The gravel turnoff appears so suddenly you might overshoot it, a narrow track descending through low-slung mallee and salt-tolerant shrubs that scratch against your car doors. Then the bay opens before you: a perfect horseshoe where sand the color of crushed shells meets water that shifts from jade near shore to deep cobalt at the reef line. A handful of fibro shacks, weekenders owned by Streaky Bay locals, dot the headland, their tanks and solar panels the only concession to the twenty-first century.
“One of the few sheltered swimming beaches on the exposed Eyre Peninsula coast that remains almost entirely unknown beyond regional South Australia.”
Credit: FlickrPort Lincoln. The rare and unusual Starfish Iris or Sea Spider flower near Mikkira homestead south of Port Lincoln. Its botanical name is Ferraria crispa from Cape Province South Africa. It is a member of the iridaceae family.
You spread your towel on sand so fine it squeaks underfoot, still cool in the morning shadow of the eastern cliffs. Children dig moats that fill with clear water, while their parents float in the shallows, watching schools of silver trevally dart past. By midday the breeze picks up—always from the southwest here—carrying the briny scent of exposed reef and sun-warmed seaweed. Gulls wheel overhead but rarely land; they prefer the rockier headlands where pipis hide between stones.
Late afternoon brings a particular quality of light, the sun lowering over the bay's western arm and turning the cliff faces apricot, then rose. You stay until the last moment, reluctant to climb back up that dusty track, knowing the highway and its caravan parks and roadhouses will feel too loud after this.
