Yorke Peninsula: By Justin

Apparently I am not very descriptive when describing things to Kelly, therefore she has given me permission to add a few comments about my trip to Yorke peninsula. I had a great trip with my good mate Ron. Yorke is a three hour drive from Adelaide and famous for great swell. However, it also faces Port Lincoln, the "sharkiest" spot in all Australia. On departing we offered a prayer for safety and probably should have prayed for surf as well. The three days we were their I only surfed once, and it was a bit small for Yorke standards. The last day it was a lake. As Kelly mentioned the trip became focused on fishing. We walked a large part of the peninsula on foot searching for salmon, squid and herring. Though the fish were meager, I did discover why people call Australia the land of the fly. One day we had about an 8k hike back to the truck and fish in our satchels. The flies were on us the whole 8k walk back. We got tired of swatting at them so decided to let them ride on our backs. While I was walking behind Ron I counted 56 flies at one point. When I told Ron he laughed and said we weren't even in fly season yet. I also had my first experience with kangaroo ticks. These things range in size from a pin head to a watermelon seed and there were heaps around our site. I found one on my calf, and was a little worried till I read a posting in the dunny (toilet) that they don't carry diseases like North American ticks. Go figure, Oz has deadly spiders...harmless ticks. The trip ended with me literally wrestling a herring away from a "shagg." These are a water bird that are amazing fishers and apparently like to steal fish off lines. I had my herring halfway out of the water and this shagg decides to get into a tug of war match. Luckily, I won. Anyway, it was an awesome trip. Thanks Ron, Good on Ya!!