Coastal Way Road Trip - Adelaide to Edithburgh

Coastal Way Road Trip: Adelaide to Edithburgh

Port Wakefield
Break up the drive with a stop at a bakery, café or pub. Take a stroll along the historic Port Wakefield wharf area, or check out the murals at the Rising Sun Hotel.  Walk along boardwalks through mangrove forests and view the abundant birdlife or take a dip at the local swimming area.

Kipling's Bakery
A popular spot for a road trip meal break either heading to Yorke Peninsula or on the way back to Adelaide, Kiplings Bakery is a Port Wakefield institution, and famous for their award-winning pastries, pies & pasties.

Samphire Coast
The Samphire Coast stretches from Port Gawler, just north of Adelaide to Port Wakefield and around the top of Gulf St Vincent to Ardrossan.

A popular drawcard for birdwatchers, crabbers and fishers, the Samphire Coast provides a unique insight into mangrove forests, samphire flats and inter-tidal seagrass meadows on sand and mud flats; and is a haven for bird life and one of South Australia's premier bird watching locations. This coastline is one of 10 priority sites under the World Wildlife Fund Australia Shorebird Conservation Project and plays host to over 60,000 migratory shore birds each year.

Clinton Conservation Park
Don't forget your binoculars because this park is ideal for birdwatching enthusiasts. With 57 known bird species living in the park, you will be sure to see interesting bird life along the shoreline and in the mangroves.

Clinton Conservation Park was dedicated to protect a significant and undisturbed area of mangroves. The park provides the perfect opportunity to see the samphire shrubland, mallee woodland and tidal estuaries that it protects.

Wills Creek Conservation Park
Wills Creek Conservation Park is a mangrove and samphire habitat extending from Port Clinton to Price. It’s a significant home for wetland birds and is unusual for woodland backed by eroding limestone cliffs topped with mallee and tea-tree vegetation.

Ardrossan
Home of the Blue Swimmer crab. Ardrossan is known for its jetty fishing and imposing red cliffs. Ardrossan is also home to the Stump Jump Plough, the Ardrossan museum pays tribute to this ingenious implement and is housed in the original plough factory.  Ardrossan’s main street boasts some great cafes, pubs and retail shops for those wanting a day of browsing, good food and taking in the sights.

Ardrossan Heritage Museum
Ardrossan is home to one of South Australia's greatest inventions - the Stump Jump Plough, and the local museum celebrates the home of the stump jump plough. This is where it was manufactured en masse and hard to believe now, but until 1907 this was the most up-to-date factory in the Southern Hemisphere. There’s also pictures and documents about the mass stranding of whales at Parara in 2014, along with a whale jawbone from one of the whales.

Ardrossan Lookout
On the southern edge of Ardrossan, just past the loading jetty and mining operations is the Ardrossan Lookout. Offering one of the best birds-eye views over Ardrossan & Gulf St Vincent and a great photo opportunity, this lookout is easily accessible just off the main highway.

The Ardrossan mining operations are a hub of industry, with the Ardrossan mine extracting and transporting dolomite by ship; salt from Price shipped from the jetty; and the Viterra silos and bunkers a depot for local farmers reaping crops at harvest (grain isn’t shipped from here but transported by road train south to Port Giles). 

Parara Beach Whale Memorial
Parara Beach is a popular crabbing beach, with many venturing out with their crab rakes in the warmer months (September to April) to gather Blue Swimmer crabs. The Parara Beach Bush Camping location is also a popular spot for those camping or with self-contained vans, and is just one of the 19 bush camping spots across Yorke Peninsula.

In December 2014, it was the location of the extraordinary and significant marine event, where 7 Sperm Whales were found stranded after beaching themselves at low tide. A memorial on the coast at Parara Beach honours this event, which was the first of its kind in over 200 years in South Australian history. The memorial features 7 large stones with engraves plaques to represent each whale.

Parara is the Aboriginal word for ‘middle’, and this area was home to the Parara Homestead owned by the Bowmans, who were pioneers in farming & sheep grazing across the state and went on to have the township of Bowmans in the Mid-North named after them and built Martindale Hall, near Clare.

