Cable Bay is the smallest of the Innes campgrounds we looked at, nine sites tucked into the scrub off a gravel track between Stenhouse Bay and Cape Spencer. We drove through on our day in the park and didn’t camp, but it’s the one we’d pick for a quiet night with a tent or the camper trailer.
What we like
- Only nine sites, quiet
- Sites up to 18 m long
- Close to Cape Spencer
- Big sites for two vehicles
What we don’t
- Little or no shade
- No drinking water
- Most sites not for caravans
About Cable Bay CampgroundAbout
The campground is in Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park on Nharangga Banggara, Narungga Country, on the gravel road towards Pondalowie Bay. National Parks and Wildlife Service SA runs it, and every site is booked and paid for online at parks.sa.gov.au. Sites 1 to 4 take two vehicles and up to eight people, $39.80 a night when we checked, and sites 5 to 9 one vehicle and up to five for $27.50, plus the park’s $14.40 vehicle entry. Leave the dog at home and bring a gas stove: it’s gas fires only.
Quick facts
- AddressCable Bay Campground, Pondalowie Bay Road, Inneston, SA 5577, AustraliaSee on the trip map →
- Phone receptionPatchy
- FacilitiesToiletsCamper Trailer AccessCaravan AccessNo Drinking WaterNo ShowersNo PowerNo Campfires
- Good to know9 booked sitesCaravans on sites 2, 3, 4 and 7No dogs in the park
- Fees$27.50 a night for one vehicle$39.80 for twoplus $14.40 park entry
- 8.0/10Overall rated
- Book via Parks SA
Getting There
From the park gate past Marion Bay, follow the sealed park road past Stenhouse Bay towards Pondalowie Bay and turn off at the green Cable Bay Campground sign. The track into the campground is pale, firm gravel through the scrub, fine for a car or a camper trailer in the dry. Pay the vehicle entry before you come in; the self-registration at the park is card only.
The Campsites
The sites are cleared patches of pale gravel and sand cut into the low coastal scrub along the track, with timber rails and site posts, and the scrub between them keeps them private. They run from 7 to 18 metres long and sit 60 to 160 metres from the toilets, with little or no shade, and several catch the wind. Check which one suits your setup before you book: only 2, 3, 4 and 7 take a caravan, 1, 5 and 9 are tent only, and 6 and 8 are for tents and camper trailers. When we came through there were tents behind the scrub near the entrance and a camper trailer set up with its awning out on another site.
Campground LayoutLayout
The campground is one gravel track between two roads: it leaves Pondalowie Bay Road, loops east past site 1, then runs back south-west past sites 2 to 4, the toilets and sites 5 to 9 to join Cape Spencer Road. The camp sits just inland from the shore of Cable Bay, with all nine sites set off the track in the scrub.
Facilities
There are toilets, signed from the track, and that’s it: no showers, power or drinking water, so fill up at the water filling station in Marion Bay before the park. Wood fires are banned in the park from 1 November to 24 March, it’s gas fires only, and on Total Fire Ban days you can’t light anything at all. Dogs aren’t allowed anywhere in the park.
Things to Do NearbyThings to do
Cape Spencer, with its lighthouse path out along the cliffs, is a few minutes’ drive. Further along the park road are Dolphin Bay, the calm sandy bay where we swam, Shell Beach, Pondalowie Bay and the white salt lakes, and the board at the Pondalowie campground points you to the Inneston ghost town, the West Cape lighthouse and the Ethel wreck. Everything is in our Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park guide.
Summary
Cable Bay is nine quiet booked sites in the Innes scrub, mostly for tents and camper trailers, with toilets and nothing else, a few minutes from Cape Spencer. Book the right site for your setup, bring water and shade, and cook on gas.
The small, quiet one.
Cable Bay has just nine booked sites cut into the coastal scrub off a gravel track, mostly for tents and camper trailers, with toilets and nothing else. Book one of sites 1 to 4 if you’re two vehicles or bringing a van, and bring your own water and shade.
- Caravanners
- Groups
Yes, if you want quiet over facilities. $27.50 to $39.80 a night plus park entry for one of nine sites, a few minutes from Cape Spencer.
Recommended Gear for Cable Bay
There’s no water at the camp, so bring it in water containers and cook on a gas stove like the Dune single burner. The sites have little shade, so an awning like the Kings 270 Tourer helps, and a camp shower is the only wash you’ll get.
