wauraltee beach
What better way to see out the year and celebrate 2025 than at a beachfront campground with white sand and clear waters!
After our stay at Rapid Bay, we left the Fleurieu Peninsula and headed for the Yorke Peninsula to stay a week at Wauraltee Beach. We chose to stay at the Wauraltee Bush Campground as once we found out that the free beach camping was closing in February 2025 due to environmental and cultural reasons, it sat better with us to do our bit to protect the beach a little more. There is a new booking system in place that makes it easier to find a campground. In the past, you purchased a permit which allowed you to stay in any of the 15 campgrounds. As part of the new process, you can now choose which campground you would like to stay at, capping the number of campers which will protect these places even more. So to avoid disappoint, we suggest booking early, particularly for Wauraltee. There are campsites as you arrive near the pit toilets, and another tucked away behind the dunes. The beach view sites are just before the track down to the beach. Here you will find stunning views but be prepared to cop some wind, especially when the westerly hits. Day-trippers also use this area as a lookout to checkout the beach so it can get quite busy. We started at this campsite and then took our chances down a track that was on the opposite side. It is not recommended for caravans as the sand is rather soft and the track is quite narrow, but we stayed in the first campsite, reversed in and didn't have any issues driving out. The sandy track is constantly changing so a walk through is a must to check the conditions. This site was a little more protected from the winds and we were still able to have ocean views.
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After February, you can still continue to enjoy recreational driving on the beach and boat launching. Since it was the last New Year's Eve being able to camp on the beach, it did create quite the fanfare with hundreds flocking to the beach with everyone in great spirits! The beach has the whitest fine sand and the water is clear. We had a few days where the seaweed was washed up onto the beach making the water look a little murky. Just as the water turns a dark blue, here you can fish for squid or dive for abalone. We met the legends Vic and Nick from Sandy Expeditions back at Rapid Bay and then were able to catch up again at Wauraltee. They took Rob and our warriors out for a burn in the boat. Although they were unlucky in catching any squid, our boys were frothing that they were able to go out in the boat.
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When creating our itinerary for our lap, we all sat down as a family to pick out the places that we wanted to be for our birthday. Our youngest warrior just wanted to be at a beach where he could swim and go beach driving. What a special birthday he had! Our prawn-peeling, sport-obsessed, pink-loving, youngest warrior turned 10 years old at the most epic location! It hit us hard when our eldest turned ten, but it us hit even harder that our youngest is now double digits! This was our first birthday for our tribe on the road so we celebrated our little legend doing everything he loves! From sugary topped waffles, to beach drives, eating fresh prawns, playing card games, FaceTiming family and making bases in the dunes, it was quite the birthday!
A few days later, we welcomed the new year in style! At home, we usually go to bed after the 9pm fireworks so we can wake early to wacth the first sunrise over the ocean. Since we were at Wauraltee and the sun sets over the ocean, our warriors asked if we could watch the last sunset of 2024 and stay up to midnight. That was exactly what we did, and right on midnight, the sky lit up with fireworks from campers on the beach. Our New Year's Day was spent lazing around between the van and the beach. A slow, peaceful first day of 2025.
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dhilba guuranda - innes national park
During our stay at Wauraltee, we ventured down south for a day trip to explore Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park which was just under 1.5hrs drive. You do need a National Parks Pass to visit. But before we started, we decided to have some pub grub at Marion Bay Tavern so we were fueled for some walking. All of our dishes were delicious and fresh, and the view was over the bay. We visited the Stenhouse Bay Jetty where gypsum used to be mined and Cape Spencer Lighthouse which was built in 1950 and overlooks Kangaroo Island. Our warriors loved exploring the Ethel Wreck which ran aground in a storm in 1904 and walking through the Inneston Historic Township which was established in the early 1900’s during the gypsum-mining era. The absolute highlight of the day would have to of been visiting Dolphin Beach and Shell Beach. These places just took our breath away! We left the swimmers back at the van but nothing stopped us from running in as deep as we could in our clothes! We underestmated the size and beauty of this place so allow at least a day, and pack your togs! It was humbling to see that this national park is now co-managed with the Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation where exciting plans are in place to share Narungga knowledge, language and culture with rangers and tourists
We lost sense of what day and time it was, instead time was measured with how many salty swims, hammock swings and sundowners with Sandy Expeditions were had. We sunk our feet into the ocean one last time before the fine white sand changed to hot red sand as we headed inland towards Quorn. We acknowledge the Narungga People as the traditional custodians of the Yorke Peninsula and respect their connection to the land, water and sky.
Peace + love,
Peace + love,