{"id":759,"date":"2016-05-13T00:55:11","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T00:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/?p=759"},"modified":"2019-03-25T16:31:13","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T05:31:13","slug":"whale-watching-eyre-peninsula-ultimate-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/whale-watching-eyre-peninsula-ultimate-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Whale watching on the Eyre Peninsula: our ultimate guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ask ten Aussies about the Eyre Peninsula<\/a>, and we guarantee nine of them won\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about. And the tenth is probably bluffing.<\/p>\n

Eyre is a little pocket of the country that doesn\u2019t get a lot of press. Most international visitors don\u2019t hear about it, and a lot of Australian locals will go their whole lives without seeing it. But if whale watching is your thing (not to mention some of the most dramatic coastline in South Australia), grab the binoculars and make a beeline to Head of Bight, because the Eyre Peninsula is one of the world\u2019s premier spots to see Southern Right Whales.<\/p>\n

When is whale watching season?<\/h3>\n
\"eyre

Image c\/o Dean Harries & Trina Gill<\/p><\/div>\n

Southern Right Whales have been migrating to the Eyre Peninsula for hundreds of years. Unfortunately their predictable breeding grounds, which now fuel tourism, once fuelled a pretty lucrative whaling industry. Thankfully that closed down in 1843, and now people come just to watch these amazing creatures and their calves take up residence off the Eyre Peninsula for about 5 months of the year.<\/p>\n

RELATED: GO WHALE WATCHING WITH ADVENTURE TOURS AUSTRALIA<\/a><\/h5>\n

Whale watching season generally runs from May or June until October (it\u2019ll change a little each year due to ocean temperatures and other factors). Having said that, you\u2019re basically guaranteed a sighting if you arrive between June and September.<\/p>\n

What will I see?<\/h3>\n
\"eyre

Image c\/o Robdownunder, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Southern Right Whales need warmer waters to breed and nurse their young, and the sheltered bays and inlets of the Eyre Peninsula are the perfect spot. Calves are born with very little insulating blubber, so mums have to hug the coast until their young are ready to leave. This means you can usually see breaching pods of whales, or mother and calf duos, within easy sight of the cliffs. There are whale-watching boats and local tour companies that can get you closer to the action, but if you\u2019d like to save a few bucks, you\u2019ll still get a great show from purpose-built lookouts all along the peninsula. At the season\u2019s height, up to 100 Southern Rights take up \u2018residence\u2019 in the area, making it one of the greatest concentration of whales in the whole country.<\/p>\n

Where should I go?<\/h3>\n
\"eyre

The boardwalks at Head of Bight. Image c\/o Sascha Grant, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

The two best spots to see Southern Right Whales on the Eyre Peninsula are a) Head of Bight and b) Fowlers Bay. Of course there are spotting opportunities all along the coast, but for views and convenience, you can\u2019t beat those two spots. If you want to watch whales from the terrestrial security of the cliffs, go to Head of Bight. Apart from excellent whale viewing opportunities, the sheer plunging cliffs and aquamarine waters rival Victoria\u2019s Great Ocean Rd for the title of Australia\u2019s \u2018Most Ridiculously Beautiful Coastline\u2019. Fowler\u2019s Bay lacks Head of Bight\u2019s sheer rugged beauty, but there\u2019s a town there where you can easily book a whale watching boat tour in season. It makes a good launching point if you\u2019re planning to tackle the nearby Nullarbor Highway too (just make sure to stock up on car supplies).<\/p>\n

Do you include whale watching on your tours?<\/h3>\n
\"eyre

Image c\/o Robdownunder, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

We sure do! Our tours depart from Head of Bight. Whale watching is obviously subject to the actual presence of whales, but with increasing numbers of Southern Right Whales choosing to nurse at the Eyre Peninsula each year, you\u2019ve got a pretty good chance of a successful cruise. Check out our Adelaide to Perth Overland<\/a> trip for more details, or browse through our other small group adventures along the Southern Coast<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Southern Coast is often overlooked by travellers. But it shouldn\u2019t be. Find out what makes it so special on our small group adventures<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Feature image\u00a0by Trina Gill.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ask ten Aussies about the Eyre Peninsula, and we guarantee nine of them won\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about. And the tenth is probably bluffing. Eyre is a little pocket…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[200,138,135,66,11],"class_list":["post-759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","tag-fowlers-bay","tag-head-of-bight","tag-nullarbor","tag-south-australia","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1841,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759\/revisions\/1841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}