Planning and Tips - Investigator Trail, South Australia
We would like to acknowledge the Barngarla people, the traditional owners of the land on which we walk, and pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are present today.
The Investigator Trail, named after Matthew Flinders’ ship, must surely be one of the best yet least well-known multiday hikes in South Australia. An 89 km figure-8 circuit on the tip of Eyre Peninsula primarily in Lincoln National Park, this delightful walk covers secluded beaches, inland forests, vast sand dunes and gleaming salt lakes.
It is eminently customisable into shorter options, either point to point, out and return or loops.
There is little elevation gain in this relatively flat country, so it’s a terrific walk for people new to hiking, those who prefer easy country, and young families. We took our generously septuagenarian friend who had not done any overnight hikes since her early twenties, and she loved every moment.
Stunning views along the shoreline
At the time we hiked in May, the trail was almost empty – we saw only two couples over seven days.
Every bush campsite was completely empty, and the larger ones with facilities had many spaces. Useful web links include:
https://www.walkingsa.org.au/walk/find-a-place-to-walk/investigator-trail-lincoln-national-park/
https://www.parks.sa.gov.au/parks/lincoln-national-park
It’s possible to hike a connecting trail from Port Lincoln, but for us the most interesting part was the scenery within Lincoln National Park, so we chose to hike only within the park.
Port Lincoln is 650 km by road northwest of Adelaide and is easily accessible in a day’s drive. Or you can catch the ferry from Wallaroo across the Spencer Gulf to Lucky Bay – doesn’t save a lot of elapsed time, is a little more expensive but involves a relaxing and enjoyable ferry ride bookended by short drives rather than a single 650 km long drive.
Amazing sand dunes with views across Sleaford Mere
Within the Park the trail loops along each coastline and crosses through the centre of the park. The trail can be done in five days if you’re a faster walker but is made up of a series of shorter hikes and loops so can be done as series of day walks (we met one couple doing just that), particularly if you have two cars and can do car shuffles.
Elevation gain/loss is a modest 1200 m over the 90 km (if you include the Stamford Hill Hike) with daily gains/losses typically around 150 metres.
Some useful information of the full hike is available from the park brochures and also on the Walking SA web site.
The conventional 89 km loop can be done as one or a series of day walks - assisted by many nice camping options along the north and eastern coastline.
You’ll need a permit for each time you enter the park, and in the northern sections of the park there are dedicated camp sites which you are encouraged to use. Entry and camping permits are available online and also from the friendly staff at the Port Lincoln Visitors Centre.
We configured our own walk around the standard loops. We were taking a good friend with us so had two cars, and by strategically parking the second car in the park we could select the most interesting sections.
So rather than one long figure of eight loop we hiked two shorter one-way circuits. Our friend hadn’t done any overnight bush walking for a long time, and we’d all also benefit from a rest day between the two circuits to enjoy local seafood and wines in Port Lincoln.
Hot weather doesn’t treat us kindly so we planned to walk in early May. Not too cold or wet then but with sufficient rain to top up the rainwater tanks scattered along the walk. Unfortunately, a very late break to the season meant virtually no rainfall in March or April. The latest advice from Parks and the local Visitors Centre just before we left was that the tanks couldn’t be relied on for water. Our planning therefore required water drops.
Water drops added an unexpected
complexity. We dropped off the water on the day before starting the hike.
This became necessary after a particularly long dry autumn.
For both circuits we placed 10 litres of water near the campsite for each first night.
This water was our supply for days two and three of the Sleaford Mere circuit. With just one water drop, we were carrying 11 litres of water between the three of us at the start of that circuit.
This meant that my starting pack weight was 18 kg, Helen’s 12 kg for the first circuit. That is as much as either of us can carry for a day and isn’t sustainable for many days – check out our sharing the load blog to see how we manage pack weights during a hike.
The Taylors Landing circuit had 4WD and 2WD car access for two water drops – logistics were more complicated, but we wouldn’t need to carry so much water.
Our two, three-day walks are illustrated below. We added a short drive and day hike up Stamford Hill at the end of the second walk – see our Stamford Hill day walk blog for details.
Our modified twin circuit walk. Six easy paced days with cherry picked scenery plus an optional scenic extra lookout day walk to finish.
In all, we walked 66 km over six, easy paced days, with an elevation gain/loss of 840m, followed by the Stamford Hill day walk (5.8 km, 190 m elevation gain/loss).
