Every winter South Australia enjoys the return of Southern Right whales to its shores.

The first arrivals in Encounter Bay are usually expected in mid-May, and are eagerly awaited by whale watchers who hope to catch a glimpse of the huge beasts from atop the cliffs and headlands of the area's stunning coastline.

Thousands of visitors flock to the seaside resort town of Victor Harbor, keeping staff at the SA Whale Centre's Information Booth very busy fielding their enquiries. In some years, the whales have attracted up to 400,000 people to the area over the winter months.

Only an hour drive from Adelaide, the southern Fleurieu Peninsula is a whale watchers paradise.

The viewing opportunities stretch along the entire length of Encounter Bay, and many of the popular vantage points are the same as those once used by whalers to spot their prey. Southern Right whales have frequented the Bay for hundreds of years, and were hunted from these shores in the 1800s for their oil and baleen.