Day 153 To Coffin Bay National Park

Time to leave Streaky Bay for our next stop on the Eyre Peninsula, Coffin Bay. But before leaving town, Stuart insisted on a breakfast from the lovely Elliot Bakery to have a good start despite the not so nice (windy & rainy) weather again.

On our drive to Coffin Bay we discovered some detours not described in any of the tourist information material, we collected. First detour is down Talia Road to the Woolshed Cave. There is a small car park and a broadwalk with stairs down to the edge of the water. The cave is not so spectacular but the views on the cliffs, rocks and the water with its wave is. We spend quite some time observing the waves hitting the shoreline and rocks, splashing around. As soon as the rain started again, we sadly had to leave.

The other sight on the Talia Road was The Tube. It is a very big hole in the ground next to the cliffs, and through a small gap on the bottom you can see the ocean. The water was at least that day not flowing in, but maybe on other days with higher tide.

The second detour lead us to Elliston Cliff Drive with various sculptures along the way on car parks with sometimes great and sometimes just ok views on the coastline. In a distance we were also able to spot here and there some dolphins in the water. Stuart enjoyed the first stop at Salmon Point with the birds nest the most while we were watching the dolphins in the water. We drove on for short stops at the Alison Marra sculpture as well as the Headland Sculpture on the cliffs lookouts with the latter offering spectacular views on the cliffs. The next stop Stuart enjoyed to say hello to the Sea Dragon sculpture while we had a look out on the sea to find more dolphins. The last, and most Australian-like sculpture was The Thongz Sculpture, although the weather didn´t allow to wear them as even other Australians travelling by were wearing runners and in general warm clothes.

Back on the main road to Coffin Bay we stopped at Locks Well, beautiful lookout on the cliffs, the beach and the waves hitting the beach. On a sunny day this would be a perfect beach to just walk along and relax. The last stop before entering Coffin Bay was Cummings Lookout with great views on the cliffs.

After our check-in at the accommodation, using the laundry machine and getting groceries for our dinner, we had a look at the weather forecast for the next days: well, it didn´t look good at all. Thunderstorm and rain to start this night and then two days of storm, strong winds, occasional light to heavy rain.... So we decided it is better to head out and use the last hours of partly cloudy, partly sunny weather to explore the Coffin Bay National Park. On our drive in we were able to see some Emus with chicken as well as a snake crossing the road.

Most detours in this national park lead to different beaches, but there are also two lookouts: we started at the Golden Island Lookout. It is right on the edge of the cliff and you have great views on the Golden Island, in our case with interesting cloud formations. What is not visible on the photo: there were very strong winds coming up, so you need to protect your eyes and face from the sand hitting you with a pretty high speed. Next stop was the Point Avoid Lookout, where you have good views on the other island in front of the coastline.

On the way back to Coffin Harbour we stopped at two beaches: the Almonta Beach was pretty windy, so we just stopped for a short photo. To the Avoid Bay Beach you can drive down onto the sand, where you are at least a bit protected from the strong winds. Stuart was eager to have a look around, so we spent some time on the beach taking photos before light rain started again. The last stop was then the Templetonia Lookout, where one should have good views o the surrounding - well, with all the wind and clouds coming in, one couldn´t see much on this lookout.