Grabbing a couple of weeks before the Xmas madness

[rsser]

Our driving trips pulling a camper trailer end up named by theme.

Red dirt.
Desert lakes.
Cold and rain.

This one I'm calling in advance: seafood :ohyaaa:

We're heading for Port Lincoln and surrounds on the Eyre Peninsula.

Other folk will have done the seafood catching; we'll just buy, cook and eat. Also do a bit of walking, bird watching and photography.

Hope to catch up with Summer Koker at Constantia Designer Craftsmen (http://www.constantia.com.au/)

[nine fingers]

rsser, take a trip out to see the feeding of the Tuna, and a visit to Coffin Bay for fresh oysters. John.

[rsser]

Thanks for the tips John.

I'm not a fan of oysters but prob have never had a really fresh one. CB is on the agenda. We'll do the boat tour with oyster sampling.

Looking forward to prawns and King George whiting and the +1 is keen on cray.

[dai sensei]

Have a great trip. Make sure you post what you did and saw, I will be heading that way after you come back :U

[rsser]

It took 2 days to get here from Melb.

First night was a pub meal and a very decent battered butterfish with chips and salad was served for $13. At the Fresh Fish Place we saw fish processing and sampled freshly shucked oysters along with pickled and smoked seafood of various sorts. The lobster was $89 per kilo so that treat was off (95% of the local product is shipped to China, some of it flown alive). We opted for fresh prawn meat and I cooked garlic prawns. We had that with some good fizz at the Pt Lincoln Tourist Park overlooking Boston Bay. A really nice CP. Next up, camping in the Lincoln National Park, we had King George Whiting fillets given to us by our campground neighbour who was out fishing in his tinnie each morning. Those were fab. Then we did took a commercial cruise in Boston Bay that included sampling top-grade tuna sashimi and that was a knock out. And learning about the logistics, economics and tech of aquaculture had our mouths open when not closed on the raw fish.

Imagine: bluefin tuna are caught in the Bight by a fleet of four ships, directed by a spotter plane, and transferred to large floating cages that are towed back to the Port at one knot per hour. It can take 3 weeks. Then they're transferred to 'feed lots' in Boston Bay for fattening. They have to be taught over several weeks to learn how to eat pilchards first shovelled in fresh then dispensed from frozen blocks in an overhanging feeder. When they're fattened to up to 20% bodyweight fat, the Japanese buyer comes out and selects the fish that will go to Japan. They're then pulled out by a diver, brain-spiked, bled, an electrode is inserted down the spine and sparked up to protect the meat from enzyme degradation. All this within minutes. The fish, which will be worth a grand at that point, are then frozen to -60 C and packed in cradles for shipping to Japan. That low temp will keep the flesh in prime condition for several years. The top cuts of prime tuna fetch $200 per kilo on the JP market.

Last up for us, to date, was a dozen Coffin Bay oysters in Coffin Bay itself. I'm not an oyster fan but with these fresh ones I can appreciate the subtlety.

Otherwise, Pt Lincoln is a fascinating place - in terms of the diversity of industry, society and geography. The weather has been unseasonably cold, windy and overcast and the snorkeling gear hasn't had an outing.

Our run of electrical bad luck has continued with the fridge failing a week into the trip. The local agent has tested it and it ran fine for him so it looks like the batteries, that I laboriously drain-tested before the trip, aren't up to the load the compressor takes when it fires up.

Apart from eating, we've been out walking and bird-watching and the NP camp gave us the chance to see bird behaviour over several days and that was new. Knocked out by the little stilts that migrate from Siberia and weigh all of 30 g.

All up, this is a fascinating part of the country.

[dai sensei]

Glad to see you had a good trip. Where did you stay there, and on the way etc, anything to recommend or not?

[rsser]

Neil,

4 nights at the PL Tourist Park (not the caravan park) which overlooks the bay and has absolute water frontage. There's not a lot of flat unpowered space for camper trailers though.

We did the tour through the Fresh Fish Place; they show you how seafood is processed and packed, and you get to sample a fresh oyster plus some smoked and pickled stuff. They also sell fish and do fish 'n chips. $20. Also the Triplebay charters tour out in the bay to look at the seals and the fish farms. Sashimi tasting included. $80.

The good cheap pub meal was at the Boston in PL overlooking the bay. Good coffee at Chino's ditto.

Re the NP the locals are keen on Memory Cove; it's 4WD access, needs a key (from the info centre) and is a bit of a hike. We camped at Fisherman's Point. There were far fewer flies there than at Donnington or Stephenson's beaches up the top end on the East side. Donnington though is better for swimming. You can also hire the Donnington Cottage in the NP (at the PL info centre).

Coffin Bay: haven't seen the NP yet. There appears to be one readily accessed camp area. The rest is 4WD inc. some sand and beach driving.

There's lots of good beaches and scenery further up the Bight that we'll have to come back for; eg. coral growths near Ceduna. My brother raved about Streaky Bay when he was there in June.

SA info centres and some caravan park receptions have pretty good tourist guides free to areas in the state. There's one for the Eyre Peninsula that includes places up to the WA border.

HTH.