Surf and Shipwrecks: A Wild Innes Day

The plan

Innes National Park is where the Yorke Peninsula throws itself at the Southern Ocean, and the result is a coastline of serious surf and tragic shipwrecks. This day links the park's best surf-watching with its most haunting wreck, with clifftop walks and a remote fishing beach in between.

Start early at the visitor centre for your park pass, then chase the swell west before the wind gets up.

Morning

Pick up your pass and the day's conditions at the Innes National Park Visitor Centre at Stenhouse Bay, then drive out to Pondalowie Bay to watch (or surf) the famous left-hander peeling along the reef below the campground. The painted fishing dinghies at anchor are part of the scene.

Midday

Drive to Ethel Beach and walk down to the rusting boiler and ribs of the Ethel, wrecked on the sand in 1904 — the most accessible of Innes's many shipwrecks. Linger for the views from the cliffs above, then push on to Browns Beach to watch the salmon anglers work the gutters.

Afternoon

Stretch the legs on the Royston Head walk out to the southern cliffs, then end with a sheltered swim or snorkel at Shell Beach before the long drive back — a soft finish to a wild day.