South Australia’s Fowlers Bay holds some of my fondest camping memories. Throughout my 20s and 30s a few mates made an annual pilgrimage to Fowlers Bay, camping and fishing, in our quest to catch the elusive large Mulloway from surrounding beaches. Many years of visiting, and learning culminated in the Greatest Mulloway Trip. Fowlers Bay is always our first stop off in the area as we cruise around the rock ledges and Scott’s Beach chasing salmon to use as bait. With so much great scenery and wildlife, and epic sunsets over the ocean at Scotts Beach, it is a photographers dream.
Getting to Fowlers Bay
Fowlers Bay is a 900km drive from Adelaide. It is 150kms west of Ceduna. The bitumen road is well signposted from the highway, but there is a bit of short cut dirt road coming from the East. Coming from the west, just past Nundroo is another dirt road that takes a more direct route.
Be aware that there is no fuel available in Fowlers Bay. The nearest spots to top up are Nundroo and Penong. Given the availability of 4wd exploring on offer, it’s worth topping up on a bit more fuel on the way in.
Rolling in to Fowlers Bay, the first thing you’ll notice is the enormous sand dunes that tower forebodingly over the small township. There are old ruins that have been lost to the sand dune as has gradually crept closer over the years.
Fowlers Bay Camping and Fishing
A small township, which runs entirely off its own generated electricity (notice the wind generators on each house). The Caravan Park which has a small shop to pick up some bits and pieces such as ice, bait, and ice blocks (the eating sort!). It’s basic, but does the trick when you need a shower after a week getting sandblasted out on the beaches. There is no camping available in or close to the township itself.
The town jetty serves up all sorts of fishing. Snapper, mulloway, sharks, and kingfish have all been landed here. We haven’t done super amounts of fishing here, but have landed small sharks, undersize mulloway, squid and plenty of tommy ruff (Australian Herring) in our attempts.
The beach is quite protected so good for swimming. It is quite weedy around the jetty though, so driving on to the beach to the east can take you to nicer spots. Even better, pop over the sand dunes to Scotts Beach.
The Sand Dunes
Just outside of town, is a track that leads straight into the sand dunes. Stop here and drop your tyre pressure down. A somewhat steep entrance requires a bit of speed to get up onto the dune, and then, recent wind dependent, it’s a fairly easy drive. This is an awesome 4wding experience, particularly for those who have never driven over such a massive dune before.
Whilst following the tracks left by others will generally see you through to Scotts Beach without issue, there was one year where winds had caused a particularly steep drop off halfway a long. It took a couple of run ups at it, but we got over.
Another year, we were cleaning up in the Caravan Park and a bloke came over and asked if we could assist him. He’d got himself bogged up in the dunes and walked all the way into town! Going to rescue him, his car was found in a precarious position atop some steep drop offs. He’d gone wandering a bit too far off the track. Never assume a dune has the same sort of angle on the other side of the peak. Some of them ascend gradually and drop off severely on the other side. It’s best to follow the tracks and safely get to the other end.
Scotts Beach Camping and Fishing
Scotts Beach has a reputation as one of South Australia’s best salmon beaches. This may be true, but for the most part, we haven’t experienced it. I put that down to us visiting in the warmer months. Locals I’ve spoken to say during winter it can produce salmon schools the size of football fields.
Out of the dozen plus trips I’ve made, one visit in particular stands out. We came over the sand dunes from Fowlers Bay, and as the beach came into view, we saw large black circles peppered up and down the beach. They were unmistakably schools of salmon. At first they hung out at the back of the breaking waves, too far to cast. Later a huge school of dolphins came in and rounded them up close to shore. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Some of them were even beaching themselves to escape the dolphins. An unbelievable sight I won’t forget.
Those who put the hours in can be rewarded with mulloway and gummy sharks. Even when the fish aren’t biting, there is a greater sense of hope when you’ve got a bait in the water on South Australia’s far west coast. It just feels different, like the next big fish is just around the corner.
From the shallower waters at either end of the bay, we’ve got some good size king george whiting on the weed line, and a few flat head as well. It would also be nice for a dip, particularly at the protected eastern end.
Permit Required
Scotts Beach resides within the boundaries of the Fowlers Bay Conservation Park, so a permit is required to camp there. There are clearings to camp at and a toilet at the western end of the beach, just behind the dunes. Don’t expect anything else for your $14 a night though! Be prepared to take everything out with you as there are no bins. There are a handful of hollows high up enough on the beach to throw a swag out on the sand if the weather is playing friendly too. Following the 4wd tracks to the west, you’ll come across Mexican Hat, which has another camping area.
Point Fowler
Between the township, and Scotts beach sits Point Fowler. This can be access from either Scotts Beach (the easiest way to find it) or via the Dunes track, if you stick to tracks closer to the eastern side.
You can also at low tide drive along the beach in Fowlers Bay itself until you come across a track back inland. Be wary of this beach – it is deceptive! The sand is fine to drive on, but any seaweed should be met with great caution. What looks dry may be complete mush underneath. I got into a really sticky situation coming back from the point one day, and found myself bogged in the seaweed on an incoming tide. We maxtraxxed our way forward inches at a time, before a local who’d spotted us from the jetty came flying down the beach. We quickly tied up and got snatched the last couple of metres to safety. A few beers were exchanged for that favour!
The point has a maze of rocky tracks that wind around but all eventually lead to the end of the point. One of the little coves on the eastern side is home to a family of seals. It is cool to see them playing around in the water – often looking up at us like puppy dogs whilst we fish (scaring the fish away too no doubt).
There are a few accessible rock ledges that are decent fishing – with salmon schools often swimming past, and who knows what else. I once landed a kingfish off the rocks. For the most part, you’ll have to deal with small rock cod and trevally causing a nuisance though.
Fowlers Bay Camping and Fishing – Conclusion
With great fishing, amazing sand dunes, and 4wd tracks galore to explore, Fowlers Bay is one of my favourite SA destinations. I have a mountain of memories here and hopefully get to add some more soon. Although the boys trips are on the back burner since I’ve got 3 young kids now – I can’t wait to get back out there.
