Don’t make the error of dashing to get to your vacation spot if you happen to’re driving from Adelaide to Port Augusta. Instead, take your time and uncover a few of the many highlights alongside the way in which just like the charming cities of Hahndorf and Mintaro, and the scenic wine areas of the Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale. Here are a few of the greatest issues to do in your approach from Port Augusta to Adelaide.
1. Wine meets historical past within the Clare Valley
The Clare Valley is full of charming cellar doorways however one among them is additional particular and shouldn’t be missed, whether or not you get pleasure from historical past, high quality wine, or each. Sevenhill Cellars, a stunning vineyard within the Clare Valley, was initially based by a priest in 1849 and have become the birthplace of the Jesuits non secular group in Australia. One Jesuit brother remains to be working with the vineyard right this moment. Tour the winery on Intrepid’s Flinders Ranges Explorer tour and participate in a wine tasting session with a facet of historical past at this distinctive Clare Valley vineyard which was the primary vineyard ever constructed within the Clare Valley and stays one of many oldest in Australia.
SEE SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S WINE REGIONS ON TWO WHEELS
2. Step again in time at Martindale Hall
Drop into Mintaro, a captivating historic city within the Clare Valley, and step into the city’s historical past throughout a go to to Martindale Hall, a Georgian model house inbuilt 1879. Explore this grandiose house on a guided tour and get a glimpse into what an upper-class life regarded like within the nineteenth century when it wasn’t unusual to have greater than a dozen servants to take care of the wants of simply two folks. The rich pastoralist who constructed the house had a cellar that took up seven rooms and grounds that encompassed a polo floor, a racecourse, a boating lake and a cricket pitch the place the English 11 as soon as performed. These days the grand property is managed by the National Trust and open for all to get pleasure from.
SEE MINTARO AND MORE ON A FLINDERS RANGES EXPLORER TOUR
3. Discover Australia’s oldest German township
Hahndorf, a pleasant city tucked away within the Adelaide Hills, is Australia’s oldest German township and well-known for its German-style buildings and gracious tree-lined streets. Kitschy-cute and full of arts and crafts shops, charming cafes, and boutiques full of collectables, it’s a nice spot to spend an hour or two absorbing the historic environment and looking the shops. If you get pleasure from historical past and good meals and wine in equal measure, don’t miss Lost in a Forest, a classy native restaurant housed in a 130-year-old church that dishes up tasty woodfired pizzas and pure wines.
4. Port Pirie Regional Tourism & Arts Centre
The Regional Tourism & Arts Centre at Port Pirie is house to Shakka the Shark, a 5.5 metre lengthy life-sized statue of the mighty shark that was pulled from the close by waters of Germein Bay. Along with a customer info centre, the constructing additionally has a superb modern artwork gallery that includes works by South Australian artists and common touring exhibitions, lots of which showcase the panorama of the encircling space. It’s additionally price dropping into the Port Pirie National Trust Museum which is housed in a captivating historic prepare station constructing courting again to 1902. After you’ve completed seeing the sights, seize some lunch and head to one of many picnic tables in Flinders View Park which overlooks the water.
5. Raise a glass within the Adelaide Hills
The Adelaide Hills is known for its cool-climate wines however wine isn’t the one drink produced in these components. On the Flinders Ranges Explorer tour, you’ll cease at a distillery that makes use of native Australian components to create sustainably made and uniquely scrumptious gin once you’re travelling from Adelaide to Port Augusta. Take a glance behind the scenes throughout a tour of the distillery, find out about their sustainable practices and maybe pattern a few of the artistic flavours your self.