Walkers Rock in Elliston; great coastal camping

After a great stay at Hall Bay (except the fine sand on the last night), we were keen to find another coastal camp site further north. We called into Sheringa Beach to see if it would be any good, and despite it having great views on some of the northern camps, it wasn’t really suitable for our young kids, so we moved onto Walkers Rock just north of Elliston, and spent a few nights there.

Walkers Rock Camp ground — Walkers Rock Camp Ground, just north of Elliston

Where is Walkers Rock?

You’ll find this camp site about 10 minutes north of Elliston. It’s 54km south of Venus Bay, and 117km south of Streaky Bay, at the end of a short, decent gravel road

Elliston town — Walkers Rock is only a short drive from Elliston itself

Do you need a 4WD?

Absolutely not. The short gravel road in is in pretty good condition, and all bar a couple of camp sites are easily 2WD accessible.

4WD access to the beach — You only need a 4WD if you want to drive onto the beach

What does it cost to camp?

Camping is $20 per vehicle, per night. It’s not nearly as cheap as we’ve had on the Eyre Peninsula, but its probably fairly priced, so we won’t say much more than that.

Walkers Rock camping information — There are cheaper places to camp, but its not terrible value

What amenities are there?

Walkers Rock has a cold shower, one flushing toilet, and a heap of rubbish bins. There’s also great beach access, and most of the sites are well designated.

Toilet and cold shower at Walkers Rock — The toilet is really good, and there’s a cold shower if you are keen

See it on YouTube

If you’re keen to see more, here’s our vlog from the area:

Elliston is amazing

We’re loving travelling South Australia, because its all new to us. In WA, if you told us a town name we’d know roughly what to expect, but South Australia is a completely new book to us.

I was really surprised at how stunning Elliston is. The town itself is fairly quiet and small, and it doesn’t have any big shopping centres (just a small grocery store), but its got a great atmosphere and its location is stunning.

Elliston views — Elliston was a big surprise for us; its stunning

There’s a magic drive you can do north of Elliston which follows the coastline and goes past a heap of sculptures, which are worth a look, and the views of the coastline are magnificent. South of Elliston are a couple of other tracks that you can take which go past beautiful beaches, and more amazing coastline.

Giant thong sculpture — The sculpture drive is well worth doing. These are almost 2 metres tall

Magic coastline around Elliston — The coastline around Elliston is nothing short of superb

The main bay in Elliston is stunning, with a huge historical jetty that you can walk out on, and we saw a huge pod of dolphins playing out further. In terms of feel and views, Elliston is up there with the best for places on the Eyre Peninsula for us, and we always love a good surprise.

Elliston Jetty walk — Take a walk out on the Elliston Jetty

Dolphins at Elliston — We saw a heap of dolphins in the bay

Elliston Coastline — The views are pretty amazing

Little Bay at Elliston — Little Bay is worth a stop

Finding your location for online booking is a challenge

In December 2021 Walkers Rock rolled over to online booking, like many camp sites are doing. They uploaded some aerial photos of the camp grounds and gave the individual camp sites (there’s about 5) names online, and then forgot to do anything on the ground.

Today, you arrive at the camp site, with a heap of tracks going in different directions, with zero information or signage about where you are, and what camp site you are in. Despite this, you have to book the exact site you are staying in each night, and the only way you can do this is to look at the photos, and try and work out where you are.

Camping at Walkers Rock — Trying to work out where you are in the camp ground is a nightmare

I honestly cannot fathom why this hasn’t been fixed, as it would cost less than a few hundred bucks to make a couple of signs up, and attach them to the fences in each camp ground. In the grand scheme of things its so minor, but it does take a fair bit of time to work out where you are in the camp ground, and then to book the right spot. I bet people get it wrong, and then have others in their spot when they arrive.

Bob tail at camp — Even old mate the lizard knows some signs should be installed

Would we stay at Walkers Rock again?

Initially I wasn’t too fond of the camp site. Arriving in the middle of the day, and then trying to find a nice camp site and work out where we were to book was annoying, and I can’t say I rave about the camp site. There’s a couple of nice ones that are close to the beach accesses, or in shade, but most of them are out in the open, on crushed limestone with a decent walk to the beach. It’s OK, but certainly nothing on some of the other camp sites we’ve been to on the Eyre Peninsula.

Walkers Rock back beach — The camp site is OK, but nothing great. The beaches around it are nice, and overall its decent

That said, both beaches at Walkers Rock are pretty nice when the weather is good, its got 4WD access along the northern beach for as long as you want, and Elliston is truly awesome. We’d stay here again, and hopefully by then they’ve got some signage up to make it easy, and simple for everyone!