10 Nights on the Eyre Peninsula

Written By Take Us With You

This is our 10 night itinerary exploring the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia in a Van. This is based on our experience & done at a budget cost.

(Round trip from Adelaide)

Tips for the Eyre Peninsula

Petrol : Sometimes there are limited petrol stations, make sure to fill up when you can or know how far you have until the next petrol station.

Temperature: It can be quite windy which makes it cold especially when swimming, be sure to pack some warm clothes and a spare towel in case one doesn’t dry.

Dirt roads: Almost every road you take besides the towns and highways are Dirt roads (especially if you want to go to the hidden gems). Whilst most are sealed dirt roads they can be quite bad in areas, some of the unsealed roads are up to 20kms long, so just take it slow if you don’t have a suitable vehicle. Just make sure you are aware before you leave that if you want to visit all these destinations a lot of dirt roads are required.

WIFI: Phone signal can be limited, the both of us are with Vodafone so we had no luck past Port Lincoln and around getting signal. You might have more luck with Telstra or Optus but beware that it is limited in most places! Some of the main towns have free wifi stations from SATC, down by the boat ramps, lots of the accommodation/ caravan parks and restaurants/ cafes offer it also! Just make sure to load your maps and research where you’re going next in case the signal is low!

Wiki camps: This app was a life saver! It’s an App that we downloaded and it’s SO GOOD! It only cost us a onetime payment of $7 and was our best friend. You can download the maps to work offline, and it tells you where the hidden locations are, paid, non-paid accommodation and camping, food, petrol etc.! We have used Camper Mate in the past also, For the EP we would have to recommend wiki camps.

Droning: If you have a drone, make sure to know where you can and can’t fly them as its banned in lots of places on the EP.

National Parks: Make sure to pay your park fees, there are a few NPs in the EP and park fees are required to enter! Some of the locations as said previously have bad phone signal, and to pay it is done online! So make sure you pay while you have signal as you don’t want to turn around and drive back.

Walking shoes: You think coast you think beaches… a lot of the beaches are home to some incredible rock pools that require a bit of a walk. We wouldn’t advise bare feet on some of these rocks, as they are sharp and if the sun has been out can get quite hot.

Public Holidays & Weekends: Just take note if you are travelling over a PH or a weekend, some of these places are quite rural and limited, which means shops/ Petrol stations aren’t open and if you don’t pre book accommodation you may miss out! We travelled over Christmas time and nearly everything was closed on certain days including supermarkets and petrol stations.

10 Night Itineraray:

Day 1

Adelaide - Port Augusta (3.5hr)

Things to see between Adelaide and Port Augusta:

  • Port Pirie

  • Lake Bumbunga ( pink lake)

Where we slept: Free camp pull in on the Highway

Day 2

Port Augusta - Whyalla (1hr), Whyalla - lucky bay (1.1hr), Lucky bay - Cowell (15min), Cowell - Port Gibbon (17min)

Things to see between Whyalla and Port Gibbon:

  • Whyalla beach

  • Whyalla jetty

  • Dolphins by the Whyalla Marina

  • Hummock Hill

  • Point Lowly

  • Lucky Bay

  • Cowell

  • Port Gibbon

Where we slept: Along the cliffs at Port Gibbon Beach, where there is a ton of free camping, right above the beach.

Day 3 

Port Gibbon - Port Lincoln (1.5hr)

Things to see between Port Gibbon and Port Lincoln:

  • Arno Bay

  • Tumby Bay

  • Port Lincoln

Where we Slept: Port Lincoln Tourist Park which we booked for 2 nights and it cost us $35AUD per night for a powered site. The park included wifi, hot showers and washing facilities on site, walking distance to the beach.

Day 4

Port Lincoln

We woke up at 5:30 am to set off on an adventure with Adventure Bay Charters. We went shark cage diving and it was INCREDIBLE. Its always been on both of our bucket lists, and we were so incredibly lucky to be able to swim with 4 Great White Sharks on our day at sea! If you’re ever in Port Lincoln we have to say this is a must do, once in a life time experience. It’s a big 12 hour day but so so worth every second. The crew at adventure bay are unreal, they have so much experience and knowledge and they are just so friendly and fun to be around. Adventure bay charters are eco certified and don’t use burly or bate to attract the sharks, instead they use sound vibrations through the water to get the sharks attention. This is a great way to see the sharks in their natural habitat, as they are such majestic giants! to our surprise it was a thrill, yes but also super peaceful in the water with them, sharks are truly majestic creatures and we were not afraid of them after this experience. We got back around 5:30pm and headed back to the caravan park for a shower and early night.

