SA-Eyre Peninsula, Cowell to Port Lincoln

The eastern coast of the Eyre Peninsula is on the Spencer Gulf and has many beautiful bays and jetties, many of which were used in the early days to load grain and wool from the local farms to be taken to Adelaide. In turn, goods and fertilisers were unloaded for use in the area. Most of the jetties are now used for fishing by the locals and visitors. The towns we stayed at were Cowell, Arno Bay and Tumby Bay.
Today, local seafood is one of the Eyres’ many attractions. Bluefin tuna, oysters and murray cod are farmed and processed and there are a variety of tours available to view the farming and sample the products.
We stayed at Port Lincoln for five days as there was so much to see and do in the area.
When we first arrived the local Tunarama festival was in full swing. One of the highlights of the three days is the “world famous” Tuna tossing competition. There are male and female categorys and each contestant tosses the 8 kilo tuna as far as they can. The winners, with the longest toss, receive $1,000.00 first prize and a trophy of a tuna and second place is $500.00. The winning males toss was just over a very respectable 20 metres. So practice up, you too could enter the event.
We spent a wonderful couple of hours on a tour of the marina in an electric boat. The trip was very informative as we moved along the prawn and tuna boats as well as viewing the many beautiful homes on the waterways. The massive prawn trawlers are only in use about 55 days per year. It is amazing that they catch enough prawns in that short time to make such a good living.
The tuna industry along with the triple Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva have certainly put Port Lincoln on the map. There is a statue of the great horse on the foreshore and people from the area are very proud of her.
The tuna industry itself is very fascinating. The tuna are caught at sea in huge nets, towed back to the bays, transferred to a stationary floating farm where they are fed until harvest time. All along the eastern coast of the Eyre as well as in the bay areas of Port Lincoln you see many of these farms. We went out to one of these, set up as a tourist site, where we fed the tuna and then swam with them. Their teeth are small but razor sharp. One of them tried to eat my thumb as well as the fish I was holding and I had at least twenty paper thin cuts on my thumb. It looked like it had been through the mincer. But, being fine they healed in no time. Swimming with them was fascinating but we were a little fearful that they may turn into piranhas so we didn’t stay in very long. After the swim, we sampled some tuna sashimi with wasabi and soy and it was delicious. (That was pay back for my thumb.)
We drove around Lincoln National Park and were in awe of the endless bays and aqua blue waters. Every where was like post card scenery.

We can highly recommend:
Close Up Tuna Tours
Ph:0488 428 862
www.adventurebaycharters.com.au

Marina Boat Cruises
0427 826 853