You know, as soon as you drive into a town, whether there is a community spirit within the town, and Port MacDonnell abounds in that spirit. It is such a lovely friendly seaside town but it is also home to the biggest Rock Lobster fishing fleet in the southern hemisphere. As you enter the town you are greeted with this magnificent limestone "Bay Wave" that weighs 50 tonnes and took 16 days to cut into shape. It left the quarry in one piece and took two cranes to place it into position.
This is not the only limestone sculpture we see. Further into the township and driving along the esplanade we find these three penguins? I love the one carrying the surfboard.
We find a scenic drive that hugs the coastline and we pull into every lookout. At one lookout is the ruins of the original lighthouse built in the 1800's and at the next one we find some amazing rock formations. Just like everywhere else along the southern coastline of Australia, the wind and waves are slowly eroding the cliff faces that leave us with some wonderful scenery. Out to sea we watch dozens of lobster boats returning to Port MacDonnell with their lobster (crawfish) haul.
We have lunch reservations at Periwinkle Cafe so we make our way back along the coastline and into the township. I rang ahead to the cafe to make certain that they had Rock Lobster on the menu and the friendly owner assured me that she would set one aside. It is Melbourne Cup day so the restaurant was quite busy so I was glad I had booked ahead. We are seated and our drinks are brought to the table very promptly. I had ordered a cocktail and when I was walking to the toilet I noticed the bar attendant picking fresh mint from the garden. This, she explained, was for my cocktail. You can't get any fresher than that.
When the lobster and seafood taster dishes were placed in front of us I wondered how we would ever get through it all, but we did (apart from the fries). The owner said that the lobsters came in fresh this morning and cooked in ocean water immediately. We asked for our lobster to be grilled but I wish I had asked for half fresh. It was so good and I said to Philip that if I died tomorrow I would die knowing that I had eaten the best meal of my life.
It was so good and I pulled apart every leg and sucked out every bit of meat I could find. Fortunately they give you the tools to allow you to do this. It was a long leisurely lunch and after lunch we took a walk along the jetty and esplanade to help with digestion. As we left the restaurant the owner was showing some other tourists what a live Rock Lobster looked like straight from the ocean. It was a real treat for the Japanese tourists to hold one.
On our walk we watched an excavator cleaning up the silted ocean water along the esplanade and the smell was really quite awful, but it obviously needs to be done on a regular basis. We then walked into the town centre and I stopped for another couple of photos before we jumped back into the car for our return to Mount Gambier.
We loved Port MacDonnell and if ever we get back this way it will definitely be a place to spend a couple of days. I also found out today that it is my beautiful friend (and hairdresser) Jodie's hometown. Her nephew is one of the cray fisherman and she also has a sister living here. Next time we will perhaps meet up with them.
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