A regular favourite of ours when it comes to caravan parks and towns to visit, is Port Elliot on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia.

A beachfront site at the Big 4 Breeze Holiday Park is fantastic, with wide spaces to suit caravans, awnings and your car, and you have water views of Horseshoe Bay and its rock formations.

Currently the caravan park hasn’t changed much from other years, but change is coming. We are informed that more cabins are going to be built opposite the kid’s bouncy pillow and camp kitchen area, so there goes more caravan and camping sites unfortunately, but hopefully that will be the only area to change.

One of the best reasons to stay at Port Elliot Holiday Park is its proximity to the town and all that’s so loved about this area. It’s a very easy area to stroll from the park to town and there are some brilliant places to eat and drink. Next to the caravan park is a lovely green park which has play equipment, a BBQ and a small native garden area which you can walk through and find some timber carvings.

Keep on walking and you’ll pass the bowling club, which has to have one of the best views ever, then continue past the Flying Fish Café, another green park, great for family picnics, and the relatively new Port Elliot Surf Life Saving Club building. A really impressive structure and a great spot for an afternoon drink overlooking the bay.

Just days before our stay, some wild weather happened and the steps leading from the small jetty into the water were damaged, so the jetty is out of bounds at the moment but hopefully it won’t take too long to be repaired and back in use.

If you continue past the surf lifesaving club you can take the Harbour Master’s Walk around the headland for spectacular coastal views. You also get to see some pretty amazing houses including one which rumour has it, is owned by internationally renowned film director Scott Hicks.

Everyone loves the views of this coastline, including the feral rabbits of which there were plenty hopping about the place during our morning walk.

A stroll through the gardens of remembrance takes you back down to Horseshoe Bay and the beach, which sadly at the moment, as with all beaches along this part of the Fleurieu, has quite a few small dead fish scattered along its length.

This is due to all the fresh water coming out of the Murray River from the flooding event, and making its way out of the mouth and along the coast. Dead fish unfortunately are littering the beaches from Goolwa through to Middleton, Port Elliot and all the way through to Victor Harbor and beyond.

Even though there have been some king tides, the fish aren’t being taken back out to sea so it will be interesting to see what happens and if the councils will have to eventually become involved and clean up the beaches. Thankfully it seems to be just freshwater carp that are washing up, not any saltwater species.

One other problem the town is experiencing at the moment too is a massive amount of corellas roosting in pine trees close to town and causing a bit of damage. Every now and then something disturbs them and they take to the air en masse causing a huge racket and an incredible sight of that many birds flying in formation before they settle back into the trees.

Another huge problem for the local council and residents to contend with.

If you take a walk in the other direction from Horseshoe Bay, the walking path takes you to a couple of clifftop lookouts over the bay and then descends to Crockery Bay, which is also littered with fish at the moment. Make sure to take a look inside the shelter shed at Crockery Bay for some fabulous artwork and indigenous stories by local artists, school students and local elders. Awesome work!

While in Port Elliot don’t miss eating out at one of the terrific establishments in town, including the latest venue, Salt at the Hotel Elliot. The hotel has also increased its beer garden area and has a huge outdoor TV for watching all your favourite sporting events.

All of this plus a whole heap of beautiful specialty shops, a supermarket, butcher and fresh produce store, second hand and antique finds and the famous Port Elliot bakery with their donut of the month and pie of the month.  So much to see and do, it’s no wonder we can never get tired of this destination.

Enjoy

Glenys