The Eyre Peninsula (and Coffin Bay Oysters!)

South Australia is a state that we’ve spent a bit of time in previously – on our 2017 trip, we visited the south coast, Adelaide, Clare Valley, and the Flinders Ranges and Oodnadatta Track in the middle of the state. At the beginning of this trip, we visited the Flinders Ranges again, the Birdsville Track, and the southern part of the Simpson Desert. However, we’d never had the chance to explore the western part of the state, specifically the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas that we’d heard so much about. We were very much looking forward to spending some time in these areas!

Here’s a map of our entire trip so far, along with a more detailed map of the Eyre Peninsula area. The areas we’ve previously covered are in red, and the route covered in this post is in green.

We started out with the Eyre Peninsula, and were introduced via a campground at Perlubie Beach that was absolutely awesome – it was beach camping for $10 a night, with shade shelters, friendly locals set up for the summer holidays, and a beautiful calm bay for swimming, walking, and fishing.

We met another family that night, who had only just started their trip around Australia (hi Heytch’s!). It was really fun for us to talk to them as they were about three weeks in. It reminded us of how we felt at the beginning of our trip, all fresh and excited about embarking on life on the road. We shared a meal and some drinks together and chatted until it was well past bedtime (I mean, don’t get too excited because bedtime on the road is like 8pm). The best part of this trip has been meeting new friends on the road – and in most cases, running into them again and again!

It’s especially….weird? Sobering? Nostalgic? For us to be back in South Australia, since this is where we started the trip in June last year. I have to admit, I was feeling a little down about it as we crossed from WA into SA on the Nullarbor. Being back near where we started makes me feel like the trip is coming to a close, even though we still have five months left, which is more vacation than most people are able to take in a year. It’s a good reminder for me to try to live in the moment and appreciate every second of the time we have left on this trip of a lifetime!

After a night at Perlubie and a swim at the Granites, we continued on down the coast to Elliston, which boasts a coastal sculptures drive (Sydney has a very popular “Sculptures By The Sea”, which is always incredibly crowded – Elliston’s sculptures were a welcome peaceful and crowd-free alternative!).

We were also interested to visit Elliston after reading a New York Times article about a debate the town had related to the erection of a monument memorialising the killing of local Aboriginal people. The oral history and written history of the event differed in the number of people killed, and the town had to decide which version to immortalise on the monument. I looked forward to visiting the monument and paying my respects.

Our stop for the night was Coffin Bay National Park, on the western side of the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula. We hadn’t read anything about Coffin Bay NP, but chose a campsite that was 4wd access only, near the top end of the park, figuring it would be away from crowds. Wow, how right we were.

The 40km drive to camp took us two hours, with no shortage of beautiful scenery along the way. Our campsite was up on top of a hill at the very northernmost point of the park, looking down onto a gorgeous beach where the water was calm and clear.

Absolute bliss.

We actually tried to get another night at this campground once we arrived, because it was so perfect, but the place had been completely booked out and someone else was due to arrive to camp in the spot we were in – blast!

We soothed ourselves by booking into an oyster farm tour that day and excitedly drove back into Coffin Bay town for our afternoon tour. We met the owners of the oyster farm, donned hip waders, giggled at ourselves and then waded out to learn all about these delicious creatures!

As part of the tour, we got to see a “heritage” oyster farm still using the classic method of farming in baskets, learned about the different types of oysters and their different life stages, and we learned how to shuck oysters! And of course, got to sample our efforts too.

As part of the shucking lesson, we learned that oysters look more beautiful if you “flip” them after shucking. That part is certainly time consuming, but it makes a big difference in terms of presentation. I’ll be looking for this from now on at restaurants!

I loved shucking oysters so much and was so inspired that I even bought my own glove and shucking knife, and a bag of oysters to practice with at our campsite that night! Oh yeah, and of course we had to have a couple glasses of wine for happy hour as well.

While at happy hour we also got to chatting with the owner of the oyster farm, Ben, and one of the employees, Alex. Ben gave us some great local tips for awesome camping, and Alex was actually from Ottawa and had worked at one of the best restaurants there (Atelier). Love these kind of small-world meetings, and of course we always love local tips and advice.

This day and night in Coffin Bay, is one of my absolute favourite memories from the trip so far. We woke up in the morning and had our coffees at a beautiful and deserted beach, then went on a great tour, learned a new life skill (how to shuck oysters!) and met some beautiful people, and then spent the evening eating fresh oysters and drinking beers on  another secluded beach. Man. This right here is what it’s all about.

The next day we popped over to Lincoln National Park, on the eastern side of the Eyre Peninsula, but we definitely left our hearts in Coffin Bay. The east coast of the Eyre Peninsula seems much more rural and quiet than the west coast – we checked out a lighthouse, a few towns, and a coastal offroad drive, but the main/popular thing to do there is cage diving with great white sharks in Port Lincoln, which at something like $400 a person was too rich for our blood, at least on this trip. So, our east coast experience was definitely all about quiet seaside campsites and beautiful sunsets.

We were very much looking forward to checking out the Yorke Peninsula next, after a brief day stop in Port Augusta for showers and re-stocking. An unprecedented heatwave was rolling in, and we had about two weeks to make it to Melbourne and our ferry to Tasmania, with lots to see along the way!