2SER Breakfast

On this day (22 July) in 1870 South Australia made their first flag. They proceeded to change it two more times before finally sticking to the last one – but seeing as this day is about South Australia, why don’t we go through a few things you can do there. Strangly enough, all these activies involve you getting your feet wet.

Shall we dive in?

Dive and watch the giant cuttlefish hook up

Cuttlefish mating dive

This is the equivalent of going out to a club and watching your mate hook up with a random person, but this is definately prettier to watch.

Every winter in the waters of north Whyalla in the Upper Spencer Gulf Marine Park, thousands of giant Australian cuttlefish meet up the Upper Spencer club to mate. The male cuttlefish will put on a gorgeous colour show by changing into all the colours of the rainbow quickly – like strobe lights at a rave. Imagine thousands of them doing it at the same time. It’s an underwater rave.

Catch it from May to August every year. You can get to Upper Spencer Gulf Marine Park via boat from either Port Augusta, Whyalla, Port Lowly or Port Pirie.

If cuttlefish mating isn’t your thing, the marine park is also a vital nursery area for a large range of fish and sealife making it a popular fishing spot for snapper, garfish, prawns and blue swimmer crabs.

Snorkel through an ‘underwater garden’

Underwater garden at Piccaninnie Ponds Conservation Park

Piccaninnie Ponds Conservation Park is a wetland of international importance and it’s unbelievebly looks gorgeous. Imagine snorkeling through this underwater garden before coming to the blue abyss of The Chasm – a sinkhole that is over 100 metres deep. The water is crystal clear because it naturally gets filtered through the limestone in the water

You’ll need a full wet suit because the water is usually 15 degrees all year round.

Unfortunately (at the time this was published) the underwater garden has been closed for the past year to allow the vegetation to regenerate after an outbreak of a certain algae. The conservation park remains open.  

There’s another diving spot nearby called The Cathedral. It’s dubbed The Cathedral because you swim through these majestic white walls as you dive deeper.

The conservation park is down south near the coast and next to the Victorian border. It lies south of Mount Gambier, near the suburb of Donovans.

Great White Shark cage diving

Calypso Shark Cage Diving

South Australia is one of the few places in the world you can an activity called Great White Shark cage diving, where you get up close and personal with Great Whites. You get in a metal cage while Great White Sharks swim around you while they figure out what’s happening.

Great Whites grow up to 6m long and weigh more than 2,000kgs. They have razor-sharp teeth that can grow up to 7.5cms long. They are so magestic to watch.

Great Whites are protected in South Australia and the Neptune Islands Groups Marine Park is one of best spots to see them in their natural habitat. A plus is that the waters are crystal clear, making the experience of seeing them in the water more mesmerising.

Great Whites flock to Neptune Islands to feed on the long-nose fur seals. Neptune Islands is a protected nursery for the long-nosed fur seal pups and it hosts around half the population of seals in Australia.

There are two tour operators that offer the cage diving experience – Calypso Star Charters and Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions. To do them you have to get to Port Lincoln, which is a quick 30 minute flight east of Adelaide, or a fun 7 hour road-trip if you have the time to kill.

To ensure both Great White tours are safe, environmentally sustainable, socially responsible, and lead the best practice in nature-based tourism, the South Australian White Shark Tour Licensing Policy was developed to keep them in check.