Strange how things turn out sometimes, take for instance the town of Fowlers Bay on Eyre Peninsula which was once the site of a whaling station and today owes a fair bit of its tourism draw card to these majestic creatures again. These days, you can experience seeing them from a whale watching cruise or even spot them gliding past the jetty during the months from July to September.

The jetty and surrounding areas though are perhaps the biggest reason that people travel the 900+ kilometres from Adelaide to spend time here.  Fowlers Bay and the nearby Scott Bay and Mexican Hat are well known fishing destinations for keen fishers, looking to hook onto Australian salmon and Mulloway in particular, while camped amongst huge sand dunes.

Fowlers Bay has a caravan park which is pretty basic but it provides power and water which they ask you to use sparingly, and has ablutions which are tidy and clean.  There is also a communal fire pit area where you can gather every evening and tell tales.

There is also camping available within Fowlers Bay Conservation Park at Scotts Beach Campground and Mexican Hat, but as they are within a conservation park, dogs aren’t allowed.

Even more so than whales, I think what captures your attention in Fowlers, are the magnificent sand dunes of the purest white sand. They are perfect for sandboarding, but honestly the trudge to the peaks is pretty steep and you’d have to be keen (and young) to do that over and over again.  The views from the top are fabulous though and worth the climb at least once.

From the Fowlers Bay jetty you can catch huge squid, tommies, trevally and garfish just to name a few species and the caravan park is so conveniently close to the jetty that you can try throughout the day and night if you’re keen.

It’s still very much a fishing village but the kiosk in town has basic supplies and takeaway food and there was also a mobile wood oven pizza place in town which was hugely popular and provided tasty pizzas, garlic bread and even dessert all cooked in the wood fired oven.

This area is worth a visit especially if you are keen on fishing and taking some great sand dune drives in the 4WD, and the dunes in particular are spectacular.

Happy fishing

Glenys