Ranger tips: Lincoln National Park

Ranger tips: Lincoln National Park



Get insid­er tips on the best places to vis­it and must do’ activ­i­ties from park ranger Elly Schultz.


Locat­ed on the Eyre Penin­su­la, just 13km south-west of Port Lin­coln, Lin­coln Nation­al Park over­looks Boston Bay, the largest nat­ur­al har­bour in Australia.

With gran­ite head­lands, shel­tered bays, scenic off­shore islands and mas­sive wind-sculpt­ed sand dunes, this park tru­ly is awe-inspiring.

Boat­ing, fish­ing, beach­comb­ing, swim­ming, bird­watch­ing, whale watch­ing and nature walks are all pop­u­lar activ­i­ties in this park, and there’s 14 des­ig­nat­ed camp­grounds in the park that offer easy access to the beach­es, bays and walk­ing trails. Lin­coln Nation­al Park is also the gate­way to the stun­ning Mem­o­ry Cove Wilder­ness Pro­tec­tion Area.

Want to see it for your­self? We’ve asked ranger Elly Schultz for some tips for your next vis­it. Here’s what she had to say:

Which camp­ground is your favourite and why?

My favourite camp­ground in the park is Fisherman’s Point. It’s perched up on a head­land over­look­ing the bay and is a nice open camp­ground where you can nes­tle your­self under a tree and enjoy the view.

It has recent­ly been upgrad­ed with new camp sites, fire pits and toi­let facil­i­ties so I’d high­ly rec­om­mend check­ing it out! 

Sit back and relax and see if you can spot a pod of dol­phins com­ing in to feed, or get mov­ing and try to catch a fish off the beach.

What’s Lin­coln Nation­al Park’s best kept secret?

There are many hid­den beach­es in Lin­coln Nation­al Park that can only be reached by going for a walk or com­ing in by boat.

My favourite hid­den beach is Tay­lors Beach, which can be accessed by the Inves­ti­ga­tor walk­ing trail. Park your car at Tay­lors Land­ing and the walk will take about 15 minutes.

Keep an eye out for our nest­ing hood­ed plovers dur­ing sum­mer as they also like the seclud­ed beaches.

What’s your favourite activ­i­ty to enjoy in the park?

I love four-wheel dri­ving in the park. The Sleaford to Wan­na track is breath­tak­ing – cruis­ing over the sand dunes or over the rocky lime­stone outcrops.

There are some great fish­ing holes along the cliffs look­ing out to the South­ern Ocean. I love to throw a line in at Millers Hole or the Salmon Hole. But I admit, most of the time I end up look­ing out to sea try­ing to spot a dol­phin in the surf.

Which beach is best for swimming?

Sep­tem­ber Beach with its pris­tine white sand is sim­ply stun­ning. It’s great fun snorkelling along the rocky points – you might spot a sea urchin in the rock crevass­es, star fish, schools of fish and so much more.

Just make sure there is an off-shore breeze, as it can be a lit­tle chop­py if the wind is blow­ing straight into the beach.

The best part about Lin­coln Nation­al Park is that you can always be some­where pro­tect­ed from the sum­mer breeze, as it’s on a penin­su­la and there’s so many lit­tle beach­es dot­ted along the coast to choose from.

It’s also a great spot for a beach hol­i­day as the Sep­tem­ber Beach Camp­ground is locat­ed with­in 100 metres of the beach.

Ranger tips: Lincoln National Park

Where’s the best view in Lin­coln Nation­al Park?

Hike up Stam­ford Hill for spec­tac­u­lar panoram­ic views of Lin­coln Nation­al Park, and Prop­er and Boston Bays, as well as numer­ous off­shore islands.

The short but steep trail up to Stam­ford Hill is not for the faint-heart­ed. It’s about 2.7 kilo­me­tres and should take you rough­ly one and a half hours to get there and back. If you need to catch your breath, stop at the inter­pre­tive signs along the trail and learn about the area’s history.

At the top of the hill you will find the his­toric Flinders Mon­u­ment that was erect­ed in mem­o­ry of Cap­tain Matthew Flinders who sur­veyed the Eyre Penin­su­la coast­line in 1802.

Ranger tips: Lincoln National Park

What kind of ani­mals can be spot­ted in the park?

Lin­coln Nation­al Park has abun­dant native wildlife. It is like­ly you’ll spot west­ern grey kan­ga­roos and emus, and in the warmer months you might see Rosen­berg goan­nas and oth­er rep­tiles. Dol­phins, seals and sea lions can often be spot­ted just off the coast.

There is plen­ty of birdlife too – if you’re lucky you might see a white-bel­lied sea eagle soar­ing above or a beach-nest­ing hood­ed plover or the elu­sive malleefowl.

Ranger tips: Lincoln National Park

Pre­fer to explore at your own pace? Check out 5 trea­sures in Lin­coln Nation­al Park or 10 things to see and do at Lin­coln Nation­al Park for more insid­er tips to plan your next visit. 

Main image: Lin­coln Nation­al Park ranger Elly Schultz

This sto­ry was orig­i­nal­ly post­ed in Decem­ber 2018


This con­tent was pro­duced in part­ner­ship with  Good Living