Brighten your winter with a street art tour of Tumby Bay
Contrary to what you may think, the Eyre Peninsula is not just a summer destination – the street art in Tumby Bay will give your winter days a splash of colour!
It’s a great way to explore the town and these artworks really are worth checking out. Seriously, they’re stunning.
With the Colour Tumby Street Art Festival finished for another year, we decided it was time to check out the new finished products, and refresh on some of the old ones.
Please note: this blog post contains lots of Instagram posing in front of colourful walls. You’ve been warned.
First stop was the very impressive mural from the aptly named Insane51 (this is the 3D lens artwork!). 3D glasses are available in a box near the site, though unfortunately these were a little soggy from the rain overnight. They still did the job though!
If you view this artwork through the blue frame, it’s a woman with a… rather impressive backside swimming through the water. If you view it through the red frame, you’ll see a very large shark. Viewing normally with give you a little of both!
If we’re completely honest, we aren’t quite sure how it actually works… but the important thing is that it does. Not to be missed.
Our next stop wasn’t so successful. We called in at L’Anse Tumby Café for a coffee and a chocolate croissant (delicious), and then went searching for what on the map is listed as Number 3. We couldn’t spot any artwork, though, and we must have looked confused because a friendly local with a front end loader stopped his machine to ask if he could help!
Unfortunately the artist in question was unable to make the festival, and so the space was still a blank wall. But friendly locals? That’s a tick from us!
The third artwork we went looking for was the fantastic piece created in collaboration between Adnate and Barngala artists. You might have seen this one on social media – the eyes on this piece are unreal!
They actually seem to reflect the ocean, which is a level of skill hard to comprehend unless you see it in the flesh (or the paint). It’s hard to pick a favourite artwork, but this one would have to be right up there.
Stops four, five and six are practically in the same place (on the map that will be Number 5, Number 6 and the little fish with ‘E’ on it), and this is where our photo shoot really began. Look at those colours! Perfect for posing.
(Okay, so we don’t have a favourite but the purples and blues and pinks in Elle’s flower piece are pretty great.)
The two sides covered in street art also looks pretty cool, so be sure to check it out from that angle.
After our photo shoot (you have no idea how many pictures were taken and props gathered for a select few images) we went to lunch, so back to L’Anse Tumby Café it was.
For a proper review, we should have ordered different meals… but the burgers were too appealing! We each had ‘The Smoky’, a delicious beef burger with all the trimmings served with chips. It was actually more food than either of us could finish…
If you’re in the area L’Anse Tumby Café is a must-stop, definitely for the food but also for the friendly service and cute, quirky interior.
Post-lunch we continued on to the local football oval, where there are several artworks from 2018 and 2019. Local artists James Pedler and Josh Harris have brightened up the toilet block (as we like to do here on the Eyre Peninsula) with quirky squid and some more traditional-style graffiti.
Just across on the gymnasium wall is George Rose’s gorgeous Sturt desert pea mural – we were loving the bright colours, can you tell?!? It’s also painted on the sidewalk, so you can stand in the mural.
From here you can also walk over to Jack Fran’s mural, hidden on the side of a building across the road.
And don’t forget to head down to the jetty and foreshore for some gorgeous views – the sky even showed some blue while we were there.
Finally, no trip to Tumby Bay would be complete without stopping by the silo art on the way into/out of town. You won’t be able to miss this one – it’s pretty big, after all. Based on a piece by local photographer Rob Lang, it forms part of a silo art trail across South Australia (you’ve got to hit Kimba if you want to tick them all off!).
Our day was so much fun and the best way to spend a Friday. We haven’t covered all the artworks in this post, so you’ll just have to visit and see for yourself. As long as it’s not raining, this activity is perfect for winter.
Take an hour or take a day – either way you won’t be disappointed (and neither will your Instagram feed).