Click here to send us an email
Profiles of - Fleurieu Peninsula & Coorong National Park
Near Adelaide, South Australia
Scroll down for details ...
FLEURIEU PENINSULA
 
Only a 40 minute drive from Adelaide ...
The Fleurieu Peninsula makes an ideal destination from Adelaide both for day trips and for extended stays.  It is an attractive rural area (rather than real Wilderness) where you can enjoy a range of activities from wine tasting in the McLaren Vale to whale watching and surf beaches along the southern coast between Victor Harbor and Port Elliot.  The ferry to rugged Kangaroo Island, which lies off the end of the peninsula, departs daily from Cape Jervis.

The Fleurieu Peninsula is only a forty minute drive from Adelaide and is easily accessed and explored by road.  If driving from Melbourne or eastern Australia, enter the region by crossing the Murray River on one of Australia's last remaining vehicle ferries at Wellington.  Daily access via the ferry service to and from Kangaroo Island is also available.  The Fleurieu has a good selection of Bed and Breakfast and self-contained cottage accommodation and is very manageable as a self-drive area.

Major Towns:
McLaren Vale          population 2,400
Victor Harbor          population 7,400
Goolwa                   population 3,800 (pic. right)

Main Attractions:
*  Horse drawn tram from Victor Harbor to Granite Island
*  McLaren Vale and Fleurieu Visitor Centre, for regional information, local art and craft, light meals, wine tasting and sales
*  More than 50 cellar doors in the McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek wine districts
*  Nightly parade of the fairy penguins on Granite Island
*  Urimbirra Wildlife Experience, Victor Harbor
*  Green Hills Adventure Park, Victor Harbor
*  Annual Southern Right Whale migration (June to October)
*  South Australian Whale Centre, Victor Harbor
*  Surf beaches at Goolwa, Middleton, Pt Elliot and Newland Head Conservation Park
*  Bushwalking in numerous conservation parks
*  Beginning of the Heysen Trail (1900 km walking trail) in Deep Creek Conservation Park
*  River cruises from Goolwa to view the mouth of the Murray River and the Coorong National Park
*  Historic steam train, the Cockle Train, operating between Goolwa and Victor Harbor

 
COORONG NATIONAL PARK
The Coorong National Park is an area of world-wide biological significance. It contains a representative sample of coastal and salt-influenced terrestrial habitats as well as an unusual set of aquatic habitats in the Coorong Lagoon and ephemeral lakes.

Flora
278 terrestrial flowering plant and fern species are recorded in the Park, of which 80 are introduced.

Fauna
The Coorong Lagoon is a very important area for migratory wading birds and serves as a refuge in the drier months for many water birds. Of the 238 bird species which have been recorded, 9 are introduced species. Some are oceanic birds which have only been recorded in the Coorong area as dead birds stranded on the ocean beach.
23 terrestrial mammals have been recorded in the Park. Of these species, 7 are introduced. 10 species of marine mammals have been recorded as stranded on the beach of the Younghusband Peninsula.
21 reptiles and 7 amphibians have been recorded in the Park.

For a list of of birds found in the Coorong National Park click Coorong Birds

Hydrology
Coorong National Park is characterised by a complex interaction of water from a number of sources including sea water, the River Murray, rainfall and groundwater.
The lagoon waters are part of an ecosystem which supports an important feeding area for waterbirds and migratory waders. Freshwater soaks are one of the few sources of freshwater for fauna.
In September 2000 freshwater once again flowed into the Coorong Lagoon at Salt Creek via a series of drains and wetlands through the Upper South East.

Geology
The Coorong National Park is an interesting area for the study of geology and geological processes. Next to the Southern Ocean there is a range of sand dunes known as the Younghusband Peninsula, and on the eastern side there is a composite range of Pleistocene dunes. The depression between these parallel dunes is principally occupied by a salt water lagoon about 100 km long. In the south the presence of water in the interdunal depression becomes seasonal and the lagoon is replaced by a series of ephemeral lakes and swampy mud flats.
  
Return to - Top   Coast Introduction Summary    Coorong Cruises    Cottages of Goolwa   or hit back button for previous page
 HOME