20230428 SA Port McDonnell

20230428  We passed a huge Pine Forest that seems like it never ends just before Nelson in Victoria but as we’ve been there before we continued our journey. Nelson sits on the edge of Victoria and just a few kilometres from South Australia so we crossed over the border just before 11am. We found a camp called Brown Bay Beach Carpark situated on the beach, not bad for a free camp but it was a bit windy and the beach had a strong seaweed smell, then the rain hit so we were thankful we were on solid ground.

The Pine Forest that’s bounded by the Victoria and South Australian border

Its 10:55am and we just crossed over into South Australia.

Check out that lunch green fields, it’s definitely dairy farming land out this way.

Brown Bay and you can camp here for free, this is us for the night, Cheers🍷

20230429 After a wonderful sleep we wake to the sounds of the wave’s rolling into shore and a clear sky, so much nicer that listening to Desie farting all morning. We pack up and head to Port McDonnell the Southernmost town in South Australia which describes itself as the 'Southern Rock Lobster Capital', and that’s exactly what we are hoping for, Lobster, Yum😋. 

In the 1970s, a little penguin colony with at least 60 adults was recorded on the cape. But then I read a review: What penguin’s there are very few left because of bloody foxes.

Driving into McDonnell and of cause the first thing we noticed were all the Lobster Trawlers moored in the bay and we are thinking, I hope they’ve been busy.

Arriving in Port McDonnell and the clouds are dark, but it’s a very clean tidy town.

While Des gets some supplies I search the town before the rain hits so as to take my photos, I always find something that grabs my interest even though it’s all boring to Des, all he cares about is his belly and filling it with Lobster.

This bronze statue depicts a 1950's fisherman following a Southern Rock Lobster catch with typical fishing gear of that era.

There’s sure is a bit of difference in the building of jetty’s from the 1800’s to now.

The first jetty at Port MacDonnell was constructed in 1860-1861, a shed for a lifeboat was added in 1863.

An Little Bit of History

Every summer the whales migrated along the Port McDonnell coastline where beaching was common and when this happened a fire would be lit and smoked, to signal all the mobs to gather for a feast. At the beach, the men cut the flesh from the beached whale and cooked it over an open fire. The Elders would be served first, then the men, and finally, the women and children.

GERMAN MINE 

This mine is of German manufacture, It was washed ashore at Port Mac@onnell

on Tuesday 26th. October 1907, this mine was rendered safe and then dismantled before putting on display. The explosive in the mine was Hexonite, six times more powerful than TNT. When any of the horns were touched it set off a series of chemical and electrical reactions which in turn caused the mine to explode in 2/5 of a second, the total mine weight approximately 1/4 of a ton.

The Custom House was constructed in 1863 for 2605 pounds.

The mural depict, S.Milstead & Son Machinist Blacksmith Horses carefully shod, 1860 to 1914

Rock Lobster