Located 537 km north-west of Adelaide and 24 km from Cleve, Arno Bay is a small settlement on Spencer Gulf between Port Neill and Cowell. It sprawls from the huge grain silos near the Lincoln Highway, across the flat coastal lands to the small shopping centre, and then on to the Hotel Arno Bay and the Caravan Park which lie between the muddy, tidal Salt Creek and the jetty.

Arno Bay offers an interesting insight into the hardships and hopes which characterised the early development of the Eyre Peninsula. In the earliest days of settlement the tall clippers which sailed along the coast brought supplies and fertilisers to enrich the impoverished Peninsula soils. They took away with them grain and wool. Before the jetty was built ( in 1810, I believe)the ships had to weigh anchor offshore while a sailor rowed to the shore and lit a signal fire. This fire could be seen for some distance and another fire was lit on Ranford Hill to advise the local farmers that a ship was off the coast.

Business was slow but by 1911 the port was important enough for the elaborate and solid Hotel Arno to be built. It was built on the expectation that the combination of a railhead and a port would see the area grow rapidly. The following year the jetty was extended to 370 metres and by the 1940s the town had grown to a point where over 11 000 tonnes of grain were being shipped out. All this came to an end in 1963 when the bulk grain silos were built. The ships were replaced by trucks which carried the local grain south to the major port facilities at Port Lincoln.

It is an ideal place for people who want to do a little fishing or walk along the narrow, but beautiful, beach. The jetty has been shortened and is now used only for fishing and walking. The waters of the Gulf abound with salmon, flathead, whiting and snapper. We caught quite a lot of squid of the jetty.

Don't forget the boardwalk, an interesting walk through the mangroves.

You must stay in the caravan park, the nicest and cleanest park we have seen for a long time. The owners are always there to help you.