What are the best things to do in Wallaroo, South Australia?

The best things to do in Wallaroo, South Australia, include swimming at Office Beach and fishing at the Wallaroo jetty. Other attractions include Tarnasey Farm or the Wallaroo Heritage and Nautical Museum.

5 best things to do in Wallaroo, South Australia

The best things to do in Wallaroo are:

Go fishing from the Wallaroo jetty.
Swim at Office Beach.
Get close to the animals at Tarnasey Farm.
See George the Giant Squid at the Wallaroo Nautical and Heritage Museum.
Four wheel drive along North Beach.

Where is Wallaroo, South Australia?

Wallaroo, South Australia, is one of three Yorke Peninsula towns that are collectively known as the Copper Coast. Kadina is the biggest of the Copper Coast towns, but Wallaroo and Moonta have the strong advantage of being on the coast.

Of Wallaroo and Moonta, Wallaroo is the one that most people are likely to encounter. That’s because the Wallaroo ferry to Cowell on the Eyre Peninsula departs from here.

Wallaroo Marina at sunset, long after the last ferry has departed for the Eyre Peninsula. Photo courtesy of the South Australian Tourism Commission.

Wallaroo accommodation

Wallaroo is very much a holiday town, with a heavy concentration of tourist accommodation. Many of these are holiday lets, but there are also the Wallaroo Marina Apartments and two holiday parks. Both the Wallaroo Holiday Park and Wallaroo Beachfront Tourist Park are on the Spencer Gulf.

The best accommodation in Wallaroo, South Australia

The top places to stay in Wallaroo are:

For central beachfront cabins: Wallaroo Beachfront Tourist Park.
For better holiday park facilities at North Beach: Wallaroo Holiday Park.
For a solid motel with pretty cheap rates: Sonbern Lodge Motel.
For high quality apartments by the water: Wallaroo Marina Apartments.

Things to do in Wallaroo, South Australia: Office Beach and jetty fishing

Things to do in Wallaroo generally focus on the seaside. Office Beach next to the marina and the jetty is the easiest beach to reach, and a good spot for a swim. There are a few cafés and restaurants behind Office Beach, which make it a good spot to base yourself for the day.

Keen anglers will probably be more interested in the jetty, however. This is a notoriously good spot for fishing, with whiting, squid, flathead and snapper regularly reeled in.

North Beach, which is unsurprisingly further north, is a lot quieter than Office Beach. It’s around 2km long, and the quirk here is that you’re allowed to drive a 4WD vehicle along the sand if you so wish.

Things to do in Wallaroo, SA: Tarnasey Farm and Heritage Museum

Away from the water, there aren’t many things to do in Wallaroo. That said, the Tarnasey Farm should be popular with young children. Tarnasey Farm offers farmstay accommodation, but it also gives kids the chance to get close to farm animals. They can brush ponies, feed cows and pat pigs.

There’s also the Wallaroo Heritage and Nautical Museum, which is inside an old post office and managed by the National Trust. It’s a well-meaning sort of place that goes into local history and the copper-smelting industry.

But the star attraction at the Wallaroo Heritage and Nautical Museum is George the Giant Squid. This 8.5m long giant squid was pulled from the stomach of a whale, and preserved.

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