What to do, see and eat on your South Australian road trip. Photo / Getty Images
What to do, see and eat on your South Australian road trip. Photo / Getty Images
Melissa Nightingale took a week-long road trip through South Australia’s wine region and the Outback and shares all you need to know about the best spots to stop along the way.
Day 1
After touching down in Adelaide, I head into the city centre and check into the Adelaide Marriott Hotel where, despite my best intentions to get out and start exploring, I instantly flop onto the king-sized bed and spend some time absentmindedly staring out the window before hunger propels me out the door.
The comfortable rooms at the Adelaide Marriott Hotel have plenty of space, and the hotel is walking distance to great shops and eateries.
The Marriott is located in a great, central spot surrounded by eateries, and only a few minutes’ walk to the Adelaide Central Market. When I stroll through the entrance I find this undercover fresh produce market alive with activity, bustling with people doing their shopping or simply enjoying lunch.
The market is one of the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, with nine million visitors a year at least, and more than 70 traders under one roof.
Adelaide Central Market is one of the city's top spots for casual dining. Photo / Supplied
There’s everything you expect at a market such as fruit and veges, meats and fish stalls, but there’s also decadent bakeries, coffee bean specialists, wine sellers, lolly shops and spice traders. I walk around the market several times, past cafes, pasta stores, florists and even a secondhand book stall, before I decide what to eat for lunch.
Some of the sweet treats on offer at the Adelaide Central Market were hard to pass up. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
In the late afternoon, I take another short walk to Rundle St, described as the “heartbeat” of the city’s East End District. I spend some time strolling through the crowds in this pedestrianised, open-air mall and peruse the shops before I head to my dinner venue a block away.
Dinner is at Shobosho, which specialises in Japanese yakitori. There is a bar area where diners can watch their food being prepared, or there are comfortable, secluded booths to tuck yourself away into.
A helpful waitress recommends several courses for me to try, including white kimchi and bean curd dumplings, a delicious barbecued broccolini dish, and spiced lamb kushiyaki skewers.
Japanese restaurant Shobosho, in Adelaide, offers multiple delicious courses. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Day 2
I start the morning with a trip to the hotel buffet, held in the Penny Blue restaurant. I love a good hotel breakfast buffet, and particularly enjoy how this one includes a dish of honeycomb to up the fancy factor on your toast.
I stop at a tiny town called Watervale where I’m due to meet with Warrick Duthy, who owns and runs the Watervale Hotel with his wife, Nicola Palmer.
Watervale Hotel owner Warrick Duthy on his small Clare Valley farm in South Australia. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
He takes me for a tour of his small farm, explaining their work to restore the land to its pre-colonial state through regenerative farming.
I sit in on a talk Duthy gives to a tour group at his restaurant - one of many that come through here - and he explains they are trying to “heal the earth one delicious meal at a time”.
I cannot recommend enough the degustation lunch, served at the chef’s table overlooking the kitchen. The couple walk me through a six-course meal with wine matching and it seems as though every course is somehow better than the last.
A refreshing touch is a sorbet made from the native river mint plant. I’m not normally a fan of mint in sweet treats, but this tasted like a breath of fresh air.
Frankie Blue enjoys a smoked fish tail at the Watervale Hotel. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
One thing I love about how things are done at Watervale Hotel is the commitment to minimising waste as much as possible, using every scrap they can from the food products.
They even save fish tails to feed to the dog, and keep a jar of dog treats for a “doggie degustation”.
My next stop is the Slow Cabin at Mitchell Wines in Sevenhill.
The Slow Cabin at Mitchell Wines is tucked away amidvineyards for a secluded accommodation experience. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
This off-grid eco cabin is tucked into a clearing amongst the vineyards, and is the perfect spot to stop for a breather. The beauty of the cabin is the way it encourages you to slow down and enjoy some peace and solitude.
The tiny cabin comes with a small kitchen and bathroom - plus an outdoor bathtub and firepit. You can bring your own food or order a gourmet food pack to be left for you.
