Streaky Bay is a stunning coastal town on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia and a great place to get your beach and water lifestyle fix! We thoroughly enjoyed spending a few days here soaking up some sun and exploring the rugged coastline sights. Below, we cover off some of the things we saw and places we stayed at during our time in the area. In our opinion, it is a must visit town.
Where we stayed
Streaky Bay Islands Caravan Park
For those that want the comforts of a caravan park, ie power, water and amenities, we would highly recommend staying at the Streaky Bay Islands Caravan Park. The sites are HUGE, I mean massive. We could have parked longways on the site we got. Plus, you have direct access to the beach and the toilets and showers are the best we have come across so far in our travels. Very impressive. There is also a pool, and the staff are super friendly. It is a little out of the main town, but from what we heard, this one is much nicer than the other closer option in town. Plus, there is a bike/walking path from the park that leads into town, and it is only a 5–10-minute drive in. Of course, as we require, this is dog friendly.
Tractor Beach campground
This campground is well situated to explore the sights along the Westall Way Loop road (see below) and costs $15 per night. It is best suited to self-contained vehicles as the only facilities is a single toilet, but the sites are large enough that we shared one site with our friends also in a Toyota Coaster motorhome, and you are close to the beach. Also dog friendly.
Eyre Waterhole Rest Area
This overnight free rest stop is a great option for self-contained campers. It is only a few kms from town and can fit plenty of vans and campers and is quite flat. It doesn’t have any facilities, but being free and close to town, it is a great option for those on a budget just pulling in to sleep and roll out in the morning.
What we saw
Cape Bower Loop
One of the two loop scenic roads that we highly recommend taking, the Bauer Loop features a couple of great beaches and rock formation sites.
First up is the Whistling Rocks & Blowhole site where you can park and take the boardwalk down to the cliff edge where a blowhole and whistling rock are situated as well as some other viewpoint areas to take in the vast ocean and rugged coastline views.
As for the beaches, both Hallys & Back Beach provide some impressive spots to kick back on the sand, walk the dog or go for a surf.
Westall Way Loop
The second scenic road we recommend is the Westall Way Loop road which also hosts a few awesome places to explore. We recommend stopping into the two below sites and if you want to spend more time there, camp up at Tractor Beach.
The Granites is an impressive site featuring large rockpools framed by huge granite boulders which you can climb over or swim in and around. The scale is hard to explain and the mix of grey and orange colours reminded me of the Bay of Fires in Tasmania.
Smooth Pool is a large rock pool protected from the surf which is perfect for snorkeling or a lazy day swimming.
Murphy’s Haystack
Situated about a 30-minute drive from Streaky Bay, Murphy’s Haystacks is a MUST see in our opinion. Situated on private land, these unique and ancient rock formations are over 100,000 years old and are called inselbergs which is the German word for island mountain. It is an honesty box donation to visit the site and has a picnic area and toilets. For an extra $10 you can also camp there for the night like we did.
The formations are spread out over the property and can be taken in on a 20–30-minute stroll around. The unique shapes and colours of the rocks are best viewed at sunset or sunrise and we were pleased to find that we could take Archie with us.
Where to eat
Whilst we try to cook as much of our meals as possible whilst on the road to help with costs, we just had to mention this awesome dog friendly café called Drift in streaky bay. The café is situated next to the jetty and has a great view out over the bay. The coffee was great and the food sensational with plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. AJ went a little over the top with his order, but was a very happy customer as you can see below.
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