Yorke Peninsula

The Yorke Peninsula points south into the Southern Ocean like a boot, a narrow triangle of farmland flanked by two different bodies of water with completely different characters. The Spencer Gulf to the west is calm, warm and sheltered — ideal for sea kayaking, swimming with sea lions and snorkelling the jetties at Moonta Bay and Wallaroo. The exposed southern tip at Innes National Park faces open ocean and receives Southern Ocean swell that produces some of the most powerful surf in South Australia.

Innes National Park is the peninsula's highlight and one of SA's least-visited gems — dramatic coastal scenery, shipwreck heritage, excellent surfing at Pondalowie Bay, and large resident populations of western grey kangaroos and emus that wander the campgrounds at dawn. The reef diving around Inneston and Cable Bay is genuinely excellent, with old jetty pylons that have become artificial reefs and good visibility in the cold, clear southern water.

The Copper Coast — Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta — preserves a remarkable Cornish mining heritage from the copper rush of the 1860s. The Moonta Mines site, the Kernewek Lowender (Cornish) Festival and the heritage streetscapes are genuinely interesting for anyone with an appetite for regional Australian history. The road south from Kadina to Innes National Park passes through wide, quiet agricultural country with an emptiness that, by the time you reach the southern coast, feels well-earned.