Port Lincoln

Tuesday, April 14

Easter in Port Lincoln.

Besides having our Scotch, Bacardi and Smokes pinched by locals on Saturday and a huge domestic keeping us awake all Monday night we filled in our time walking, watching sat TV and vids.

Here’s some shots of Pt Lincoln.

Pt Lincoln Tourist Park

Pt Lincoln Marina

Stingray

Moon Rise

Pelicans

Lunch

Dolphins

Port Lincoln

Thursday, April 9

We’ve booked into a van park in Port Lincoln and found a hire car capable of towing our trailer and carrying our stuff and us. I caught a $70 taxi to Port Lincoln yesterday, collected the hire car and now we were off.

Hire Truck Ready to Roll

The park at Port Lincoln is excellent and we were given a roomy area at the back of the park with excellent views over the bay. We should be comfortable here over Easter and close to the car hospital.

Port Lincoln Van Park

View from Our Camp

We received good news from Toyota. They received our new diff today. The bad news was that Toyota hadn’t sent the gasket set so we still wouldn’t get our car back until next week.

Coffin Bay

Monday, April 6

Lots of phone calls later to Toyota CarCare and the Warranty people, a truck was sent to pickup the Prado and transport it to Port Lincoln, 45k away where the nearest Toyota Dealership is.

Off to Car Hospital

We had booked into the van park until Thursday, the day before Easter, hoping this would be long enough as the park was booked out over Easter so we got set to wait it out. Fortunately, the yacht club down the road did good meals and we entertain ourselves with DVD’s and the like waiting for a prognosis.

Tuesday, April 7

The prognosis is not good. Toyota advised that our rear diff is unserviceable and needs replacing. Apparently, the warranty insurers where in negotiation with Toyota about the supply of the replacement and there was no guarantee that it could be delivered this week. Now what??????

Coffin Bay NP Mishap

Sunday, April 5

We packed up early and hit the road. Ceduna is a long drive and allowing an hour to leave Coffin Bay NP and reflate our tyres meant a long day on the road.

The Road Out of Coffin Bay NP

We were making good time and all was going well until we had to stop in some deep sand and wait for a Nissan Wanka to deflate in the midst of the deepest sand on the track. No consideration taken for other road users and both Mike and myself new we were in trouble.

Nissan Wanka Stopped in Middle of Road

Mike finally got loose and worked his way around the obstacle but I was in deep. I dug the rears out and packed mats under them but as I worked the car out there was an almighty bang from the rear with lots of nerve grating metallic sounds coming from the right rear. This sounded like a show stopper.

What Was That Almighty KaaBooom?

With Mike free, we managed to snatch our car out of the sand and back to the black top from where we limped into the township of Coffin Bay and booked into the van park where Sally and I settled in prepared for a long stay.

Coffin Bay NP

Friday, April 3

From Cowell through Port Lincoln and then onto Coffin Bay were we planed to spend a night in the National Park.

Coffin Bay NP

Deflating Our Aspirations as Sally Watches the Track

Mike Disappears over a Dune

Black Well Campground

Jan Welcomes Visitors
(The water is suppose to keep feral bees away from our camp)

After much consideration and debate (about 10 seconds) we decided to stay two nights.

Saturday, April 4

As Mike and Jan venture on foot into the undiscovered country surrounding Coffin Bay NP, Sally and I strolled a leisurely 10 metres to the beach to pit our skill against the fish once more.

The Search for Bait

The Quest for Fish

Cowell

Wednesday, April 1

We were heading south from Woomera to a small fishing village on the western shore of the Eyre Peninsular called Cowell. We stopped briefly at Port Augusta for full and supplies and to have our punctured spare fixed. We then drove on through Whyalla reaching Cowell mid afternoon.

Whyalla

Cowell Van Park

After setting up, we ventured to the local, The Franklin Hotel (about 100m down the road) to indulge in oysters and the like for dinner before returning to camp for post dinner drinks and a game of cards. Whilst at the pub I got some hunting tips from Mike, the famous Great White Hunter.

The Franklin Hotel, Cowell

Master and Apprentice

Thursday, April 2

With two nights in Cowell, I rose early and contemplated fishing and then promptly returned to bed.

Cowell Sunrise

At a more reasonable hour, after coffee and breakfast, Sally and I ventured to the Cowell Jetty and tried our luck chasing whiting. We knew it was the middle of the crab season in SA but this is ridicules.

Colin on Cowell Jetty

One of Two Crabs Caught (Non Landed)