The goal for today was to make it to Whyalla, a largish town almost at the head of Spensers Gulf. Along the way we visited the town of Kimba whose claim to fame, is that it is half way across Australia (from east to west), and that it is the home of the Big Galah. On a nearby hill we also found metal statues of John Eyre (the first European to cross the continent of Australia from Sydney to "Perth") and his aboriginal companion Wylie.

Regular readers of this blog will probably already deduced that Nina and I like photographing animals/birds, so this morning we could not resist the opportunity to visit Glen Forest Animal Park a short drive from Port Lincoln. It is a bit corny going to such a place but on the other hand if did give us a chance to capture a number of iconic Australian animals.

Port Lincoln might be described as a small city, but a large town is probably a more accurate description. Situated on beautiful Boston Bay it is (by South Australia standards) a large grain port with a very large grain storage complex and ship loading facility as its reason d'entre. The town was founded in 1839 because of its very large protected harbor (3 times the size of Sydney Harbor) and is now the regional center for the Eyre Peninsula.

The Eyre Peninsula is at the western end of South Australias time zone so sunrise is around 8:00am at this time of year. However for the guests at the Venus Bay Caravan Park darkness did not prevent an early start on the important business of the days fishing. So by the time there was enough light for a photograph many of those tinnies had alrerady been launched at the local natural sand boat ramp and we only got photos of the late comers.

Smokey Bay, Streaky Bay (Hotel), a few rugged coastal cliffs, Venus Bay and throw in the sea lions of Point Labatt and in brief that captures today. What's missing from that brief narrative is just how beautiful todays stretch of coast is and how sparcely populated. The country side is mostly grain or sheep farming country with farm land abutting the coast, with scattered small communities every 60 miles or so. Smokey Bay was one of the smaller communities we passed through today(photo 4), it consists of maybe 2 dozen buildings only.