Coffin Bay National Park
- Introduction
- Fact file
- A look at the past
- Aboriginal culture
- Natural features
- Native plants
- Wildlife
- Coffin Bay Ranger (08) 8685 4047
- DEH (08) 8204 1910
- NPWSA Port Lincoln (08) 8688 3111
- SURF-FISH from the white sands of Gunyah Beach
- ENJOY secluded beaches at Point Sir Isaac
- SEE the native plants along the Kallara Trail
- WALK to Sudden Jerk Lookout for stunning views
Introduction
This scenic coastal park covers a rugged spur of land jutting west from the tip of Eyre Peninsula into the Southern Ocean. On two sides wild surf beaches, massive mobile dunes and eroded limestone cliffs are for the adventurous, while the park’s northern coastline with its lovely sheltered bays and inlets offers perfect places for picnics or camping holidays.
Fact file
Access
From Adelaide via Port Augusta then Lincoln Hwy to Port Lincoln; from Ceduna via Flinders Hwy, or Eyre then Tod hwys
Best Season
Spring and summer
Location
700 km west of Adelaide; 360 km south-west of Port Augusta; 21 km west of Port Lincoln; 415 km south-east of Ceduna
Park Information
Permits
Park Day Pass required per vehicle for day visitors; camping permit required per vehicle per day for campers
Size
31 000 ha
Where to Stay
Coffin Bay (08) 8685 4057
www.tep.com.au
A look at the past
Matthew Flinders named the bay after his friend Sir Isaac Coffin in 1802. Whalers and sealers followed soon after and pastoral leases were issued as early as 1847, then for 140 years the peninsula was farmed. Ruins of early huts, wells and stockyards can still be seen. Coffin Bay National Park was created in 1982.
Aboriginal culture
This area is the home of the Nauo-Barngarla people and, in 2000, the park was accepted as part of the Nauo-Barngarla Native Title lands, protecting the many Aboriginal cultural sites including fish traps and campgrounds.
Natural features
The peninsula is formed from massive dunes, some so ancient that they have hardened into the limestone of the park’s wind-sculpted cliffs. More recent dunes are still accumulating at Avoid Bay, Misery Bay and Gunyah Beach. Point Sir Isaac is composed of gneiss, a rock that has been hardened by volcanic heat and pressure deep within the earth’s crust. At the south-west end of the peninsula is the magnificent Point Whidbey Wilderness Zone, comprising dense coastal heathland and mallee.
Native plants
This park protects the rare dryland tea-tree, growing up to 10 metres tall in sheltered spots, with displays of creamy flowers in spring and summer. A dwarfed form is found at Point Avoid, where constant winds have pruned it into contorted shapes. In the sandy soils there is open scrub of coastal white mallee. The dune vegetation is mainly coast daisy bush and coastal bearded heath, and on the cliff tops there is cushion bush, sea box, sea heath and the gorgeous salmon correa. The park’s wetlands support fringing groves of swamp paperbarks and where soils are boggy there is samphire and smooth cutting-grass.
Wildlife
The park has sizeable populations of western grey kangaroos, bush rats and western pygmy-possums. Of 150 bird species, Latham’s snipe, diamond firetails, white-winged choughs, weebills, southern emu-wrens and western whipbirds are classifi ed as rare. The park’s beaches provide nesting sites for pied oystercatchers, and hooded and red-capped plovers during summer.
Featured Activities in the National Park
Introduction
Day-visit areas accessible by 2WD are at Point Avoid, Long Beach, Almonta Beach and Little Yangie Bay. Much of the national park is accessible to 4WD only (40-kph speed limit applies). Check tide times for 4WD beach tracks, and avoid driving above the high-water mark. The enclosed sheltered waters of Little Yangie Bay are the perfect spot for paddling a canoe or a kayak
Beach and bushwalking
At Yangie a gentle walk with interpretive signs, Kallara Trail (2-km loop), passes a range of plant communities. Yangie Island Trail (5 km return) leads to views of Yangie Island, while the Yangie Bay to Long Beach Trail (10 km) heads out between the vegetated dunes to Long Beach. Boarding House Bay Walk (23 km, 8 hours) from Sensation Beach is a day trek through pretty coastal heath, samphire fl ats and mallee woodland to exposed west-facing cliffs, offshore reefs and ocean beaches. Black Rocks Trail (6 km, 2 hours), with views over Lake Damascus, leads south from near the Black Springs turn-off through dune vegetation to the wild coast of Avoid Bay.
Fishing
Exciting fishing locations include wave-washed rock platforms and exposed ocean beaches and sheltered bays. Head south to Gunyah, Almonta and Sensation beaches, or Mullalong Beach on the north coast. More sheltered waters are found at Seven Mile and in Yangie Bay. There is rock-fishing at Flat Rock, Reef Point and Point Sir Isaac.
Scenic views
Templetonia Lookout, 10 kilometres west of the park entrance, has panoramic views while from Point Avoid there are spectacular coastal vistas. On the park’s western extremity Reef Point Lookout offers exhilarating scenery. From Sensation Beach a 2-kilometre walk leads to Sudden Jerk Lookout with views to Sudden Jerk Island. Yangie Lookout is a 20-minute climb for views over Yangie Bay and Marble Range.
Campsites
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