The 8 best jetties and wharves on the Fleurieu
Timber, ruins and one very long causeway - the structures that define this coastline, ranked
A coastline measured in timber
The Fleurieu was built from the sea inward, and its jetties are the proof - every town that mattered in the nineteenth century drove a structure out into the water, and the survivors are now the peninsula's best free attractions. Some still work for a living, some are ruins, and one carries a horse-drawn tram.
This list ranks the eight worth driving for. For the deeper history of the ones that didn't survive, our story on the Fleurieu's lost jetties covers the wrecks and the ghosts; for the swimming-and-snorkelling angle, start with Second Valley and work down the coast.
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1
Myponga & Second Valley
Second Valley Jetty
The curved timber jetty at Second Valley is the single most photographed structure on the peninsula - and somehow better in person, wedged between folded cliffs and clear green water. Swim, snorkel, squid, or just sit on the end with fish and chips.
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2
Cape JervisRapid Bay Jetty Dive Site
Two jetties for the price of one: the giant 1940s shipping jetty and the newer angling-and-diving jetty beside it. Beneath them is one of Australia's most famous shore dives and the most reliable place in the world to meet a leafy seadragon.
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3
Aldinga & Port WillungaPort Willunga Beach
The stumps of the 1864 cargo jetty marching out of the sand at Port Willunga are the Fleurieu's most haunting sight, golden cliffs behind and the Star of Greece wreck site beyond. Go at low tide, late in the day.
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4
Victor HarborGranite Island
Technically a causeway, and we will not be taking questions. The 650-metre crossing from Victor Harbor - rebuilt in 2021 and reopened with its horse-drawn tram - is the grandest walk-on-water experience in South Australia.
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5Goolwa
Goolwa Wharf Precinct
A wharf rather than a jetty, and the best-preserved 19th-century river port in the country: paddle steamer alongside, heritage railway behind, and the story of the Murray trade written in every bollard.
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6Normanville & Yankalilla
Normanville Beach
Normanville's historic jetty anchors one of the longest, safest swimming beaches on the peninsula. The classic summer-evening formula: jump off the jetty, dry off on the white sand, dinner at the surf club end.
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7Cape Jervis
Fishery Beach
The working end of the list: the sheltered harbour east of Cape Jervis, on the site of an 1840s whaling station that later shipped ore from the Talisker mine. Watch the fishing fleet come and go with Backstairs Passage as the backdrop.
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8
Normanville & YankalillaWirrina Cove Marina
The peninsula's only marina - a small working harbour tucked into Wirrina Cove, launch point for fishing charters and the easiest place on the west coast to get nose-to-nose with serious boats. Good fish-spotting from the breakwater on calm days.
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Jetty etiquette, briefly: give anglers room, supervise jumpers, and check conditions before snorkelling - the west coast structures are exposed when the wind swings onshore.
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