Shark Cage Diving Adventure Bay Charters

Watch a video of our day on the water

Where we slept: PL Tourist Park

Day 5

Port Lincoln

Again…. we had an early start, not as early about 6:30am this day for another morning on the water with Adventure Bay Charters. This time to swim with Australian sea lions. This was a half day tour and it was amazing! We couldn’t get over how interactive the sea pups are, they mimic you and are super curious playful creatures! Now we see why they are called puppies of the sea! We feel so lucky to have been able to swim with these guys as they are the most extinct species of sea lion. We got back into shore at 12:30pm, and headed to get some lunch at the Port Lincoln Pub.

Swim with Sea Lions Adventure Bay Charters

Where we slept: Free camp car park in Port Lincoln.

Day 6 

Port Lincoln - Port Lincoln National Park (45min), Port Lincoln National Park - Coffin Bay (1.1hr), Coffin Bay - Coffin Bay National Park (5min), Coffin Bay - Greenly Beach (35min)

Things to see between Port Lincoln and Greenly Beach

  • Port Lincoln National Park (The entry fee to the park is around $12AUD)

  • Memory Cove: Access to Memory Cove is limited to 15 vehicles a day, if you’re planning to go, be sure to pre book before you go to receive a gate key or you won’t have access in.

  • Sleaford Dunes (4WD only) we walked in so that we could still see the dunes

  • Check out the beaches (some our 2WD entry and some are 4WD entry)

  • Coffin Bay

  • Coffin bay National Park (The entry fee to the park is around $10AUD)

  • Almonta Beach

  • Greenly beach

  • Greenly Rock pools

Where we slept: Greenly beach free camp

Day 7

Greenly - Elliston (1.2hr), Elliston - Talia caves, rock pools, beach (35min), Talia - Venus Bay (20min)

Things to see between Greenly and Venus Bay:

  • Locks Well Beach

  • Cliff top drive with Sculptures

  • Talia Caves and Rock pools

  • The tub Talia

  • Woolshed cave Talia

  • Venus Bay

Where we slept: Free highway camp in Venus Bay

Day 8

Venus bay - Streaky Bay (50min), Streaky Bay - Smoky Bay (45min)

Things to see between Venus Bay and Smoky Bay:

  • Port Kenny

  • Baird Bay

  • Murphys Haystack

  • Smooth Pool (Rock pool and beach)

  • Bight Lookout

  • Streaky Bay

  • Smoky Bay

  • Point Brown (Rockpool and beach)

Where we slept: Free camp in Smoky bay

Day 9

Smoky Bay - Lake MacDonnell /Cactus Beach and Pink Lake (1.5hr)

Things to see between Smoky Bay and Lake MacDonnell:

  • Ceduna

  • Lake MacDonnell Pink lake

Where we slept: Free camp near lake Mac

Day 10

Lake Macdonnell - Nullarbor (3hr)

Things to see between Lake MacDonnell and the Nullarbor:

  • Fowlers Bay

  • Nullarbor Road House

  • Nullarbor Cliff lookouts

  • Bunda cliffs

  • Great Australian Bight

  • Whale Watching

Where we slept: Free camping at Bunda Cliffs

Day 11

Nullarbor - Home (Adelaide) back via Kimba (12hr)

Things to see between Nullarbor and Adelaide:

  • Kimba silos

  • The Big Galah

  • Halfway across Australia

Expenses

Please note that all expenses are in $AUD and what we felt comfortable spending. We did this trip on a “Budget” living out of a van with a lot of free camping, no toilets and showers & prepared most of our own meals, coffees ect.

Our Budget: $50 per day - each

11 Days of expenses together:

Petrol: $620

Food/drink: $260

Meals out: $150

Accomodation: $75

Washing: $5

Total cost for the entire trip = $1110 combined

Thanks for reading

Love, Jess and Ryan @takeus_withyou

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