Day 1 (11 May) – Melbourne to Mildura (15o leaving Melbourne; great weather and 25o arriving in Mildura; 579 Km)
We left Melbourne on 11 May and headed to the Couties (James, Charlotte, Wren and Luna) to drop off a chair that we no longer needed. A fairly uneventful drive arriving around 16:00, settled in for the next couple of days then off to the Langtree Cafe for a great meal – with excellent wait service.
Day 2 (12 May) – Mildura (24o in Mildura)
We decided to play golf at Riverside in Mildura – a great course where we have played many times before. Lyn had 24 points and I had 26 – not great but in great conditions Next, off to the Gol Gol Hotel for lunch, back to the motorhome for the afternoon doing various chores and re-packing. Finally off to Thai-riffic for an average meal – a very nice Paringa Estate Pinot Noir though. Lyn and I had had lunch at Paringa Estate the day before we left (for Jill’s 70th birthday). Back to the motorhome for a relaxing evening.
Day 3 (13 May) – Mildura to Christies Beach (good weather and 21o in Adelaide; 435 Km)
We left Mildura around 08:00 in the morning then travelled via the Sturt Highway and Renmark to Christies Beach. We’ve come to enjoy our meals at the pub there, so, off to the pub for a meal after setting up for the next 2 nights.
Day 4 (14 May) – Christies Beach (10o early morning; good weather and 21o in Adelaide)
A quiet morning as I did a lot of work on my parent’s estate finances and for our Super Fund tax return. That afternoon we played 18 holes of golf on the East course at the Grange Golf Club with Steve Craig and Sarah Bernhart (from Commonwealth Golf Club). We finished in the dark then had a meal on the way home.
Day 5 (15 May) – Christies Beach to Whyalla (fair weather and 21o towards Whyalla; 494 Km)
We travelled into the York Peninsula, stopping in Moonta where we managed to get onto the open train ride for the mine tour. We were lucky as the train doesn’t run very often and we arrived about an hour before departure.
Leaving Moonta, we travelled through Port Augusta to the Eyre Peninsula where we stayed a night in the Whyalla Caravan Park on the foreshore.
Day 6 (16 May) – Whyalla to Port Lincoln (fair weather and 17o later in Port Lincoln; 293 Km)
After visiting Cowell (buying oysters), Arno Bay, Tumby Bay we finally made it to Port Lincoln. We unpacked at the caravan park then headed into town where we managed to book a Great White Shark trip on the following day and a Sea Lion trip on the Sunday. As we were at the Marina, we had dinner at the hotel – great food with the best oyster I’ve ever eaten as part of the meal.
Day 7 (17 May) – Port Lincoln (bad weather with rain and wind and 17o in Port Lincoln)
Up before 05:00 as we had a 06:00 start at the marina for our Great White Shark Trip. On board the Calypso Star II just before 07:00 then a 3-hour trip to the lee of the Neptune Islands (between Ile Villars and Ile Montmorency). Very strict protocols on what could be done with respect to time in the location and the time between burleigh being taken by a shark. We were in the third group and the experience was brilliant, at least 4 sharks around the boat for most of the day, I went in for a second dive at the end and our coxwain, Bryce, said he saw a 4.5m sharl below the cage but it didn’t come up to the surface. We raised 4 flags on the return to the marine but I think it should have been 5. Dinner at the Marina Hotel again then home to the caravan park after a long day.
Leave a Reply