Innes National Park

Innes National Park is 300 km west of Adelaide on a good hard top road that goes down the Yorke Peninsula. It is a coastal national park that covers the entire toe of the boot of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. The park has a wild and rugged coastline and some beautiful bays, beaches and cliff areas. It covers 9100 Hectares of land, which ranges from sand dunes and weathered cliffs on the coast to salt lake flats and low scrub inland. There are some great activities available within the park, such as fishing, surfing, walking, wildlife viewing, diving, snorkelling and of course plenty of camping. Innes National Park is well known to surfers, anglers and people who appreciate seclusion, wilderness and spectacular scenery.

Kangaroos and emus are a common sight during the summer; and ranger staff entertain youngsters with guided activities covering the park environment.

One of the unique features of Innes National Park is the remains of the town Inneston, that was the home of a gypsum factory. This tiny town is being restored and people live in some of the buildings.

What’s left of the wreck of the Ethel can be seen sitting on the beach at Ethel Bay and it is one of a number of wrecks around this coast.

There are boat-launching facilities, and a shop and a restaurant and pub at the head of the park near the entrance. Distances are quite long within the park so don’t think you can just pop down the road for things. There is fresh water at some places, such as the shop and a couple of the campgrounds.

Camp fees are payable as you enter Innes National Park, there is a gate and a pass booth as you enter the park. When visiting the park we did not get to see all the campgrounds but this is a quick run down on the few we did visit. If anyone has information on any of the other campgrounds we would love to see it included in this review.

Stenhouse Bay

Stenhouse Bay is at the beginning of the park, and quite frankly I found the camping facilities to be a little too exposed and the grounds to be very open. It was however, quite a good spot for a Caravan and was close to the park facilities.

Pondalowie Bay

Pondalowie Bay has the main camping area with toilets, showers and running water. The campsite is reasonably large and a short walk from the beach. The camping here is set amongst low trees and scrub and cars are kept out of the specific camping areas with barriers.

Cable Bay

Cable Bay consists of bush camping of a sort above the Bay itself. The growth around it is low growth scrub and there are a couple of long drop toilets. This is a pretty exposed place, but is not too bad if you can pitch your tent in the shelter of the scrub. This is a site we did see non-powered Caravans and it seemed to work quite well. There is no fresh water here nor is there any other facilities than the toilets.

Surfers

This campsite has the advantage of being close to a great expanse of surf beach. There are toilets and it is quite a pleasant spot to camp. There is a long track and a boardwalk to the beach.