Beaches, Surfing, Fishing, Scuba, Sailing & Fun

Long sandy beaches, rugged cliffscapes and sheltered coves introduce a range of year round activities on the Fleurieu Peninsula that include fishing, surfing, scuba diving, snorkelling, sailing, swimming and winter whale watching.

Click here for a Surf Guide with full details and ammenities nearby.

The Fleurieu Peninsula has a long and varied coastline that includes secluded beaches rarely visited by humans, as well as fiercely weathered limestone cliffs and headlands that take the full force of the Southern Ocean.

It has surf beaches that attract surfers from around Australia, fishing beaches, sailing beaches – and reefs and wrecks for scuba divers to explore.

Quaint little fishing shacks can be found tucked behind beaches and sandhills, tiny ports have fishing jetties and country pubs, while sheltered bays and coves provide moorings for fishing and sailing boats.

There's no shortage of places in which to stay overnight, with cottages and apartments for rent, and caravan parks and conservation park campsites with million dollar ocean views.

Whale Watching from the clifftops near Kings Head.

Surf fishing at Port Noarlunga.

This is where real people go to quietly luxuriate in a natural paradise, to marvel at its marine life, from huge Southern Right whales crashing and blowing within metres of where you stand, to the tiny Leafy Seadragon, as well as dolphins, penguins and an abundance of fish and seafood.

There’s garfish to be caught from the jetty at Second Valley, little tommy ruffs to grill over an open fire for dinner, flounder that can be speared in Coorong National Park by torchlight or blue swimmer crabs caught with hand-held nets along shallow beaches. Beach fishermen cast for salmon and mulloway.

Or you can just sit in the front bar of a coastal country pub, almost unchanged by time, having a beer while you have a philosophical discussion with the locals over which bait is best for catching whiting or garfish — and settle instead for a plate of fresh flathead fillets and chips.

Goolwa, Port Noarlunga and Victor Harbor are true seaside resort towns. Goolwa, brimming with river port history, quiet and relaxed; Victor Harbor and Port Noarlunga, more the seaside holiday playground, bursting at the seams on summer high days such as Christmas and New Year.

Goolwa, unique with both ocean and lakeside frontages, is focused more on the Murray River and the lakes system at its mouth, with The Coorong beyond.

A protected coastal reserve less than 3km wide but 145km long, The Coorong’s shimmering, shallow lagoons are in stark contrast to the rugged southern coastal environment.

Swim, fish, cruise or explore in craft that range from sea kayaks to elegant riverboats. Hire a yacht or powerboat, or a canoe to explore the Clayton Bay — Dunns Lagoon canoe trail.

Goolwa is synonymous with wooden boats and its biennial Wooden Boat Festival has become a centre of the wooden boat culture in Australia.

Port Elliot, one of the loveliest coastal villages in South Australia, sits tightly clustered around Horseshoe Bay, a small but perfect swimming beach.

Windsurfing on the the lakes of Goolwa, Fleurieu Peninsula

Victor Harbor, on the wide, sandy arc of Encounter Bay, has all the facilities of a regional centre yet still manages to combine a well-weathered sense of history with brighter and newer tourist attractions.

Granite Island was once one of three whaling stations on this coast, ironic now that Southern Right whales are a seasonal tourist attraction each winter, with a Whale Centre that’s an essential visit.

At dusk watch out for the 2000 Little Penguins who’ve made their home here.

The coastline is renowned for having some of the best surf breaks within an hour of Adelaide, including Goolwa, Middleton, Chiton Rocks, Waitpinga, Parsons, Moana, Southport and Christies Beach.

Windsurfers, too, have many choices but they all know about the ‘Bullet Gust’ that arrives with the offshore breeze at Sellicks Beach, or the savage breeze at Dog Lake.

Pick up a copy of Surfing Secrets at visitor information centres for details of the breaks, and the influence of wind and tide on the major beaches.

Surfing the big breaks at Waitpinga.

Scuba divers can explore Australia’s most exciting diveable shipwreck, the HMAS Hobart, sunk in Yankalilla Bay.

Others might search for SA’s marine emblem, the Leafy Seadragon – especially around Second Valley and Rapid Bay, or dive on the Noarlunga and Aldinga reefs.

For the boatless, sheltered foreshore jetties and breakwaters in Cape Jervis, Port Elliot, Normanville and Port Noarlunga provide excellent fishing spots for garfish and tommy ruffs.

Fishing charters can be arranged from Cape Jervis and Victor Harbor.

Scuba Diving off the jetty at Second Valley.

	It’s a measure of how unpressured this coastline is by the fact that car parking is still allowed on the sand at several of its beaches, including Goolwa, Sellicks, Aldinga and Moana, providing a rare chance for a perfect picnic right beside the sea. Just make sure you’re out of there by high tide!


	Picnics and beach fishing while parked on the sands of Goolwa Beach.