Seaford to Cape Jarvis

Sellicks Beach to Adelaide

Taking the B23 out of Seaford and heading south one will travel along through some of the most picturesque scenery of the Fleurieu Peninsula. Just after having made the climb up Sellicks hill there is a rather inconspicuous turn off sign posted as a photo opportunity. The road climbs rather steeply from the main road and from the top one gets a spectacular view across the Gulf of St Vincent taking your eye from Sellicks Beach in the foreground to Adelaide in the distance.

Myponga Reservoir

Carrying on along the road you will find Myponga Reservoir; which is one of the reservoirs supplying Adelaide with potable water. The dam wall is single concrete arch with a ski jump spillway. The reservoir has a capacity of 26,800 megalitres and was completed in 1962 after four years of construction. The wall has a length of 226m and maximum height of 49m.

After crossing the dam wall turn right at the T-junction and head towards Myponga Beach (a later visit required) and after following crossing all along the tops of the coastal hills one starts to descend into Carrickalinga which is a beautiful coastal hamlet with no shops. The town is close to emerging wine lands from the southern vale region and no doubt will grow over time.

Right next door is the town of Normanville on Yankalilla Bay. It is more established with a beautiful stretch of beach north and south. The beach is a popular spot for fisherman to launch their craft before spending a day a sea while the family enjoy the very safe bathing beach.

Normanville was established in 1850 by South Australia’s first dentist; Robert Norman. Due to the successful growing of wheat in the area, the town built a jetty for the ships transporting wheat around the coast; which today is used purely for recreational purposes as development of Adelaide meant it lost its importance.

Today it is wonderful little holiday resort popular with snorkelers, fisherman and the general holiday tourist.

Travelling along the coastal road one will encounter Lady’s Bay which with its pebble strewn foreshore and is the colloquial name given to a settlement of 21 shacks established about 50 years ago. It is also here that the Australian sank the HMAS Hobart at the end of its usable life to create a dive wreck off the coast.

The next turn off leads you to Wirrina Cove also to be done with the next trip. We did this journey in December at the height summer and that can be seen from the scenery which looks rather dry and dusty and it is. We will do this again during the winter months when the grasslands and wheat fields are green and I think the change will be amazing. Anyway I digress and on with the trip.

Leonards Mill

The next stop is at Second Valley and here you will find the Leonards Mill Hotel. They do a wonderful lunch and we have been twice now; once with the exploration of the coast and then when we came back from Kangaroo Island.

Finally we reached our destination of Cape Jervis located at the south western tip of Fleurieu Peninsula. The ferries use Cape Jervis as the mainland port for the crossing of Backstairs Passage to Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island.

Cape Jervis

Matthew Flinders named Cape Jervis after John Jervis, the British First Lord of the Admiralty in 1802.

The views across the Backstairs Passage towards Kangaroo Island are simply magnificent; particularly on a clear day when one can see across the 13km stretch of water and looking east over Investigator Strait.

If you would like to see some photographs of the trip down the Fleurieu Peninsula then have a look here.