We woke up to another beautiful day so I dressed in shorts and tee-shirt and went up to the office to book another night. It turned out that this site had already been allocated for tonight but the friendly receptionist changed things around and we were set to retain the same site again tonight.
After breakfast we packed up Bertha and set out on some sight-seeing of Port Lincoln. Unlike a caravan where you can unhitch and go for a drive in your tow vehicle, we have a 24 ft long car to drive around in, and we need to get used to doing that. We’ve already found that angled parking can be a challenge, and the Macca’s drive-through is an absolute no-no!
One thing of note is that Port Lincoln is quite a hilly place – for some reason we had both imagined Port Lincoln to be flatter. But it does mean that some houses, especially the more expensive ones, have great views.
It didn’t take long for us realise that a cup of coffee was in order, so in best tourist mode we headed off to the Esplanade and were very fortunate to find a large carpark close by. This is a really nice place with a good collection of shops and cafes, so we stopped and had a very nice coffee outside, overlooking the waters of Boston Bay. From our vantage point we could see the extent of the Port Lincoln Wharf and grain terminal complex and also a small squad of yachts practicing turns in the light breeze. Like most similar esplanades around Australia, there were the hotted-up classic car guys who cruised up and down showing off. There were some very nice cars though!
Views of Boston Bay, Port Lincoln.
After coffee we went for a longer stroll along the Esplanade to the Jetty where a large swimming enclosure caught our eye. It certainly looked like a safe place to go for a swim.
Swimming Enclosure.
At the end of the jetty we came across a sign which gave some clues as to exactly why the swimming enclosure was necessary.
Further along the Esplanade we came across the life size statue of Makybe Diva, celebrating the three time Melbourne Cup winner. The owner, Tony Santic, was a fisherman in Port Lincoln.
Statue of Makybe Diva.
We were starting to feel a bit hungry so we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the award winning Del Giorno’s Restaurant, which specialises in local seafood and has won multiple awards for its seafood and generally as a superior restaurant. We don’t treat ourselves like this very often but Ann is a huge seafood fan so why not? Ann had a fantastic sashimi dish with both tuna and king-fish. I had a delicious risotto. Presentation was to die for, as was the taste, but it would have been a bit gauche to whip out the camera for a food photo. Lunch was completed with excellent coffee.
Views of the Esplanade.
Eventually it was time to move on from the Esplanade so we made our way back to Bertha and enjoyed a bit more of the sights of Port Lincoln. The Flinders Picture Theatre in particular caught our eye.
Nice old theatre.
I was interested in seeing some of the fishing fleet so we headed to Lincoln Cove Marina. This is quite a modern marina which accommodates the largest commercial fishing fleet in the Southern Hemisphere.
Views of the Marina.
From the marina we came back to the caravan park where we set up our chairs in the grassed area in front of Bertha and spent some quiet time reading and enjoying the view.
It will be a very light tea tonight!
Today has been a great day, but we have barely scratched the surface of the sights and food of Port Lincoln, and there were some places we would have liked to have seen but were closed on a Sunday. We will have to come back another time as tomorrow we will be leaving Port Lincoln to see more of the beautiful Eyre Peninsula.
Shorty's RV Adventures 