Now is the time to re-explore South Australia

With travel restrictions easing, Marie Barbieri entices us with some quintessential SA getaways.

With travel restrictions easing, Marie Barbieri entices us with some quintessential SA getaways.

Now is the time to re-explore South Australia

With travel restrictions easing, Marie Barbieri entices us with some quintessential SA getaways.

STAFF WRITER

FUTURE ADELAIDE

Our intrastate travel dimmer-switch is on the turn. Yes indeed, light is at the end of the caution-taped lockdown tunnel. After what seemed like no end in sight some two months ago, come sunrise, we’re beginning to leap out of bed more akin

to spring lambs than rolling from the edge of the mattress like lethargic sea slugs. We may even air the PJs, and find ourselves audibly apologising to the hairdryer gagging to exhale, the abandoned itchy footed boot and the wallet waiting to spend.

So where should us pent-up punters put our dollars once restrictions lift. Observing the Keeping SA Safe & Strong Roadmap to Recovery, we can now plan those sensory pleasures that satiate our travel-hungry appetites. And hitting the road will help support our tourism providers and the local communities within which they operate.

DIVINE DESTINATIONS

An afternoon at Gorge Wildlife Park will directly support this family-run refuge at Cudlee Creek, where koalas masticate nonchalantly in your arms. Mount Lofty Botanic Garden flickers with seasonal bronzes, cascading its pond and gully-dressed hillside. You’ll find koalas in the canopy there too. Winter wildlife lovers should head to Whyalla to snorkel or dive with giant chameleonic cuttlefish. Or join Big Duck Boat Tours at Victor Harbor to marvel at breaching southern right whales.

Simon Burley from Coast & Co offers luxury tours of McLaren Vale’s wineries and the Fleurieu Peninsula’s resplendent coastline. Get cosy at The Kirche on the Grenache-rich grounds of Charles Melton Wines. This 19th-century-built church has been converted into an intimate luxury cottage. Or check into antique and artwork-dressed Thorn Park by the Vines at historic Sevenhill. The charming owners (one being renowned Clare Valley chef, David Hay) prepare dinner with produce harvested from the boutique stay’s garden.

How’s your diprotodon fossil knowledge? Rusty? Near Burra, Red Banks Conservation Park is one of Australia’s prized megafauna sites. Continue north to camp at the Flinders Ranges while our Southern Hemisphere skies are down-lit by the Milky Way. And “Ssh!” Williamstown’s Whispering Wall can spill a few secrets. Uttered cadences from its opposite side travel across the dam’s 100-metre span.

SMELL THE COFFEE

When it comes to coffee stops, South Australia houses a quirky bunch. The city’s Flinders Street Project, sourcing its beans from North Adelaide coffee roaster, Veneziano, drapes a ceiling chandeliered in thousands of wooden spoons. In urban regenerated Bowden, arty health foods flirt from bowls at Jarmer’s Kitchen. Art-lovers should coffee break at Norwood’s Brick + Mortar Creative, which sells the works of local artisanal craftspeople who regularly work onsite.

Now boasting four city shopfronts, Abbots and Kinney brew beans from White Horse roasters. They recently offered free brews for doctors and nurses, and blended limited edition chocolates for diggers. On Wright Street, Le Cordon Bleu alumna, Emily Raven, runs My Kingdom for a Horse with her onsite coffee roaster. She also offers online brewing guides. And beneath its beamed ceiling in the cosy hills of Crafers is Atelier Café. This log fire-warmed hideout sells local artists’ works directly from its walls.

The Seller Door at Brighton offers a tasting space. And Nutrition Republic in Glenelg whips up organic coffee. As well potent elixirs, their coconut lattes actually please the palate (the menu is completely devoid of dairy, gluten and refined sugar). About to birth in Greenock, is El Estanco. The aroma of fine Columbian brews will permeate around the pottery for the planet that will be on sale. And at Chocol’ Art & Coffee on Kangaroo Island, the owner showcases his own photography for sippers to admire while enjoying the result of locally roasted beans, that partner with homemade truffles and pralines.

REFRESHING THE PANTRY

Jazz up the pantry with South Australia’s regional produce. Take a drive through the Riverland. Pick and choose from roadside honesty stalls feeling like a child in a sweetshop while supporting local farmers. Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop and Café at Nuriootpa will treat your taste buds to inventive curries and soups, and native fruitcakes. Reserve time to dine by her pheasant farm’s lake. Multigenerational family-run Spring Gully Foods at Dry Creek will replenish your shelves with chutneys, pickles, sauces and jams, as will flavour-filled jars from Hahndorf ’s Beerenberg farm, run by the Paech family since 1839. Woodside Cheese Wrights offers ready-to-go seasonal cheese bags, native hampers, breads and sweets. Complimenting these goodies, The Farm at Willunga will drizzle you deliciously with extra virgin olive oils. Stirling’s Organic Market and Café offers wholefoods from fruit and vegetables to meat and dairy products, and nourishing foodstuffs lining the shelves.

How was the libido during lockdown? Pure Coffin Bay Oysters on the Eyre Peninsula will excite you with their bay tours and Shellar Door. Sample their freshly shucked molluscs at the oyster bar. Then take some home. And honey, you’re almost home. A bee sanctuary since 1885, Kangaroo Island produces the world’s last-remaining pure-strain Ligurian honey. Stock up at Kangaroo Island Living Honey, Clifford’s Honey Farm, Emu ridge or at Island Beehive.

You’re about to have a social life again. Head to Mylor for a biodynamic farm tour of Jurlique: Adelaide’s own skincare brand. Their plant-based products available from the farm’s shop will smooth out the bathroom cabinet. You’ll then be ready to chink to South Australia coming out of lockdown. Twenty Third Street Distillery in Renmark bottles spirits with labels you’d almost frame on your walls. From gin and vodka to whiskey, brandy and rum, stop by for tastings before replenishing your own cellar.

Stay safe on your journeys. Consult the Open Your World website for support, advice and recommendations on how you and your family can keep active and travel safely within glorious South Australia.

Further information: www.covid-19.sa.gov.au www.openyourworld.sa.gov.au

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