Windara Reef
The first of its kind in South Australia & the largest in Australia, Windara Reef is a shellfish restoration reef in Gulf St Vincent.

Windara Reef offers great fishing for recreational fishers with fish species including King George Whiting & Snapper.

The reef is named Windara Reef after the Narungga name for the eastern section of Yorke Peninsula, which is one of the 4 clans making up Narungga. It is located 1km off the Rogues Point coast, 7km south of Ardrossan and is at a water depth of 8-10 metres.

Black Point
Once a 19th century quarantine station, Black Point is now one of the most prized pieces of real estate in South Australia.  With around 150 ‘shacks’ lining the beachfront, and a plentiful crabbing ground at your doorstep, Black Point has certainly turned its fortunes around in the last 200 years.

Traditional weekend shacks were the first to find this little piece of heaven and now sit alongside some stunning new beach houses that line the bay. With no roads in-between, the only thing between you and the water is the white sandy beach. The point juts into the water creating a beach with no rips making it a popular destination with holiday makers.

Black Point offers a relaxing lifestyle revolving around fishing, swimming, sailing, boating, crabbing and beach activities. Catch your own seafood basket…rake the shallows for crabs, dive for scallops just off shore or cast a line for your fill of King George Whiting, garfish or Tommy roughs.

Port Vincent
The attractive and peaceful bay with a marina at the northern end provides a harbour for yachties and boaties. Kids of all ages love playing in the crystal clear waters and swimming out to the pontoon followed by a treat of icecream and hot donuts or fish and chips on the beach.

Port Vincent Walking Trail
Part of Walk The Yorke, the Port Vincent Walking Trail is comprised of 3 smaller trails, with each trail around 1.5 kilometres in length and taking approximately 20 minutes to walk each at an easy walking pace.
Offering diverse trails from shorelines to cliff tops and creek beds to beach walks, there are lookouts and scenic views to enjoy along the marked walking trail, with seating along the way for walkers to take in the picturesque landscapes.

Port Vincent Putt Putt
This 9-hole putt putt golf course is located at the Port Vincent Caravan Park & Seaside Cabins, but is available for everyone to use.  A great challenge for players young and old, it also offers fantastic coastal views while you play the course.

Stansbury Oysters
Stansbury’s aptly named Oyster Bay is home to oyster farms, which are easily seen at low tide.   Producing Pacific and Angasi Native oysters, local oysters can be purchased when in season from Southern Yorke Oysters at their oyster shed.  Or book a tour to taste oysters plucked straight from the sea and be a ‘Deckie for a Day’ with Pacific Estate Oyster tours.

Stansbury Coastal Walking Trails
With a total trail length of 6.3 kilometres, the Stansbury Coastal Walking Trail follows the coastline from Mills Gully, along the foreshore and back beach to Pitts Cutting.

With access for walkers, cyclists and wheelchairs the trail offers 180-degree views of Oyster Bay and the Stansbury township. There are also several gym equipment installations along the foreshore section of the trail that can be used in conjunction with a walk or on their own.

Signage along the trail provide interpretive information about wildlife, wildflowers and birdlife that can be seen whilst walking the trail.

Barachel Alpacas
Alpacas are often referred to as environmentally friendly and with their soft feet they are kind to the earth and environment. Alpacas are adored for their softness and friendliness and they have the 2nd warmest natural fleece. Barachel Alpacas have an on-farm shop at Wool Bay with a range of alpaca products, and baby alpacas are on site most of the year and visitors can cuddle and feed them (visitors by prior arrangement).

Edithburgh Jetty
This great diving jetty is home to a variety of marine life, including Big-belly seahorses, Port Jackson sharks, Leafy Sea dragons and cuttlefish, plus a variety of fish species and colourful corals.

Edithburgh Tidal Swimming Pool
This area at Edithburgh has always been used for swimming; but the tidal swimming pool was created in the early 1930’s during the depression by a ‘work for the dole’ group who built the stonewalls and change shed. At the time, there were large swimming competitions held. Later on the local farmers and saltworks donating labour and stone for the pool.

In the 1980’s, the Edithburgh Progress Association put forward $75,000, which the Yorke Peninsula Council matched in in-kind support and the pool was upgraded, again with assistance from a ‘work for the dole’ group.