ARNO BAY TO PORT LINCOLN S.A. – DAY 14

SUNDAY 22nd MARCH 2009 – ARNO BAY TO PORT LINCOLN S.A. – DAY 14

We leave Arno Bay and head to Port Lincoln. There are many little bays along the way so as we drive along the highway we take the many turnoffs along the way just to discover these lovely little fishing villages.

Our petrol guage is telling us we need petrol so at Tumby Bay we pull into a service station. While there a man pulls up alongside us and alerts us to a tyre on our caravan which he says has a bulge and looks like it is ready to come off. On closer investigation it is alarming so Nick decides the safest thing to do is change the tyre. We drive to an area a few metres away at a carpark at the beach and Nick changes the tyre. We are surprised at the damage and are amazed that we could not feel it as we were driving. We will find a tyre centre in Port Lincoln when we get there in an hour or two.

We forget it is Sunday and ‘everything’ is closed so we will get the tyre looked at tomorrow.

We drive on to North Shields an outer suburb of Port Lincoln where we find a caravan park, right on the ocean front with a vacancy. We are given a lovely spot, very quiet and lovely views over the bay. It is perfect. We set up camp and phone Jan and Alan to see where they are.

They are staying at another caravan park just on the other side of town with views over the Lincoln National Park. We are unable to stay here as they don’t take dogs but we are happy with where we are staying as it is much flatter and being 10kms out of town it is not as busy as the one they are staying at.

For the afternoon we drive into town and see the Makybe Diva statue. She was the 3 time Melbourne Cup Winner and her owners Tony and Christine Stanic live and have a Tuna Fishing business here in Port Lincoln. The owners together with the SA Government commissioned the statue to be made and it stands proudly in the local park for all to admire. In the paper today her first foal is to be auctioned at the Ingliss Stables (in Randwick) at the Easter Sales and is tipped to sell for $4m. What a shame we are not there to witness this.

From here we go to the Tourist Information Centre. These places are fantastic and are so informative. We emerge armed with many brochures and in the meantime have had a phone call from Jan and Alan. They are going to have a swim at the jetty pool and invite us to join them. (It is a bit too cold and windy for me and even Nick declines) but we arrange to meet them afterwards.

We follow them as we go for a drive around town and first stop is the lookout. The views over Port Lincoln is sensational and this really is a pretty place. Then to the local golf club which we decide we may have a game tomorrow. From here we drive to the Marina where there are some beautiful and expensive boats. Some of the waterfront houses are magnificent and this is where many local business people retire.

We finish off our sightseeing with a beer at the pub overlooking the water in Port Lincoln Bay. We then say our farewells and as Jan and Alan are going out to the National Park for a few days we make no arrangements to catch up but are sure we will somewhere along the line.