South Australia Free Camping; 13 fantastic camp sites
There’s nothing better than finding pristine, amazing free camps on your travels, and in this post we are sharing our South Australia Free Camping options. From the magnificent cliffs through to pristine beach camping, remote outback camps and everything in between, if it’s a good free camp, you’ll find it below!
Bunda Cliffs
The Bunda Cliffs are an awesome sight, and there are more free camps along its huge stretch than you can poke a stick at. There are literally hundreds of turns off the Eyre Highway which will take you down little tracks to the edge of the Bunda Cliffs.
You can camp virtually anywhere, but apply some common sense and stay well back from the edge. These have collapsed in many places (as you’ll see), and the risk of this happening shouldn’t justify a night on the edge.
It’s worth watching the weather before you commit to a night or two here, as its well known for being incredibly windy, to the point where people pack up and move in the middle of the night!
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: No
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings required; first in best dressed
Pichi Richi
On the way to the Flinders Ranges, we stopped at a stunning free camp on the edge of the road, just before Quorn. It’s only 25 minutes from Port Augusta, and is right next to the old railway in a nice, quiet and picturesque camp ground.
We only spent a night here, but thoroughly enjoyed it, and would go back again.
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings required; first in best dressed
Point Brown
Heading down along the coast lies a huge number of free camps in South Australia, starting with Point Brown. This is all private property, and is at the end of a fairly long, but great condition gravel road. The camp sites vary from on the edge of small cliffs, to beach camping, and camping on clearings all over the place. We had an amazing place overlooking the main bay, but left the next morning early due to mosquitos that were out of control.
Asides from this though, its one of the most picturesque places that we’ve camped, and we even managed to get a decent feed of fish from the beach!
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types, but 4WD’s have much greater choice
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings required; first in best dressed
Parachilna Gorge (donation)
One of the most popular free (donation) camps in the Flinders Ranges is Parachilna Gorge. This is a stunning part of the country, and has hundreds of camp sites that you can choose from. If you are going to camp in the actual river bed, be very aware of the weather at your location, and far upstream as this floods regularly, and comes down in a hurry.
At the rubbish bins on your way in there’s a donation box which goes to the RFDS, and putting some money in is really the least that you can do for a private property that is kept open, and is truly beautiful for so many people to enjoy.
- Amenities: Rubbish Bins
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season (but bring your own wood as there is nothing left to take)
- How to book: No bookings required; first in best dressed
Chambers Gorge
Further north, not too far away from the amazing Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary lies Chambers Gorge. This is far less popular than Parachilna Gorge, but has some stunning views especially as the sun goes down. There’s a huge number of places that you can camp, but not too many have a substantial amount of shade. We spent a very relaxing afternoon here with the kids riding bikes and playing Lego, whilst we sat under the shade and relaxed.
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types, with 4WD’s being most suited
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings required; first in best dressed
Fitzgerald Bay
Just north of Whyalla lies the Fitzgerald Bay, which has some of the best free coastal camping that we’ve ever done. You can camp opposite the fish farms, or head further north or south to a heap of different options.
We stayed at Queen B, and camped right on the rocks overlooking the ocean. We managed to get a couple of fish for a small feed, and loved the area despite getting hammered on and off by a storm!
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types, but 4WD is required in some spots, if there’s been rain
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings; first in, best dressed
Carrow Wells (donation)
If pristine white beach sand and turquoise water is your thing, Carrow Wells is the place to go. This is another donation camp that is looked after by the Shire of Port Neill? It’s a short drive down a gravel road to get here, and the camp site is quite expansive. Some sites are very close to the beach, and others are tucked away behind bushes and sand dunes.
The camp site is quite rough and rocky to drive around on, but this was one of the best beaches we saw on the Eyre Peninsula.
- Cost: Donation (please leave something!)
- Amenities: Toilet and Rubbish Bins
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings; first in, best dressed
Red Cliff Beach
Heading further south again, not too far from Tumby Bay lies Red Cliff Beach. You’ll go past seven mile creek (another free camp) on the way in, and when you arrive have a fairly large space to pull up. You’d comfortably get 10 – 15 setups camping here, depending on how people pull up. There’s access to the beach to the north and south by foot, and fishing from the rocks looks pretty good too.
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings; first in, best dressed
Moonlight Bay
Continuing south from Red Cliff Beach lies Moonlight Bay, which is a beautiful double beach with a heap of camp sites to enjoy. You can tuck yourself behind the dunes, or be right overlooking the water. This is also 2WD accessible, with some 4WD only sites, but its quite picturesque and worth a stay.
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings; first in, best dressed
Hall Bay and Horrocks Lookout
If you are after incredible views, lots of room for camping and the finest sand that blows everywhere when its windy, Hall Bay and Horrocks Lookout is a stunning free camp. We spent a couple of nights here, and there’s a heap of room to explore and camp, with some steep dune access to one of the most amazing little beaches you’ll ever visit.
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings; first in, best dressed
Near Point Labatt
If you are heading towards Streaky Bay, Point Labatt is home to some amazing sea lions that you can view from a purpose built viewing platform, and then you can head back about 10 minutes to a couple of camp sites on the bay. These are either on a tiny rocky cliff metres away from the water, or on the sand and rock right near the water. We had a nice night here, although got hammered by little ants and the bee’s were a little too friendly, but its nice to kick back and costs absolutely nothing.
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types, with some clearance
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings; first in, best dressed
Alford Recreation Park (donation)
Towns that go to the effort of setting up free camping, with great amenities deserve a big mention. We spent an awesome night at Alford Recreation Park on the way down the Yorke Peninsula, and were very grateful for the setup, and what they offered. This is a donation camp, and you’d be rude not to leave them a donation for their efforts. Alford Recreation Park has a little playground, dump point, flushing toilets and a big oval you can camp on.
- Cost: Donation camp (again, leave something; these places are awesome)
- Amenities: Flushing toilets, dump point, playground and big oval
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: No
- How to book: No bookings required; first in, best dressed.
Wauraltee Beach
This free camp in South Australia is a bit sneaky, but it is completely legit, and a lot of people use it. The Yorke Council runs the council bush camps, which includes Wauraltee, but it does not include the beach. The beach is looked after by DEW, which means you can cruise in, head down onto the beach and camp as long as you want, respectfully, and depart without paying a cent.
We only spent one night here as the weather was due to blow up the next day (and it did), but had one of the most amazing sunsets and evenings that we’ve ever experienced in South Australia.
This was one of the camp sites that weighed heavily in our Eyre vs Yorke Peninsula post.
- Cost: Free, on the beach, or pay to use the council campground above the dunes
- Amenities: Toilet if paying for the council site, otherwise none
- Style of camping permitted: All types, but 4WD’s are needed for the beach (and even some of the dune campgrounds)
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings, unless you are staying at the council site and then you need a permit online
Hopefully this has helped you find an awesome free camp in South Australia, and if you’ve appreciated the post, we’d love it if you shared it around!
Hey Irinna,
That looks like a beautiful spot, but we know very little about it. That whole area was still flooding out to sea when we went through, but I’d imagine you could find some fantastic places to hang out.
All the best!
Aaron
Hey Irinna,
Thanks for your kind words, and I’m glad this has been helpful!
All the best
Aaron
any thoughts on lake alexandrina south australia, camping sites for tent? really wanna do some fishing and be able to use fire pit.
thank you so much for your information, it really helped me! im looking at travelling to south australia, so your post is really appreciated! keep it up even if nobody leaves a comment because people do see your hard work giving us all the info. Take care with your lovely family!