Elliston's Great Ocean Drive Flight: Ron takes to the skies over the Eyre Peninsula in the West Coast region of South Australia

The West Coast of Eyre Peninsula is a boatie's paradise with kilometre upon kilometre of stunning coastline to explore but to truly appreciate the monumental scale you need to get above it and that's where a local cockie like Lindsay Matthews of Opal Air comes in very handy.

We climb into his light plane at the Elliston airstrip and soon we're cruising above the town's clifftop walk. We've all heard of the Great Ocean Road in Southwestern Victoria, but the locals around here have dubbed this part of the coast, Elliston's Great Ocean Drive.

It's a stretch of coast which takes some getting to - located a good 650 kilometres from Adelaide, but the scenic flight from Elliston to Venus Bay and beyond offers some of the most rugged and sparsely populated coastal scenery in South Australia.

Out here the tyranny of distance has meant the locals have had to fend for themselves. Imagine - isolated farms hugging the coastline with the quickest way out - prior to the railway - being a sailing ketch along a shoreline like this.

Lindsay Matthews, Opal Air: "We're really proud of the Eyre Peninsula, it's people and their attitude towards life. The last couple of years life has been pretty hard as a farmer because like the rest of Australia we have come through two pretty tough years of drought."

Now the strange collection of rings in Anxious Bay point to another emerging industry - as the West Coast locals farm the sea. Each ring contains abalone, which will take a full three years to reach maturity and the markets of the world.

Further north and sandy beaches give way to pinkish rock formations typical of this part of the coast. Nature's done some marvelous work here, sculpting and carving a unique coastline with holiday hotspots the rest of Australia is now discovering but which the locals have held dear for years. Venus Bay is a classic shack town built by Eyre Peninsula farmers in need of some coastal relief.

For us the rugged 800-foot cliffs of Cape Radstock just north of Venus are where we call it a day high above a coastline that rivals any in the country. For your aerial tour of the West Coast contact Lindsay Matthews at Opal Air. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Opal Air
Lindsay Matthews
Contact 0427 304 599
opalair@bigpond.com

Published 1st March 2009