Port Elliot Fenced Dog Park

Port Elliot Dog Park is a fully fenced, community-built off-leash park on Kurramin Court, behind the Port Elliot Primary School oval in the Waterport Heritage Reserve. Alexandrina Council has run it since 2013, and the layout is the draw: a 60 by 140 metre lawned run with a safe entry and exit zone and a separate small-dog enclosure, so a nervous or little dog is never stuck in the scrum.

The dog setup

Stay inside the park and supervise your dog the whole time, keep the gates closed behind you, and use the bags and dispensers provided for waste. You are responsible for your dog's behaviour, so if things turn tense, leash up and leave; issues can be reported to Alexandrina Council. For the dogs, there are agility tunnels, bridges and a small obstacle circuit, a rainwater tap for drinks, and a paved community shelter with mosaic artwork plus wooden benches around the lawn for the humans. A dog memorial and a few sculptures give the place its local character.

Worth knowing

This is a local-run park in the true sense, maintained by its users as much as the council, so expect a friendly regular crowd rather than anonymous turnover. The small-dog side shares the same fence and the same tap but runs calmer, which is exactly the point of it. The park is inland and unaffected by tides, and Sandy Bay is only about two kilometres away if you want to pair the run with a beach walk.

Pepsi: the small-dog enclosure is the spot if your dog reads the big pack as too much. Same fence, same tap, just calmer.

Getting there and parking

The park is reached via Leeds Street off Tottenham Court Road or Cameron Street off Waterport Road, with on-site parking on Kurramin Court. Local buses through Port Elliot are limited, so driving is the practical way in with a dog.

When to go

Weekend afternoons, plus Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons, are the social peak; weekday mornings and the evenings are quieter. Come for the crowd if your dog wants playmates, or outside those windows if it does not.

While you're out there

De Groot Coffee Co and Cockles Cafe both take dogs at outdoor tables, and the Middleton to Port Elliot bike trail adds an easy on-lead coastal leg to the day. For a stay, BIG4 Port Elliot Holiday Park keeps the dog-friendly theme going overnight.

More options are on the South Australia dog parks guide and the Port Elliot destination page.