THE GREAT SOUTHERN EYRE!
THE tail end of our summer this year was spent discovering South Australia’s gorgeous Eyre Peninsula. Spanning from Spencer Gulf in the east to the Great Australian Bight in the west, with the Gawler Ranges forming the northern border, make for pretty specky scenery.
The eastern side of the triangle that is the Eyre is dotted with many little seaside towns, all unique in their own right. A favourite of ours along here was Tumby Bay. It is most famous for its mural and silo art. We spent a glorious morning strolling around town admiring the various murals, each with their own meaning, and the silo art on the edge of town beautifully represents the smalltown culture along the Eyre Peninsula.
Down at the tip of the Eyre,
Port Lincoln not only provides an opportunity to top-up on supplies and services but is also a gateway to the unspoiled beauty where the Spencer Gulf meets the Southern Ocean. We stayed a week at Engine Point in Lincoln National Park and were so spoilt with unreal weather and relaxing beach days.
Most of the national park is accessible for 2WDS and large ’vans, and there’s plenty of low-cost camping on this great stretch of coastline.
We took a day trip to Memory Cove, where the crystal-clear water and stunning beach was well-worth the work to get here. In order to access the gated Memory Cove, you need to get a key from the Port Lincoln Visitor Information Centre, 20 kilometres from the national park, which you hire for 24 hours with a $50 deposit. The road into Memory Cove isn’t challenging, but it’s very rocky and therefore a slow trip that definitely requires 4WD. It took us around two hours one way and, whilst we did a day trip without the ’van, you are able to camp there; although, the sites are only suitable for tents and small camper trailers.
After Lincoln National Park, we headed to Whaler’s Way for a slightly different experience. Whaler’s Way, at the very bottom of the Eyre and around 45km from Port Lincoln, is a privately owned property offering clifftop camping and untouched coastline. Unlike the national park, Whaler’s Way has been largely uninterrupted with slightly terrifying cliff edges, beautiful natural caves and plenty of wildlife. Brendan and Bella climbed down the cliffs at sunrise and sat with a colony of seals just doing their thing in the wild. We had a great couple of nights exploring the bottom of the Eyre.
Most famous for its oysters, Coffin Bay on the southwest Eyre was different to what we expected. It’s a quaint, sleepy little town with not much more than a caravan park, IGA and many, many oyster farms We spent Australia
Day exploring Coffin Bay National Park which, we argue, is even better scenery than Lincoln National Park. There are spectacular lookouts accessible by 2WD and great sand tracks to explore by 4WD. Pull up anywhere along the beach to enjoy fishing, swimming, fresh oysters and a beer or three!
The beaches just get better and better as you travel up the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula. You can choose any number of free beach camp spots to stay at. One of our favourites was Greenly Beach just above Coffin Bay, where we had the whole place to ourselves and the serenity was divine. Moving up the coast, Streaky Bay is a good stopover for supplies and to base yourself to explore the surrounding area. We highly recommend Tahlia (Woolshed) caves and the Tub, offering natural beauty easily accessible by
2WD – plus there are timber walkways and stairs to explore.
While we didn’t visit too much along the inland route of the Eyre, we did check out the small town of Kimba, known for its amazing silo art and for being the mid-point across Australia. After getting the compulsory photo with the halfway sign, we headed out to Pildappa Rock – very similar to Wave Rock in WA but much less commercialised and a peaceful little camp. There are no facilities here, but there is a great rock formation you can climb and walk all over for awesome sunset views of the surrounding farmland.
One of the final destinations for many at the north-western Eyre Peninsula is Perlubie Beach. This is a fantastic beach camp with flushing toilets and great, little thatched beach huts free for use. This becomes the ‘party beach’ most of the time, and we had a fantastic couple of days partying with many other travelling families. This was also where we were introduced to razorfish, and there were blue swimmer crabs aplenty!
Once the rain set in, we headed for Ceduna before hitting up the Nullarbor which we can tell you all about next month.
Until then, Go Wander!