I had tried earlier in the year to walk the Investigator Trail in Lincoln National Park (SA) on a triangular peninsula 15 kms south of Port Lincoln, but I had been thwarted by a lack of good information and worry about availability of water. I had spoken to the park ranger about the water situation and come away dispirited. That's when I did Walk the Yorke instead. Now, with 3 days to kill before I would be allowed out of SA into the NT to do Larapinta, I decided to plunge in and do this trail. I didn't have time for the full trail so I opted for the more enticing part, the eastern loop, which visits numerous beaches, and I planned an anti clockwise route to leave a short distance for the final day when there was 95% chance of a lot of rain. It wasn't a hot time of year so I hoped to wing the water problem and I expected there would be people around in case of an emergency water shortage. As it transpired there is not a huge water supply in the park and I saw almost nobody during my 3 days. My other problem was how to get to the park because initially I had intended to walk there from the town (there is a trail, another one I hadn't been able to get info about) but I didn't have time for this; I thought I would try to get a taxi to the park and afterwards walk back to town if I had no way to call one for my return.
June 5 The taxi I'd booked came to the motel just before 9am and by 9.15 I was in the national park ready to start my hike. Surprisingly easy. I set out towards Pillie Lake, parallel with the coast; this coast faces Port Lincoln. The trail went through mallee bush and I was amazed to see so much blossom: white flowers of melaleuca acuminata everywhere, rice flowers, red correas, red cockles tongue, then all sorts of acacias including the prickly paradoxa, and the weird leafless exocarpos. I met a couple of daywalkers and 2 mountain bikers.
Pillie Lake was a large oval of bare sand. I laughed when I recalled that I had asked the park ranger if the lake might have drinkable water. From there I walked 12 kms across the peninsula to the outward facing coast, all in bush. I had sunshine interspersed with drizzle and then quite suddenly a heavy downpour. I quickly put on rain pants (my old ones) and jacket and realised that neither of these are waterproof any more. Luckily it wasn't cold. The trail immediately became a river and I couldn't avoid getting wet feet. I got to Taylors Landing campsite (2 campers) and was going to have a break but it was still raining so I needed to keep moving.
I came out onto a small beach and then a longer one. This was a narrow strip of white sand backed by low dunes (with sea spurge, spinifex and saltbush) and just enough hard sand. The rain stopped and the sky turned blue. I could see islands nearby, a few boats and the water was a lovely blue.This lasted for several kms then I went into melaleuca/ acacia forest and then out onto the heath covered cliffs. The plants seemed more varied than usual. There were round granite boulders at the water's edge and some groups of cormorants. I rushed along towards the promontory of Maclaren Point but I didn't go right out to the point because I wanted to get to the campsite. I went half way along the next beach to reach the campsite but I couldn't find it because I was expecting a place with a hiker shelter, toilet, water and I saw nothing but a small sandy clearing. It was already after 4pm and I thought I had enough water so I decided to call it a day. I put up my tent behind some bushes on the dunes and settled in for a night of loud waves. 30 kms
June 6 I packed and left my camp and only 200 metres down the trail I came to the hiker shelter, just a water tank with a roof. I thought my previous night had worked out well as the shelter had no soft ground nearby and no view. I had breakfast there then continued to Carcase Rock Beach, named for a tiny island offshore, sharing the beach with oyster catchers and hooded plovers. There were more clumps of granite boulders, some with cormorants and I could see lots of plovers and (grey) sitting on the water. It was a perfect blue sky day. More melaleuca and clifftops then I reached September Beach, another long strip of nice sand and not too much seaweed. I had a long break at the picnic area by the deserted campsite.
Soon I was at Donnington Lighthouse and the tip of the peninsula, and I started heading south on the Port Lincoln side. As I came to the start of Fisherman's Point Beach 
I heard a raucous noise and looked around to see an emu running in a circle because it didn't know where to go, while its mate watched, then both ran off. There had been white caps on the water on the other side of the peninsula but here the water was calm (and the beaches full of seaweed). I was looking directly towards Stamford Hill, the highest point on the peninsula, and behind it was Port Lincoln.
I walked on the cliffs to Spalding Cove Beach then walked this 2 kms beach; the wind had come up and I was going straight into it. Next was a really lovely cliff top walk passing numerous small sandy bays to Surfleet Cove, a beautiful beach I did not walk on. 
I saw a Port Lincoln parrot: green with pale blue tail feathers. The next beach was only short but hard to find somewhere to walk as it was covered with seaweed and it was high tide. From the campsite at the end (where I saw another pair of emus) I detoured off the Investigator Trail to climb Stamford Hill because I like to climb hills and I expected a good view over the national park. It was incredibly windy on top. There was a monument to Matthew Flinders who sailed here on the Investigator in 1802 and climbed the hill to look for a water source. I could see back to the lighthouse and all the bays in between, and small islands, plus the town. 
As I walked down on the other side I saw vast expanses of green, some of which I had been through yesterday. Just after 5pm I got to Woodcutters Beach campsite. It had numbered campsites but no facilities and I was not surprised to be alone. I could see the lights of Port Lincoln across the water. 30 kms
June 7 I was expecting bad weather today. Around 4am a strong wind came up but the day dawned with a blue sky. I didn't have much water left (I'd been able to get water twice yesterday) so I set off without coffee and I walked a mixture of bush, road and beach (horrible head winds and soft sand and the water was very rough). I was pleased to identify a silver plover - it has to be in flight to show its black wing tips. I rejoined my first day's route with all the white blossom and I noticed many flowering correas (red bell-like flowers). After a couple of hours I stopped on the trail to sit in a sheltered sunny spot and have a cup of coffee knowing I had enough water to finish.
When I started up I saw I was in a race with the rain; the sky ahead was black and a gale was blowing towards me. I was only a km from the end when the rain came and it wasn't heavy. Yet.
At the park entrance shelter (where I checked the park map and verified that I hadn't missed any water tanks) I called a taxi and I was soon back in town. Within half an hour there was a deluge and it stayed wet all day. I never really got to see Port Lincoln properly. 15 kms, total 75 kms
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