A tiny seaside settlement south of Cowell with beachfront camping, the remains of an old jetty, resident dolphins and the occasional sea lion hauled out at the point.
End of the road
Port Gibbon sits at the end of its own road, 23 km south-west of Cowell, where the farmland of eastern Eyre Peninsula runs out into dunes and a wide, quiet beach. A century ago this was a working port — ketches loaded wheat and wool from the jetty — but the ships stopped coming long ago, and what remains is a scatter of holiday homes, a long beach and a deep sense of being pleasantly forgotten.
Camp on the sand
The settlement has become one of the east coast's favourite low-key camps. The Jetty Campground in the centre of the settlement offers designated sites near toilets, coin-operated showers and a playground, while the upgraded Point Gibbon campground nearby adds bookable sites close to the dunes. Beach access is easy on foot or by vehicle, and the swimming is calm and shallow.
Watch the water
Dolphins work the bay most days, and a walk around to the point will sometimes turn up a sea lion hauled out on the sand. Bring a rod — salmon trout and whiting come off the beach — and pair the stay with the silo art and seafood of Arno Bay just down the coast, or the jade and oysters of Cowell to the north.
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Image credits
- Port Gibbon - panoramio.jpg by Stephen Edmonds , CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons