Green hills and ocean views (Fleurieu Peninsula)

“Wow! It’s so beautiful!”

“Look at that amazing view!”

“Oh wow! The fog rolling in looks amazing!”

“We’ve run out of superlatives!”
I’d been told the Fleurieu Peninsula was beautiful but I wasn’t prepared for just how spectacular the views around every bend would be. I’m not cycling this week. A friend is here from Brisbane so we’ve hired a car to drive around. It is quite a luxurious experience to take side roads without worrying about how many extra kilometres the road will add or whether there will be a place to camp available.


On Tuesday we drove along the coast from Adelaide to Deep Creek Conservation Park right down at the southern top of the Fleurieu Peninsula. Along the way we stopped at Myponga Beach and Rapid Bay, both of which were stunning. Myponga Beach is a tiny little hamlet nestled in the place where the green hills of the peninsula meet the sea. There’s nothing here except a small collection of beach shacks and a picturesque road bridge across a creek


Rapid Bay is a larger place where an old shipping jetty is rotting into the sea next to a newer recreational jetty used by fishermen and divers. The township has no shops but it does have a school that must surely be one of the most visually stunning places of learning in the country. Green hills and boulders rise about the school and clear blue waters lap at the nearby sandy beach.



After stopping for some pies at nearby Delaware we set up camp at Deepwater Conservation Park. The campsite was set in a grove of twisted trees that seemed like they could come alive at any moment. White-backed southern magpies warbled all night long. After spending the night sitting by a warming campfire, we woke to wallabies hopping around our tent and kookaburras sitting in trees nearby waiting to steal our breakfast.



On Wednesday we followed the coast back the way we had come to see some places we missed on the way down. Our first stop was an old silver mine. Walking around the mine I was in awe of the hardships the miners must have endured in their quest for riches.

As we drove, red parrots flew through the trees; their bright colours a stark contrast to the errie twisted architecture of the forest.

We stopped at Cape Jervis where a wind farm captured our attention. From the windfarm we could look out over Cape Jervis towards Kangaroo Island. The car ferry did some amazing sharp turns to dock at the jetty. It was awesome to watch because there wasn’t much space for the pilot to make any mistakes. There’s not much at Cape Jervis other than the lighthouse, ferry terminal and start of the 1,200km long Heyson Trail walking track.

We returned to Rapid Bay to explore the beach and cave. The cave was huge but not deep. I didn’t dare go into it too far lest some rocks fall.




We had missed Second Valley on our way south so stopped there for a look on the way back. We were certainly not disappointed. There were a series of small rocky coves. Some had sandy beaches at the waters’ edge. I found plenty of rocks to skip along the water and we created a small soft coral display on the rocks of the various pieces we found. My friend and I both like art so it came naturally to find these pieces and line them up. Over on the jetty, a Sam Worthington film was being made. It looked like a WW1 movie; perhaps a film about Galipoli. The whole town was taken over by the actors and crew.