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Port Lincoln foreshore and wharves
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Sperm Whale Cliff, Whalers Way
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Lincoln National Park
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Memory Cove, Lincoln National Park
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Seals off Hopkins Island near Port Lincoln
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Blue Whale Bay, Whalers Way
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Port Lincoln plays a dual role as a major commercial centre for South Australia's Eyre Peninsula and a popular destination for visitors. Not just a pretty town overlooking Boston Bay, Port Lincoln sees itself as both the Seafood Capital of Australia and an ideal base from which to explore the coast and hinterland of the Lower Eyre Peninsula.
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Where is it?: South Australia: Eyre Peninsula. Located on the eastern shores of Eyre Peninsula, port Lincoln is 806 km by road (246 km by air) west of Adelaide.
Events:
Surrounding area:
Port Lincoln has proximity to 60,000 hectares of National Parks; home to a myriad of flora and fauna - 250 species of birds have been recorded in the area. To the town's south is Lincoln National Park and a tourist drive on private property named Whalers Way. Both give access to what I believe to be some of the most stunning coastal scenery in the country. Though this coastline looks nothing like say, Victoria's Shipwreck Coast, it is equally as breaktaking, and well worth the long drive to this fairly isolated corner of the continent.
Coffin Bay, 50 km west of Port Lincoln, is a fishing village set alongside a remote and particularly interesting nature reserves, including Coffin Bay National Park.
About Port Lincoln
With a population of 14,000, Port Lincoln is perhaps the nation's biggest combined agricultural and fishing centre. Its primary industries include the production of lambs, wool and beef, Cereal crops including wheat, oats, barley, canola, lupins etc. Tuna, prawns, lobster, abalone and scale fish are the major fishing and aquaculture industries.
The oceans surrounding the city are renown for fishing, the mixture of gulf waters and open ocean of the Great Australian Bight means there is a diversity of aquatic species. As a result, Port Lincoln is a base for a variety of Fishing Industry activities; Oysters and Scallops, Scale Fishing, Southern Rock Lobster, Spencer Gulf Prawn fishery, Abalone and Southern Bluefin Tuna. Not surprisingly, Port Lincoln is also one of South Australia's most popular locations for visitors to drop a line.
Best time to visit: Due to the insulating effect of the surrounding ocean waters, Port Lincoln experiences a delightful Mediterranean climate, which is on average a degree or two warmer than Adelaide in winter and 3 - 5 degrees cooler than Adelaide during the hot summer months. Port Lincoln's average rainfall is 488mm, which falls mainly during the winter months. Warm summers, mild winters and balmy weather during autumn and spring, make Port Lincoln an all year destination for touring, fishing, sailing and other recreational pursuits.
History: Port Lincoln (the geographical feature) was discovered by Matthew Flinders under his commission by the British Admiralty to chart Australia's unexplored coastline. The converted collier Investigator dropped anchor in Boston Bay in February 1802 and Flinders named the spot Port Lincoln after his native Lincolnshire in England. Several days earlier Flinders had lost eight seamen near Memory Cove, including his sailing master, Captain John Thistle, whilst searching for water.
Port Lincoln was seriously considered as a site for South Australia's Capital, but was subsequently rejected by Colonel Light in 1836 in favour of Adelaide. Lack of fresh water supplies was a major determining factor. The first settlers arrived in March 1839 aboard the Abeona, the Dorset and the Porter, an historic plaque at the First Landing site commemorates the event.
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