Tumby Bay is a coastal town on Eyres Peninsula in Southern Australia. I’m sure there are many reasons to visit, but the reason we visited was for the Colour Tumby Street Art Festival. This annual event sees dozens of talented street artists from around the globe come into town and are giving a blank wall to transform. They have transformed this already cute little community into a true work of art. While the city does have a map of where the art is located, we found that only half of the art work is noted on this map.
Invited artists have created works of art that seem to reflect aspects of the community in which they are now permanently located. Lots of creatures from the sea, including a giant purple octopus, pelicans and fish. There are others that have focused on native flora, colourful vertical gardens. Many focus on people, of all ages, the faces of this or perhaps any town and their celebrations and challenges. And there there are many that invite visitors into fantastic imaginary worlds. The most impressive perhaps is the painting on the town silos. This work is part of a series of grain silos all across Australia that have been painted by different artists. There are 16 in South Australia Alone. This one in Tumby Bay was completed in 2018 depicts two boys jumping off the Tumby Bay Jetty by artist Martin Ron, an Argentinian street artists considered to be one of the best muralists in the world.
We stopped at Tumby Bay bakery for fuel to help us get to all of the different street artists. If you are visiting any small town in Australia, the bakery should be your first stop for smiles, expert local tips (and gossip), tourist info and, of course, cakes and drinks. Just be sure to arrive before 3pm when the primary school across the road lets out all of its students, many of which make a b line straight to the bakery with their coins and appetites. The hot chocolate is a pretty classic sweet Aussie cocoa powder accompanied by the required pink marshmallow (and, in my case, a piece of vanilla slice).
Tumby Bay Bakery is open from 7am to 4pm (closed weekends) and is located on the Main Street at 11 North Terrace. You can drool over their offerings on their Instagram until then.
