Today has been another freezing 'South Australian Peninsula' day!  We have had that cold wind again!  Yesterday was a lovely day here, but not so today and from what we were told today, I think they do experience quite a bit of wind in Port Lincoln.We did a 'Seafood Tour & Taste' at the 'Fresh Fish Place' which is out on 'Proper Bay'.  It started at 11.00am and goes for an hour, which means that you finish at lunchtime.  Then we had the tastings they provide and of course you can't resist the smells from the 'Seafood Cooking School' kitchen!  So we just had to purchase our lunch!  Before we left we bought some nice fresh 'King George Whiting' and a dozen 'Coffin Bay Oysters'.  Plus some Coffin Bay pickled oysters and Port Lincoln pickled mussels.  We were given lots of info about fishermen with an 'A Class Fishing' licence.  How the fish are handled when they are caught, which ensures their freshness when we the consumer purchase them.  A fisherman had just brought in two big crates of 'Ling' and another of 'Blue Morwong'.   They were being filleted by the time we had finished the demonstration on 'shucking' oysters and had our taste!  Peter wasn't going to be in on the 'a la natural' oysters, but he did in the end!  What a face!  They were lovely big 'Coffin Bay' oysters.  We also questioned our tour guide Anne on the spats, which are the baby oysters.  They are purchased from Tasmania and a spat is just a tiny little oyster.  They are put in bags and hung in the water and the oyster farmer lifts them once a month or however often he needs to, removes the dead ones and moves them around in the bag, enabling them to all grow at the same rate.  They are normally ready to harvest in 18 months.  The oyster shell is of no use.  In Smokey Bay they do crush the shell and place it around to help with wind erosion.The speed at which they were filleting the fish was amazing.  But I guess it has to be.  The fisherman is getting $18.00 per kg at the moment and we paid $53.99 for our fillets of 'King George Whiting'.  40% of the weight of the fish is lost when it is filleted.   So by the time the overheads and wages are taken out, big dollars are not being made by either party.  Squid were also being cleaned.  It was interesting to see the way they dealt with the squid.  After lunch we went for a drive up to 'Winter Hill'.  The views over Boston Bay and Port Lincoln were really great.  Then to an 'Old Mill' that has been preserved.  It is the oldest standing building in the town and was built in 1846 when the population of the town was only 86.  The windmill was to be used for grinding flour and it was hoped it would attract potential settlers to the town.  The mill was never completed and the reason is not known.  But it has been assumed that is was probably due to poor seasons and there not being enough wheat to grind.  It was registered on the State Heritage List in 1994.  A spiral staircase was put there sometime earlier and this enables you to climb to the top, for views over Boston Bay and the city.  We also took a photo of the iconic 'Makybe Diva' statue on the foreshore.   The owners Tony and Christine Santic come from Port Lincoln.   Tony is a tuna fisherman and the statue was largely funded by the tuna industry.   The cost was $180,000.00 and it took nine months to complete.  The artist Ken Martin worked nearly seven days a week on the statue.  5,000 kgs of plasticine was placed on a steel frame, which was then bronzed.  The 'Marina' at Port Lincoln is really someting and I'm sure every visitor to the town spends some time there.  There are such a huge number of commercial fishing vessels at the marina.  The prawning season is just about to start.  The 'Spencer Gulf' prawn fishery is the third most valuable prawn fishery in Australia and has been in operation on a commercial basis since 1968.  There are 39 licensed operators who fish for prawns over six fishing periods.  Each trip lasts between 3-14 nights and is carried out between November and June.  We were told fishing for prawns is a very controlled industry and the licenced operators ensure its sustainability.  We didn't see any fish being unloaded anywhere.  Maybe we were too late in the day.  We did consider a tour of the 'Tuna Fish Farming', but there is nothing happening at the moment as it is maintenance time.  They are getting the ponds ready for the 'Southern Bluefin Tuna'.  It is a huge industry in Port Lincoln.  In the early 1990's live fish were brought into Boston Bay in wells of boats and introduced to netted rings.  Here the fish are fattened and then sold to Japan.  A system of towing large farms of tuna into the bays was then developed.  Tuna farming exploded into the multi-million dollar industry it is today.

The Port Lincoln Park is quite nice.  I think it is probably the only park in the town itself.  We have nice views, but once again we can't say we have enjoyed the weather.  One has to have a visit to Port Lincoln for the seafood, if nothing else.  It is certainly very 'Yummy'!  12 photos