About the Fleurieu Peninsula

With its temperate climate, central highlands and coastal fringes the Fleurieu Peninsula offers wine, wildlife and water in delightful abundance. More than 75 cellar door wineries, many with restaurants attached, offer the opportunity to taste some of Australia’s most exciting wines and regional cuisine. Roadside stalls offer the freshest seasonal produce for your picnic baskets.

Australian wildlife presents itself to the visitor throughout the year. Little Penguins return to nests on Granite “Penguin” Island every evening of the year. Kangaroos are seen on the hillsides in most of the 20 or so national parks, in particular in Cox Scrub, Newland Head and Deep Creek. The Coorong National Park is famous for its migratory waders and the Onkaparinga Estuary, Aldinga Scrub and areas around Mount Compass, Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island reward bird watchers. Winter migrations of the Southern Right whales are seen along the coastlines of the Peninsula, particularly along Encounter Bay. Winter and springtime wildflowers and orchids delight the keen observer.

As a peninsula, water plays a major part in the recreational activities of locals and visitors alike. Long sandy beaches, rugged cliffscapes, and sheltered coves introduce a range of year round holiday activities that include fishing, surfing, scuba and snorkeling, sailing and swimming.

Hiking at Deep Creek, Cape Jervis, with view across to Kangaroo Island.

Access

30 minutes south of Adelaide, the Fleurieu Peninsula is bounded to the west by the Gulf St Vincent, and the Southern Ocean to the Southeast, with car ferries to Kangaroo Island off the western tip and the famous Coorong National Park running along the easterly coastline.

Road access from the city of Adelaide includes the Southern Expressway, via McLaren Vale and the South Eastern Freeway via Echunga to Meadows or Mt Barker to Strathalbyn. (See location map.) Travellers from the eastern States enter the region via 24-hour ferry across the River Murray at Wellington. An interpreted touring route, the Fleurieu Way circles the Peninsula

Climate

The Fleurieu Peninsula offers an amenable climate year round. It is typically Mediterranean with cool winters May to August ranging through10-18 degrees, and warm to hot dry summers November to March ranging through 24-35 degrees. In the summer months, the area to the west of an imaginary line drawn between Port Elliot and Yankalilla is milder in temperature than the northern and eastern areas. Being bounded on both sides by the Southern Ocean, this region is affected by sea breezes. Coastal areas tend to have minimum winter temperatures that are several degrees warmer than those recorded by the inland regions or Adelaide.

Mailing List

Many of the regions tourism businesses offer special deals and hold special events. Click here to join our Mailing List and receive a monthly email with details of all the upcoming specials and events on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Major Attractions

• Horsedrawn Tram between Victor Harbor and Penguin Island.
• Birdlife and cruising into the Coorong National Park, from Goolwa.
• Summer beaches for safe swimming, surfing, yachting.
• More than a dozen golf courses, from sepctacular top rated courses to the fun of mini-golf.
  course. Five of them are championship courses
• Lakes and rivers for all marine activities.
• Spectacular coastlines.
• The South Australian Whale Centre and coastline whale watching June through October.
• Antique and bric-a-brac shopping in Strathalbyn, Willunga and many other quiet corners.
• Daily coach transfers between Goolwa, Victor Harbor and Kangaroo Island.
• The Fleurieu Way interpreted drive between Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula, connecting to the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne.
• Over 70 cellar doors offering tasting and sales.
• 20 National Parks highlight the natural environment with birdwatching, bushwalking and beauty spots.

Kleinigs Hill Lookout, a mosaic of Kondoli, the Dreamtime whale.

History

The history of the Fleurieu Peninsula goes back many, many thousands of years before European arrival and is documented in the rich oral traditions continuing with the Kaurna, Peramangk and Ngarrindjeri.

