The western coastline of Spencers Gulf terminates at Lincoln National Park in the south. Small coastal towns of Cowell, Arno Bay, Port Neill and Tumby Bay provide breaks in the drive from Whyalla to Port Lincoln.

Lilac coloured flowering gum at Whyalla Wetlands. The Wetlands themselves are artifical with the area busy in the norning with locals on their morning exercise walks. Apparently there is reasonable bird diversity but the lake was filled with coots when we were there.

Saltbush plain outside Whyalla

Iron ore mines of the Middleback Range on the Eyre Peninsula

Mallee woodland on the Flinders Highway between Whyalla and Cowell with a rainbow as the skies started to darken.

Cowell had a number of stone buildings over 100 years old.

Arno Bay foreshore and jetty.

Pied cormorant greeting us to Tumby Bay. Well it may have just been drying its wings but it looked friendly.

Galahs on the Tumby Bay jetty – not enjoying the increasingly cold blustery winds.

Pacific gull in flight – we watched them soar and glide around the bay – so graceful. They are much larger than silver gulls.

Pacific gull at the Tumby Bay jetty with its distinctive puffin-like beak.

A pair of cormorants seeing off some dolphins from their patch of water!

Roadside flowering gums at Port Neill

Port Lincoln foreshore with grain silos and bulk loading at the wharf.

Statue at Port Lincoln: Matthew Flinders and his cat Trim. Flinders explored this coastline in 1802. Trim went on a number of voyages with Flinders. Flinders valued the cats tenaciousness and friendship. Trim even shared a cell with Flinders in Mauritius when he was accused of spying and briefly imprisoned on a voyage back to England.

Sleaford Bay in Lincoln National Park. The wind was 40km/hr gusting to eye stinging intensity.

The coastline looking along Whalers Way

The sand dunes and coastline of Lincoln National Park.

Rainbow with showery squall illuminates the dark sky.

Sand dunes and Sleaford Mere in Lincoln National Park

Young emus on the roadside

Father emu keeps a watchful eye on his young ones. The young emus are nurtured by their fathers. They reach full size after around six months, but can remain as a family unit until the next breeding season whick is about now.

Emu Count today: 14

Grain silos at Port Lincoln at night from the jetty. Our accommodation is the building lit up with the orange lights.

Bulk loading wharf at night

We went for a walk along the Port Lincoln jetty after dinner. A local was fishing for squid. Port Lincoln seemed a busy upbeat town. It has huge grain handling facilities, fish canning industries and is home to Australia’s largest commercial fishing fleet supplying tuna to the Japanese market.