Sightseeing in Port Lincoln

 Our run of excellent weather has come to an end with a little rain overnight (not enough to get the farmers excited) and a howling 30 knot NW wind for most of the day. It has cooled things down a bit and has made being outside for too long a bit unpleasant.

We eview our list of things to do that we obtained from the Visitors Centre and decide to give most of it a go, but the bushwalking part is looking suspect.

First we venture off to Winters Hill Lookout, where we are assured of sweeping views of the town, if we can stay on our feet. There is a bit of haziness in the air, so images are not quite as clear as we would like.

Looking towards town

Looking inland with a salt lake not far from town

We noticed a sign to the local golf course which is only another 1.5 km down the road, so we decide to check it out whilst we are in the area.

It looks nice, but hilly and in this wind most people have stayed away

Next on our list is to visit the marina. You can't come to the fishing capital of Australia, and not go and inspect the sizeable fishing fleet that occupies The Port Lincoln Marina. It is about 5 km out of town, and the site of quite a bit of housing development and a large hotel.

Along the waterfront most  of the professional fishing groups have there association offices. The are Tuna fisherman, Lobster Fishermen, Spencer gulf Prawn fishermen, Abalone, crabs, mussels etc

The Marina was built in 1985, and is now surrounded by a number of apartment and residential housing developments

There is a huge fleet of serious fishing boats

Whilst many of the boats are in harbour at this time, possibly returned from night fishing, at it is now around 10.30 am, or maybe they don't like the weather ! We do see one or two heading out to sea.

There is also separate marina basin for recreational vessels and this is connected to a man made canal residential area.

Recreational vessel section 

Homes along the canal frontage

Despite the foul conditions, a couple of intrepid kayakers set out from a fairly protected boat ramp, out into the chopped up waters and strong winds. They looked old enough to know better.

A memorial has been erected near the boat ramp, for the many fisherman who have lost their lives in these treacherous waters. It seems the sculptor who did this work, is the same croatian who did the"Australian Farmer" sculpture in Wuddina and this pink granite was sourced from that area.

There is a walk from the marina to Billy Light's Point, but after a few hundred metres of getting blown off the street, we opt for a coffee back at the hotel restaurant and subsequently drive to Billy Light's Point to see what we would have missed.

Having arrived at Billy Light's Point, we are glad we drove. The wind is very strong, and these two photos were taken from the car.

Looking back at the town

Seagulls have found a protected spot out of the wind 

Next on our list is the Maritime Museum. It is on the other side of town, but nothing is very far away here and we are there by just after 11 pm. Named the Axel Stenross Maritime Museum, is was named after a Finnish ships carpenter, who sailed to Port Lincoln on a Windjammer SV Olivebank, to load grain for shipment to Europe in 1927. Sailing with him was his best mate Frank Laakso. They both decided to stay in Port Lincoln, somehow arranging to get released from their service.

In 1928 Axel and Frank purchased the Gulf Docking Slipway, on the harbour just below our hotel. They went on to establish a boat building company and as it grew, relocated to the site where the museum   is located.

It is a remarkable story, and must visit if you ever get to Port Lincoln. For us it was the highlight of today's sightseeing. Run by volunteers it is a great facility, and they are very willing to have a chat and tell of the history. Starting with a 15 minute audio visual presentation, we get an introduction to the Axel and Frank story, as well as a lot of information about the fishing industry in Port Lincoln. It is very well done and was produced by the fishing industry.

There is so much to see in this small museum, as the various displays take you through the operation of the boatbuilding workshop, they lived on site, with Axel's wife and there are many boats on display in an open area outside and inside the building. They museum still has a working slipway that they use to raise a bit of extra revenue to fund the museum. At $8 a head for seniors it is amazing value. Below are some photos of the displays.

The house was floated down to the site on a barge from the old site, and became the home for Axel, Norma and Frank until their deaths.

Axel and Norma's room

The kitchen

The office

Outside is a number of boats that the partnership built or were involved with, or were classic boats of the era.

The Hecla was built in 1903, prior to Axel's appearance, was a typical coastal trading vessel

More boats

Back inside the museum, there are more wooden boats including some early wooden racing sail boats.

Finally we approach the exit and think we have seen it all, only to confronted with a room full of old engines both outboard and inboard.

There was even more, but by now you can see what a treasure this place is. You could spend hours here, but we are told that the volunteer who is on afternoon shift can't make it in as he is sick, so we were pretty lucky to turn up when we did, as they closed up shop for the day when we left.

Lunch time has come around again, and we have a lead from a brochure we picked up at the museum, the we should head to a place called "The Fresh Fish Place", a little out of town near the racecourse, but seems to be the place where the retail seafood outlets and fish cafe's are located.

Not surprisingly, it was busy, with a great range of seafood for sale, as well as a huge cafe menu. I fresh seafood  they has fresh sardines for $9.90 / kg !!!

Going for a healthy lunch option we both had a wrap (which was huge and full of salad and fish). I had whiting and Carole had garfish.

The last item on our sightseeing list is a visit to the Lincoln National Park, which is in thedirection we are heading anyway. There was a bushwalk there we were quite interested, although our enthusiasm has been somewhat dulled by the wild weather. Nevertheless we drive out to the park, and reach the start of the Investigator track which takes you up onto a hill where there is a monument to Matthew Flinders. We have to open the doors of the car carefully for fear the wind will get behind them and make them uncontrollable. 

We do venture out to get a few photos, make a modest effort to start the walk up the trail, but the wind will make it most unpleasant, so we get out photos and retreat back to the car.

We are the only people here

We can just make out the monument on top of Stamford Hill

The walk extends along the coastline but it looks very unattractive, these are all wind waves

It was much more comfortable back at our hotel, we filled up with diesel on the way back ready for our long drive to Wallaroo tomorrow. Hopefully the front that is passing through will have weakened by then.

We dined out at the recommended best restaurant in town tonight, Fumo 24. It was sort of India /Asia Fusion Seafood cuisine, which was actually not bad, much better than last night.