Quick question seafood stans: What did you last pay for six oysters in Sydney? Don’t answer. Now imagine standing waist-deep in a bay, shucking your own while a farmer explains how they grow.
That’s the Eyre Peninsula, the big wedge of South Australia that dangles into the Southern Ocean between Adelaide and the Great Australian Bight. It does seafood better than almost anywhere, and it’s the ideal road trip for anyone who books holidays around lunch.
Getting there
Adelaide to Port Lincoln is about 650km, or roughly seven hours’ driving. You can also fly in under an hour and hire a car.
If you do drive, your best bet is to break it up. Cowell is a good place to taste local seafood, and Arno Bay bills itself as the home of South Australian kingfish. Farther south, Tumby Bay has lovely beaches and fishing charters chasing King George whiting.
Port Lincoln
Port Lincoln is your base. It has the largest commercial fishing fleet in the Southern Hemisphere and a long-running tuna industry, with much of the southern bluefin exported to Japan. The money shows at the marina.
Book a swim with the tuna. A boat takes you out to a pontoon beside a bluefin pen, where you can feed the fish. You’ll be paddling with something you might order for dinner. It’s mildly awkward and well worth it.
If you can plan around January, Tunarama takes over the Australia Day long weekend, and its centrepiece is a tuna toss, in which contestants hurl a rope-handled tuna as far as they can. Check the dates before you book.
Where to eat in Port Lincoln
Sarin’s at the Port Lincoln Hotel has long been tipped as the place for local tuna, and a seafood tasting plate there lines up Coffin Bay oysters with tuna, kingfish, mussels and squid. Del Giorno’s, an award-winning waterfront restaurant, is another good booking. For a picnic, the Fresh Fish Place sells fillets and oysters daily.
Coffin Bay
Drive west to Coffin Bay, a leisurely trip from Port Lincoln. Its oysters are famous worldwide. You’ll need a car, because there’s no public transport.
The wading tour is the one to book. Pull on waders, trudge out to a half-submerged deck on a working farm and learn to open oysters yourself, then eat them straight from the water. Add sparkling wine, riesling or Bloody Mary oyster shots and you have the wettest long lunch of your year.
Prefer a boat? Experience Coffin Bay Oyster Farm Tours offers cruises across the bay to a remote farm, from short outings to longer adventures. Afterwards, pre-book a seafood platter at Oyster HQ, which overlooks the water, or try The Oysterbeds Coffin Bay.
Walk it off on the Oyster Walk along the foreshore, with wildlife spotting thrown in. Coffin Bay National Park, just west of town, supplies the beaches and coastal views.
If you’ve got more days
Keep driving and the seafood keeps coming. Streaky Bay is a few hours from Port Lincoln, with Smoky Bay, another oyster-growing spot, along the way. Book dinner at Drift in Streaky Bay for sunset. Further west, Fowlers Bay hosts southern right whales through winter and into spring.
