If an old fashioned fishing village type holiday is what you’re seeking, then look no further than the peaceful, quiet town of Venus Bay on the west coast of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

The caravan park is one of the best on the peninsula because of its location, directly on the bay where you can see the sunrise over the water every morning, and the pelicans and other sea birds wake up and start their day.

The park also has a number of sites where you can park the van parallel to the beach and have terrific views from dawn till dusk over the bay and towards the small jetty at the western end of the bay.

The jetty is small but big on catches, especially squid, but also whiting and other species. Three prawn trawlers dock at the jetty usually from the three quarter moon phase, through the full moon nights and until quarter moon. Prawn catches are best on the low or no moon nights, and that’s when the trawlers will take off again.

Venus Bay prawns have the reputation of being crisp, sweet and pristine in quality due to the clean and wild habitat of the Great Australian Bight where they are caught, in depths of over 50 metres, then they are snap frozen on board the trawlers before being brought in.

It’s fascinating to watch the process of the boats ready packaged prawns being unloaded and then these prawns can then be bought from a number of retailers nearby, and even directly off the trawlers if you’re at the right place at the right time.

The squid caught off the jetty are also a great size and quality, which is good to see with the west coast of Eyre Peninsula being one of the few places in South Australia where you can try for squid at the moment. This is as a result of the devastating effects the algal bloom had on gulf waters which are still recovering.

The caravan park, as you’d expect, has terrific fish cleaning facilities and apart from a few cheeky ones, the pelicans and other birds wait patiently on the beach for any scraps to come their way after a catch is cleaned.

If you’d prefer to have your fish battered and served up with chips then that is catered for too, with the caravan park having its own onsite takeaway shop and café. Venus Bay also has a small shop for groceries and essentials, which also does takeaway food and is licenced.

There is a bottle shop with beer, wine and other drinks available to purchase at very reasonable prices and for a bit of fun and community spirit, try to make a Friday night at the general store where an indoor / outdoor seating area is the place to settle in with some hot food, cold drinks and raffles that always put money back into a community cause.

The town is small enough to cover by foot and there is a walking trail that takes you around the rugged coastline where the bay meets the ocean and changes from a tranquil setting to wild and rough ocean waves. The walking trail loop takes around an hour to complete and as you walk past the cliff edges keep a lookout for needle eye, a rock formation weathered from waves.

It also pays to keep a look out for wildlife including a surprise visitor we had in the caravan park, when an echidna strolled out from the scrub and wandered through the sand dunes, not the least bit concerned that we were there.

When you’re in the area it’s worth taking the 40 minute drive south to the nearby town of Elliston to have a look at the fantastic cliff top sculptures you can see on a driving trail. As you take the well signposted tour on a good dirt road, there are a number of scenic views to see with plenty of car parking to use. The wild ocean crashing into the rugged cliffs are a powerful scene, and then in a number of places there are also brilliant and fun sculptures to stop and admire.

Incredibly in this wild and rugged landscape there are some places favoured by surfers and tragically there is also a memorial to an unlucky soul who was a victim of a shark attack in the area. Today at this spot there is another of the shark sighting community boards, where surfers can be alerted to any sharks seen in the area. In fact at the time of writing this blog, a large shark was seen in this exact area and reported to Shark Watch .

Driving back to Venus Bay you’ll drive past another favourite off grid camping area behind sand dunes called Walkers Rock. The campground has been altered slightly now to enable sites to be booked and paid for online, with sites costing $20 per night.

Enjoy the relaxing Venus Bay and surrounds.

Glenys