My World – Fishing

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A visit to Port Lincoln isn’t complete without a walk down the main wharf. It is situated in Boston Bay which is more than 3 times the size of Sydney Harbour. Don’t mistake this wharf for the nearby jetties. This is a serious working wharf. A majority of Eyre Peninsula’s grain is exported from this facility, as well as it being home to Australia’s largest fishing fleet.  Colin Thiele wrote the novel “Bluefin” about the Port Lincoln tuna industry, but the subsequent movie was filmed in Streaky Bay.

I love looking at the fishing boats along the wharf. Sitting all day on the jetty just to get a feed of fish, I find it hard to imagine the giant catches that these boats manage. But catch fish they do, and the fish finds it’s way to markets all over the world.

The Kiana has berthed at Port Lincoln for as long as I can remember. The Silver Phoenix was new to my eyes, and I don’t think that Port Lincoln is its “home” port. Both of these boats are ocean going, typically catching herring, mackerel and sardines.

The Lukina and the Lukina2 are owned by Dinko Lukin, one of the pioneers of tuna fishing in the region. His son Dean rose to fame following the 1984 Olympic where he became the only Australian to win a weightlifting gold medal  in the Super Heavyweight division. The Lukin family now farm tuna in huge pens out at sea almost exclusively for the Japanese market. These boats are prawn trawlers. (and a tugboat for good measure). Love or hate the Lukins, they have survived and prospered where many have failed and have brought a great deal of prosperity to the region.

The weather has been exceptionally pleasant this week. I’m pretty sure that the long hot days of summer are over and the cooler milder autumn weather is here with us for a while. Rainfall has been patchy. Some farmers are reporting a variation of up to an inch from one end of their property to the other. Our farm (less than 100km away as the crow flies) received about 2 inches of rain last week, but we haven’t had any to speak of. A friend (about 40km away) has had 4 inches. Very patchy.

The February weather windup looks like this: In the month of February we had 2/100ths 0f an inch of rain. Our hottest day was 44.5C (112F) and our coldest day was 22C (72F). The average maximum temp was 32.5C (90F)

 Monday 16th March. Max Temp: 23C, Min Temp: 12C,
Rainfall: 0mm, Days since rain: 13

My World – Murphy’s Haystacks

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The west coast of South Australia is (IMNSHO) one of the most beautiful places on earth. It faces onto the Great Australian Bight and the Great Southern Ocean. It is hard for me to pick a favourite place. Starting with Coffin Bay in the south, right up to and even past Ceduna in the north, the west coast of Eyre Peninusla is the home to some of Australias best surfing and fishing beaches, unsurpassed wildlife and pristine waters. It is also home to what is locally known as Murphy’s Haystacks.

Located just south of Streaky Bay, these inselbergs are formed from pink Hiltaba granite that is about 1500 million years old. It is estimated that they have been in their present form for about 100,000 years. These things are huge, those are my kids crawling around on them for perspective.

 

The weather has been weird. It can’t seem to make up it’s mind wheather it should be hot or cold. Daytime temps have hovered between 30C and 40C but the nights are getting cooler. And guess why there isn’t a picture from the hill? I only had a short space of time to get the photo today and when I finally had time – it was raining!! Yes raining. Well, sort of raining. There was wet stuff not only coming form the sky, but it was also making little puddles on the ground. It wasn’t much (2.2mm or nearly 9/100 of an inch) but it did bring that wonderful smell you get after rain. Of course it just made it very humid this afternoon – but hey beggers can’t be choosers.

This is where the picture should be, but it’s not.

Monday 2nd March. Max Temp: 28C, Min Temp: 15C,
Rainfall: 2.2mm, Days since rain: (until today, 78)