SA: Reaching Port Lincoln and Port Lincoln National Park21 Jan 2006
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| Wake up to 40+ heat and lie in the tent praying that the car starts. Of course it doesn't. Stu is the picture of calm and manages to jump start the car from the second battery, which I'm duly impressed by. The nearest town is Whyalla (if you read previous post you'll remember this is the very town we were warned not to visit), so it looks like we're going to have to cop a visit in there. It's Saturday morning and everything looks pretty much closed. Whyalla is an industrial town and it ain't pretty. It's right on the coast but most of the town seems to have developed away from it towards the steelworks. We manage to stumble upon a lovely gentleman called John who helps us out with a new battery and sends us on our way after a reviving swim at Whyalla's beach. The heat is still crazy so the only rational thing to do is keep driving towards Port Lincoln. We stop on the way at Arno Bay for a swim and an Arnormous burger (love a good pun) and it's so hot that it hurts to breathe. When we finally get to Port Lincoln we discover it's in the throes of the annual Tunarama Festival. Port Lincoln has serious wealth and most of it is off the back of the tuna industry so I guess it's fitting that they dedicate a festival to the fish, but the Tunarama Festival is not much more than a crappy carnival by the sea, with a few tuna tossing comps thrown in. It's so hot that we're prepared to wimp out and get a hotel room but of course there's not a room in town left for love or money, so we have dinner in town and head out to the Lincoln National Park to camp for the night. We find a great spot that looks back across the water to the town and sit having a beer with our feet in the water (those damned sharks have made us scaredy cats) while watching the Tunarama fireworks go off. It ain't Sydney Harbour on NYE but it's not half bad. We've set the tent up to take advantage of any breeze coming off the water ... not the wisest plan as it turns out. At some godforsaken hour (I think around 2am) an unholy wind starts blowing the tent madly - perhaps just short of gale force winds. From about 5am we lie there marveling that the whole tent hasn't collapsed and finally at about 6 we've had enough and pack up the tent (with hell difficulty) and move to a new camp spot about 10km away in a sheltered spot. Unfortunately the wind swings round and gets us there too, so it's pack up and back to Port Lincoln for some more Tunarama - seems we just can't get enough of summer carnivals. |
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