We arrived in Port Lincoln, deliberately timing it for the annual Tunarama festival. Port Lincoln is the home of Australian Tuna fishing and the launching point for Great White Shark fishing trips.
We arrived on the Sunday, dropped the camper trailer at a park and dashed back into town to witness the tuna tossing grand final. Andrew Ettinghausen, ex-Sharks NRL player was there with his film crew and he decided to give it a go. He showed that chucking a 9kg tuna is not as easy as it might seem. The winner already had 3 titles under his belt and he unleashed a 24m throw, almost twice as far as his nearest rival!
Prawn peeling came next and Amanda had registered early to make sure she was in it. The competition was to peel two prawns, dress with lettuce and salad and then eat it as fast as you could. Unfortunately Amanda picked the windy end of the table for her heat and lost her plate and prawn to the ground a couple of times before trying to eat hers with half the shell on to catch up! Good attempt though and we decided to call it a day. We checked out the sandcastles competition as we walked home.
Next morning saw us up early for Australia Day breakfast and for a gold coin donation we had an absolute feast, with fruit, cereal, and full cooked breakfast. The kids went back or seconds too so we were more than willing to throw in some more gold coins. Next to the breakfast tent we watched the Bunnings boat race competition start. Given two pieces of marine ply, some 4 by 2 lengths, 20 nails, wire and lots of tubes of silicon, glue and paint each team had two hours to build a boat that they were to race in the afternoon around a course. Some interesting designs emerged and people started choosing the winners before the boats had even got in the water.
The Greasy Pole competition was our next spectacle. Out on the jetty a pole was greased up ready to go. With age restrictions applying the kids were gutted they couldn’t try. Despite all manner of tactics a young girls “frog” approach paid off being the only one to make it to the end of the pole without slipping off. This was very popular and hilarious to watch.
The afternoon boat race was similar too, rapidly degenerating into a wreckage site as most teams swam with the remnants of their boats around the buoy and back home. Only one boat didn’t sink with both of the team paddling to glory in their boat the SS Sink. The rescue boats circled ….. just in case, but everyone was laughing and no-one gave up or needed assistance.
The kids all entered the Watermelon eating contest and with both Xavier and Hannah qualifying for the finals the scene was set. Hannah had the tactics set and quickly grabbed a spot with a slightly smaller piece of watermelon but she left the field behind chomping her way to victory, almost finishing her quarter melon in the one minute. She is now the Port Lincoln reigning champion watermelon eater for 2015. She won 25 dollars for her troubles and may have to return to defend her title next year.
Xavier came so close to a podium position too, but had been given a bigger chunk of melon to start with, and just finished out of the prize money. He did get the rest of his melon as a consolation prize.
Fifty Toes gives Port Lincoln a massive thumbs up for the entertainment of Tunarama – highly recommended for all.
To top it off we even got leafy seadragon and great white shark tattoos in one of the stalls.
If that wasn’t enough Xavier then found a fossilised sharks tooth back at the campground near the beach. An action packed couple of days in Port Lincoln that will be remembered for a while.
Fifty Toes Walkabout 
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