5 things to do on South Australia’s Granite Island

Gran­ite Island has long been a pop­u­lar day-trip des­ti­na­tion because of its close prox­im­i­ty to Ade­laide – just an 85 km drive.

But what may have changed since you last vis­it­ed is the num­ber of activ­i­ties the island has to offer.

Here are five things that will keep you busy:

1. Rid­ing the horse-drawn tram

Start your day with a ride on the his­toric Horse Drawn Tram across The Cause­way to Gran­ite Island.

The tramway is one of the few remain­ing horse-drawn tram routes still oper­at­ing around the world. So why not climb up and relax on board one of the dou­ble-deck­er tram­cars, while a team of mag­nif­i­cent Clydes­dale hors­es haul you across the 630-metre causeway.

The Tramway oper­ates every day, except for Christ­mas Day (weath­er permitting). 

2. Whale watching

The annu­al migra­tion of south­ern right and hump­back whales to SA waters occurs dur­ing the cool­er months. Gen­er­al­ly, SA whale migra­tion starts in May and fin­ish­es in Octo­ber, with fre­quent sight­ings of these giants of the deep occur­ring between June and September.

Now is a per­fect time to look out for south­ern right whalesrais­ing their young along the Fleurieu coast­line, as Encounter Bay becomes a whale nurs­ery at this time of year.

Top tip: Before you head out, check out the whale sight­ing log. And most impor­tant­ly, don’t for­get your binoculars!

The Encounter Marine Park in Vic­tor Har­bor is one of the more pop­u­lar places in the state for whale-watch­ing. Check out our whale-watch­ing sto­ry for more details about oth­er spots in SA to see them.

For up-to-date infor­ma­tion on whale sight­ings in the Fleurieu region, make sure you call into the SA Whale Cen­tre at Vic­tor Har­bor where you can immerse your­self in an under­wa­ter world and learn all about the his­to­ry of whal­ing in the region.

The cen­tre also has a Junior Whale Spot­ter Pro­gram to teach kids how to observe and iden­ti­fy dif­fer­ent whale species that vis­it our coastline.

3. Hik­ing around the island

The 2.9 km Kai­ki Walk­ing Trail leads you on a jour­ney around Gran­ite Island Recre­ation Park where you’ll see unusu­al gran­ite for­ma­tions, crash­ing waves, and stun­ning panoram­ic views from ele­vat­ed platforms.

4. Go birdwatching 

How many dif­fer­ent vari­eties of birds you can spot on the island?

You might be lucky enough to spot Nan­keen Kestrels hov­er­ing over grass­land, Lit­tle Ravens, Pel­i­cans and Sil­ver Gulls. 

But remem­ber, be a respon­si­ble bird­watch­er – the bird’s wel­fare must come first. So look after their habi­tat, keep your dis­tance and respect oth­er birdwatchers.

5. Vis­it the Island Café 

The Gran­ite Island Recre­ation Park café is open dai­ly. Enjoy a leisure­ly walk to Gran­ite Island and stay for lunch or a cof­fee before explor­ing the beau­ti­ful island.

Seat­ing is avail­able with­in the café with a range of local­ly sourced pas­tries, sand­wich­es and snacks on offer. Enjoy a fresh­ly roast­ed cof­fee and soak up the stun­ning oceans views as you look across the Vic­tor Har­bour fore­shore.

On a warm day the grass area in front of the café is per­fect for kids, with dol­phins and sea lions often mak­ing an appear­ance in the distance.

Park of the Month

Through­out July, Marine Parks are being cel­e­brat­ed as the Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice South Australia’s Park of the Month. There are lots of events and activ­i­ties to get involved in – check the web­site for all the details.