Easter oysters and cliffs - Port Lincoln to Coffin Bay and Horrock's Lookout, SA

 Days 44-46

Another Saturday, another parkrun along a foreshore with a jetty. Always pretty, always welcoming. Port Lincoln parkrun will be my last for a while, as we’re now heading up the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula and across the Nullarbor. The next town with a parkrun won’t be until Western Australia.

We still had a few errands to knock over in Port Lincoln - Bunnings, BCF, Woolworths and laundry (the washing does not stop just because you’re on a gap year) - so we stayed an extra night. With it being the Easter long weekend, it made sense to get things sorted while we could. Not that it mattered too much anyway, if we’re sticking to Guideline #1: We are not in a hurry.

We did some sightseeing around town — the Makybe Diva and Tuna Poler statues, giant fishing boats at the port - then retreated to the campground for a lunch of fresh prawns, some reading and chilling before heading out to Jump Ship Brewing for the evening. Stephen tried the Great Southern Draught and declared it one of the best beers he’s ever had, which is saying something.

 

As night fell, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and rain set in. We were warm and cosy inside Izzy but really felt for those camping nearby in tents. It does always seem to rain on the Easter weekend wherever you are.

The Easter Bunny found us on Sunday morning, so after hot cross buns and a chocolate bunny, we made our way to Coffin Bay - a place I’ve been looking forward to visiting for a long time. Renowned for its oysters, and with me being a huge oyster fan, expectations were high.

We had a table booked at Oyster HQ, and despite the drizzle and overcast skies, the views across the bay and oyster leases were beautiful. I was not disappointed: a dozen natural oysters with a native dressing of finger lime and lemon myrtle, paired with a Bloody Mary - divine. Stephen opted for fresh whiting tacos, which were also excellent. On the way out we discovered an oyster vending machine (as you do), so naturally we bought another dozen for the road.

The weather wasn’t ideal for sightseeing, but we headed into Coffin Bay National Park anyway, visiting Almonta Beach and Templetonia Lookouts - steep cliffs and fierce ocean energy - before moving into the more sheltered Yangie Bay. In better weather we would have loved to camp in some of the remote 4WD only areas of this park, but it would have been miserable, so we continued north instead.

By late afternoon the rain eased slightly, and we decided to try our luck at a free camp we’d heard about - Horrocks Lookout. After about 8km of dirt road off the highway (corrugated and rocky in places), we popped out onto the coast to find dramatic cliffs and wide-open spaces nestled among the dunes for kilometres in either direction. There was not another soul around and as this is very much our camping raison d’être, we set up with plans to stay until the end of the Easter weekend. The sunset was fabulous and put an interesting glow on everything. 

The next morning, the sun finally made an appearance. We scrambled and slid our way down the cliff face (not as bad as it sounds) for a swim in our own private bay. Getting back up was significantly harder, but we managed - and it made us deeply grateful that we’re doing this trip now, while we’re still capable of tackling things like this.

Always love a lay day (Guideline #2). Watches off, an afternoon walk, endless admiration for South Australia’s coastline (criminally underrated in my opinion) and another fab sunset. A special spot.

As far as Easter weekends go, this one was a very good one indeed.