Introduction
With a few weeks off work, and with our new Hybrid Camper Trailer (we’re still not accepting that its essentially a caravan), we plotted an Eyre Peninsula camping trip, visiting at a few spots totally new to us.
Whilst we’ve spent a bit of time on Eyre Peninsula, in particular a number of visits to Sheringa, and Fowlers Bay – I wanted to put the Hybrid to use and do some exploring. With the ability to pack down with relative ease now, we could move spots every couple of days without it feeling like a massive burden.
Lipson Cove
Our first top was the camping area at Lipson Cove, just outside of Tumby Bay. I had considered Carrow Wells, with it being a donation camp, and somewhat closer to home. But for the first night I was after a bit of assurance of a good spot to set up for a few nights. Lipson Cove can be booked for $10 a night at one of 12 allocated camp sites.
This spot was a ripper. An awesome beach for swimming and we even got a few fish. Mostly undersized salmon, but Holly landed a decent sandy Whiting which was a surprise. We spent a couple of days relaxing on the beach in perfect conditions.
At the campsites, which overlook the beach, the flies were a bit of a nuisance, but we would experience worse…
Lincoln National Park
Our next stop was originally going to be Greenly Beach – but the forecast weather for the next few days was quite windy, so we altered plans and went into Lincoln National Park. I thought I’d be pretty sheltered at Richardson’s Shack Campground, but I clearly had my wind directions mixed up. It was windy! Regardless, I liked this campsite. It’s a throwback to the old days where there are no designated spots, just a bunch of trees and inter winding tracks. Pick your spot! Lucky for us, we were the only ones there and had the pick of the bunch. We set up overlooking the bay, which had it been warmer and less windy, would’ve been great to swim and fish off. There were some awesome sunsets here, and we took advantage of the hybrid van to bunker down as the rain came through.
We spent a day cruising around checking out various campgrounds and lookouts in the park. It was quite nice, but I was surprised to hardly see any wildlife other than a couple of emus.
Horrocks Lookout
After topping up with fuel and supplies at Port Lincoln, we started to make our way up the west coast. We ended up at a free camp which we found on Wikicamps, called Horrocks Lookout. This was essentially a cliff top camp, although it was possible to climb down to the water below – which looked a fantastic calm spot for swimming. It was still a bit cold for us though.
Although the wind wasn’t too bad, the very fine sand still blew through everything and left everything a bit gritty. Not a bad spot for a quick overnight, but no real need to stay any longer. The next day we checked out the nearby (though longer than expected via road) Drummond Rock pools. There’s some concrete stairs to get down to the pools and this looked amazing for a swim, or to hang out for the day. The kids spent a lot of time hunting around the rock pools for cool shells and crabs, before we cooked up a quick lunch and moved on.
Walkers Rocks
We headed further north, just past Elliston. Having spent the better part of the day looking at Drummond Rock pools and surrounds, we just needed a quick overnight stop prior to our Perlubie Beach booking. With not much on offer around this section of the coast, I booked a night at Walkers Rocks, another council run campground.
Walkers Rocks is quite an expansive camping ground, with multiple areas, and a clean long drop toilet and outdoor shower. Since it was just an overnight stop, I booked a site close to the toilet, without much research into the matter.
It turns out we were essentially in a large car park – not ideal. At $20 a night, this one was really disappointing. I felt like I spent $20 to park in a car park. There are a number of nooks and crannies which offer far more privacy, but I didn’t do my research on this one. If we were to stop here again I’d grab one of the cut out areas you can see in the photo. The beach is nice for swimming in the corner, and salmon fishing looks like it would be decent if driving up the beach a distance.
We only had a quick look out at the beach, which forms part of a conservation park, and watched the sun go down on the other side of the point.
Murphy’s Haystacks
We wanted to get to Perlubie as early as possible, so got up early and pointed the car north towards Streaky Bay. On the way, we stopped to check out Murphy’s Haystacks. They are some cool rock formations that jut out of the earth in interesting shapes. The flies were relentless here! The kids had some fun climbing around the rocks, but we moved on pretty quickly to escape the flies.
It’s a $10 donation for families to enter, and there is toilet facilities here. Worth a visit.
Perlubie Beach
I booked three nights at Perlubie about a month earlier than our travel. I’m not normally one for pre-booking as I like to keep options open – however a month out, there was very limited spots, so I locked it in. In the lead up, the forecast was looking absolutely magnificent, and we did get pretty good weather here. However, it sounded like the two days prior were perfection from others we spoke to.
Those few free spots when I booked had obviously been snapped up, as all campsites looked full. Some people were actually packing up and moving a few spots down the beach since they couldn’t book their site for as many nights as they’d wanted to – requiring multiple bookings on multiple sites.
A very popular fashion accessory here was fly nets – almost half the people walking past had them on. Despite the flies, and the wind we got one day, I loved this spot. Absolute water front. Golden. I wrote more about Perlubie Beach here.
Exploring Rock Pools
Although the weather cooled off again somewhat, we set off in search of our next camp, exploring nearby rock pools as well.
We came across a number of awesome looking rock pools, although some in sketchy locations as massive swells pummelled the coast. Swimming best left for calmer days.
Camp was set up in a little free camp nook on the coast which gave us some brilliant views. Location will remain under wraps, though I’m sure a few will recognise it. Unfortunately, the road in was so badly corrugated, when we arrived, we opened to the van to fund the supports holding our internal fridge snapped. The fridge was half toppled over – broken eggs, and mess everywhere! The fridge still works at least.
Further to that, the next morning, whilst sipping my cup of tea, I look over at the van, and noticed a bolt missing from the suspension arm. It must have snapped on the way in. Luckily the other bolt held up, but I wasn’t about to attempt to get out of there on the one remaining, and probably worn out bolt. We have some family in the area, who tried to source a new part for me unsuccessfully. So we ended up done some bush repairs with a makeshift bolt, and it held on to get us out (and home).
Smoky Bay
After a few nights camping out on the coast, we made our way to Smoky Bay where family have a holiday house. Having a warm shower without trying to limit it to as little water usage as possible was quite refreshing! The kids still needed to be persuaded though.
The kids did some paddling on the beach. We tried for squid off the jetty at night (no luck) and also some crabbing during the day (two just legal blue swimmers). The children loved catching some crabs, but were less thrilled when family were keen to cook them for lunch.
As seems to be the case at Smoky Bay more often than not, we were treated to another great sunset.
Heading Home
We had planned to make a stop or two on the way back to Adelaide to break up the drive. We got to Port Augusta, and planned to stop at Mambray Creek. However, it had been raining for hours at the stage, and setting up in the rain and mud didn’t sound appealing, so we just pressed on to get home. All in all, a great tour of the Eyre and seeing a number of places I hadn’t previously. There are plenty of spots we missed, so it looks like we’ll have to do it again.
