Everyone speaks of Coffin Bay in glowing terms, especially the Coffin Bay NP that sits adjacent to the township. Settled in the base of a large hook of land at the southern point of the Eyre Peninsula it does look intriguingly the map. The drive from Elliston involved only a few photo stops as we had decided that after the forced Easter break we should move along, and as the wind was still blowing and the days in the low 20°'s we stuck to plan.
 
The township looked quaint as we slowly drove through, after 5 days in the Elliston Caravan Park we yearned for some space, an open sky and the potential of some good walks. Coffin Bay NP was not going to fit the bill, it failed the most basic of litmus tests...a nice campsite. The only area designated for caravans was a barren hillside, a dusty soup bowl with no shade, no protection from the winds, nothing. The "tent sites" of which there were perhaps ten were either too small or already had a van squeezed in by shoehorn. Further, the surrounds were bleak scrub, the tracks littered with limestone rocks and protrusions. Goodbye NP, the first time in our journey that we have felt so disappointed.
 
Back in Coffin Bay we booked a drive through site for the night, set up camp and went for a stroll along the picturesque waterfront. The highlights of the stay was having Happy Hour with a NZ couple who have been travelling Australia for about 8 months each year for the past 5 years. They were a couple of characters with some good tales. The second plus was finding where the oyster processing sheds were and picking up 3 dozen, having a dozen that evening as entrée and stashing the rest in the car fridge for later.

In hindsight, so many places like Coffin Bay would have held much more appeal had we a boat with us as the waterways were charge and interesting and the fishing was all done by boat!