The tiny cabin has a nook for sleeping, with the bed pressed up to a large window. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Day 3
I wake up with the sun - there’s no curtain over the huge triangular window in the cabin’s sleeping area - and cook myself breakfast before packing back up into the car and hitting the road again.
I’m watching the landscape turn redder as I go, until at some point, I’m not sure when exactly, I know I’m in the Outback.
I stop in Hawker, a small town considered the hub of the Flinders Ranges area, and park up at Flinders Food Co for lunch.
It’s a great pitstop in this lengthy trip, and I’m grateful to enjoy a cold drink and a bowl of pumpkin gnocchi while a toddler runs circles around the cafe, excitedly saying “hi” to me on each passing.
The station offers a wide range of accommodation options from camping to fully self-contained apartments. I am staying in one of their well-equipped eco-villas, which comes with a full bathroom, kitchen, and laundry.
For dinner I go to the station’s Woolshed Restaurant, which I become well-acquainted with over the next few days.
The eco-villa accommodation at Rawnsley Park Station is spacious and well-equipped. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Day 4
Breakfast this morning is an elevated experience, pun intended, as it’s served to me atop a mountain.
I’ve taken a scenic helicopter flight to the Chace Range, where my guide has set up a camp table and cooked me a camp breakfast of bacon and eggs on toast.
Rawnsley Park Station offers these flights, as well as camping experiences on the range.
The scenic flight goes over Wilpena Pound. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
The rest of my day is free for exploring, so I decide to try out one of the many bushwalk trails around the station.
My walk is short-lived, however, because I am unprepared for the flies. I now understand why people wear nets over their faces, as funny as they look, because spending half an hour with flies trying their best to get inside my mouth is enough to send me right back to my air-conditioned villa.
Dinner tonight is at the Woolshed again, a short drive past the kangaroos and emus that roam freely around the station.
Guests can also opt to camp up on the Chace Range overnight. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
She takes a group of us on winding roads through rugged Outback settings, pointing out the wildlife, and talking about the amazing rock formations and the way flash floods have crafted the landscape.
We stop at the Prairie Hote in Parachilna for lunch and enjoy their famous “feral mixed grill”, a dish containing kangaroo, emu and camel meat.
Stunning views can be found at the Razorback Lookout in Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
We get back to the station in the late afternoon and I visit the Woolshed restaurant one last time before the end of my stay.
This time I ask for a table outside, and I sit under a string of lights, watching a darkening blue swallow what remains of the pink-tinged sky. The parrots are flitting through the trees and the air is warm, and I think what a life it must be to live out here in the middle of nowhere and feel this peace all the time.
Day 6
It’s time to bid farewell to Rawnsley Park and the Outback, and head back to Adelaide, which is just under a five-hour drive.
I stop off for a lunch break in Clare Valley again, at Paulett Wines. The lovely staff lead me to an outdoor table with a view across the beautiful Polish Hill River Valley.
My table at Paullet Wines in Clare Valley offers beautiful views. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Paulett Wines is another place focused on minimising their waste, and they’re very creative in how they do it. Any bread they haven’t sold or served by the end of the day is dehydrated and milled back into flour, then baked into future loaves of sourdough or their sourdough pasta.
Simply put, my bread has been bread before, my waitress explains.
“It’s recycled bread,” I say with a smile. An hour later I hear another diner making the same comment, and realise I’m not so original.
Regardless, my recycled bread is delicious, as is the rest of my five-course meal, which I battle valiantly through in the name of journalism. Totally stuffed, I climb back into the car and cruise back to Adelaide.
I’m still feeling a bit full come dinner time, so try to order a light meal at Press* Food and Wine, which must be a popular place to eat judging by the fact every seat is full.
I have a refreshing buffalo mozzarella dish served on charred cucumber, and a side of green beans with whipped feta. The portion sizes are decent and I’m unable to finish my dinner, let alone look at the dessert menu.
Despite all I’ve eaten while I’ve been in South Australia, I know I’ve barely scratched the surface of what to try.
