cooked by moi in my new casserole dish on the Weber! Late in the afternoon we went for a walk to explore the 3 beaches and had a swim in one. Back to the ranch and Mark shucked the dozen oysters which we enjoyed with a lovely King Island Prosecco! Back to Weber cooking for a seafood paella. Lovely sunset over the ocean and then amazing stars. Sometimes when you least expect it a birthday can turn out rather special even without a card or present!. Of course Mark says his presence is my present!

Back to Penong for a night in the caravan park which was initially deserted until 2 older couples ( probably our age) on their way to Albany for a niece’s birthday turned up. We had dinner with them in the Penong pub which my brother Stephen used to manage. And of course have seen them in many spots since then!! Yesterday they disturbed us while we were having a rest in a little place west of Esperance!! Penong is famous for its Windmill Museum which is an outside area of windmills sourced from many places around SA and Australia. Some like the Comet which was the largest windmill in the Southern Hemisphere with a span of over 35metres had been found in pieces in a property transported to Penong and restored to its former glory!!

I should mention that the areas we have travelled through on the Eyre Peninsula are mainly wheat and sheep farming and the terrain does not change much over many kilometres. Unless you head into the coastal areas. Since the Yorke Peninsula we have been following the Seafood Trail which is signposted all the way to the border with WA. Now that is my kind of trail!!