The estates of the people of the Lower Murray are interlinked with a network of sites that collectively serve to document the creation of their lands, as well as to provide a repository to an encyclopaedic body of knowledge about the plants, the animals, the seasons, the climate and the people’s continuing relationship to ‘country’.

Ngarrindjeri maintain two centres, both adjacent to the waters of the Coorong and near Meningie. Camp Coorong (phone [08] 8575 1557) provides specialist cross-cultural educational forums and cultural displays, while Coorong Wilderness Lodge (phone [08] 8575 6001) offers visitors accommodation, café facilities and guided walks.

You may learn of Ngarrindjeri creator spirit Ngurundjeri and of his superhuman feats as he travelled down what was to become the Murray River in a bark canoe, in search of his two wives who had run away from him. At that time the river was only a small stream and Pondi (a giant Murray cod) swam ahead of Ngurundjeri, widening the river with sweeps of its tail. Ngurundjeri chased the fish, trying to spear it from his canoe.

The landscape has been created and traditional custodians continue to take responsibilities for its well-being. Their estates are depicted on the map on the inside front cover of the Fleurieu Peninsula Guide.

In 1802, the English navigator, Matthew Flinders and the French explorer, Nicholas Baudin mapped the southern coast of Australia. They met at a point just off the mouth of the River Murray. Baudin named this region after the eminent French wanderer, Charles Pierre Claret, Comte de Fleurieu.  On September 8th, 1836, Colonel William Light made his first South Australian landfall on the Fleurieu Peninsula at a place he named Rapid Bay, in honour of his ship. The colony of South Australia was established soon after and today, a bolder at the southern end of Rapid Bay inscribed by Colonel Light commemorates the landing.

Landscape

The Mount Lofty ranges dominate the central highlands of the Peninsula. Gorges split the landscape with the Onkaparinga River National Park a beautiful example. The coloured cliffs of Aldinga Bay contrast dramatically with the sheer cliffs that drop sharply to the waters of Yankalilla Bay and the Southern Ocean. To the east the landscape features undulating plains, Lake Alexandrina, the wetland lagoons of the Coorong National Park, and finally the mouth of the mighty Murray River.

Spirit of the Coroong Cruises near the Murray Mouth.

Water

As the ancient mariner once said, “ water, water everywhere . . . “. The Fleurieu Peninsula has an enormous range of water-based activities. Fish from jetties, beaches and boats. Surf, body-board, snorkel, scuba and sail with coastal and inland water charters and cruises available. The steep rolling hills of the central highlands hide quiet pools and waterfalls that, at Hindmarsh Falls, Ingalalla Falls and in Onkaparinga Gorge and Deep Creek Conservation Park, offer delightful picnic grounds. 

Hillside vineyard with a view to Lady Bay, Normanville.

Wine

More than 70 cellar doors offer tasting, sales and wine education, often with fresh local produce served at cafes and restaurants attached. The Fleurieu Peninsula includes the wine-regions of McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and newer centres at Currency Creek, Victor Harbor and along the southern coast. The Fleurieu Peninsula is famous for Shiraz, gutsy Grenache blends, delicious Cabernets, feisty Sangiovase, beautiful aromatic Semillon and Chenin Blanc.

Wildlife

Springtime is wildflower season across the Fleurieu Peninsula. 20 National Parks provide walks, birds and the opportunity to get close to nature. The significant wetlands of the Coorong National Park, Onkaparinga River estuary and Lower Murray Lakes provide great bird watching. From the coast, the visitor is likely to see winter whales, and year-round colonies of seals, dolphins, sea lions and penguins. Kangaroos can be found in many of the parks and even seen grazing like sheep in the paddocks on the fringe of towns.(Click here for more on Wildlife.)

Home | About Fleurieu Peninsula | Maps & Virtual Tour | Accommodation | Attractions | Tours & Transport
Must See & Do | Festivals & Events | Brochures & Contacts | Search this Site
Site Map | Useful Links | Disclaimer | Privacy | © Copyright 2003-2008