Port Lincoln (and my addiction to swimming with sea lions)
In April of 2022, we planned a trip to William Creek to do some aerial photography at Kati Thanda – Lake Eyre. William Creek is not easy to reach – the options (from most to least expensive) are:
- Fly to Coober Pedy (via Adelaide) and arrange a charter flight to fly you to William Creek
- Fly to Coober Pedy (via Adelaide), hire a 4WD, and drive 3 hours to William Creek
- Fly to Adelaide, hire a 4WD, and drive 10 hours to William Creek
- Fly to Adelaide, hire a 4WD, and split the drive to William Creek by staying someovernight along the way
Flying to Coober Pedy turned out to be ridiculously expensive, the flights don’t operate every day, and there were no hire cars available. After a few road trips in Australia, we’ve learned to plan on a maximum of five hours of driving per day. It always takes longer than expected, and it’s nice to have the flexibility to stop along the way if you find something interesting. So we went with option #4.
But it was killing me to go to South Australia and not be in the water. Hello. My name is Jennifer and I’m addicted to swimming with sea lions.
In looking at the map, Port Lincoln was about the same distance to William Creek as Adelaide. I’d sold Andy on this ridiculous plan before checking on hire car availability, and Port Lincoln was totally booked. In the end we wound up hiring a car in Adelaide and driving to Port Lincoln. This went against the five hour rule, but rules are meant to be broken.
We spent three days with Calypso and the sea lions were as playful as I remembered.
