SA Trip 2026 Day 3 - Hahndorf

 If you've never been to Hahndorf (South Australia - actually not sure why I provided a geographic explainer here. This is the only one in the world), it can be difficult to explain why its managed to be a "must visit" place every time I am in or near Adelaide.

For Victorians unfamiliar with this town in the Adelaide Hills, its roots are German, with settlers from there establishing the town back in 1839, only 4 years after John Batman established Batmania Melbourne.

 I've been trying to come up with any direct comparisons of the main street in Hahndorf with a Victorian equivalent. A bit of Akland Street, some Lygon Street, Sorrento Village mixed in with the Healesville shopping precinct. However this doesn't it do it justice.

Hahndorf has leaned heavily into its German origins to provide a food and cultural experience that is its own unique thing.

Can you buy cuckoo clocks? Yes. German beer? Absolutely. Do cafes sell strudels, does oompah music feature heavily in the "ambient" music, can pork knuckles, kassler chops and bratwursts be ordered at the restaurants and pubs on the main road? Yes, yes and yes. 

There are more than 100 shops in the main shopping strip of Hahndorf, stretching out more than a kilometre.

And whilst every second shop may be some form of eaterie, there are plenty of the more unusual retailers as well. Byzantium artwork (replicas). scented candle retailers (at least 5),  leatherworks (2), knife sellers (2) and more.

I have a couple of favourite shops over the years. The German Pantry sells a range of sauces, pickles, chocolates and other goodies sourced from Germany and surrounding European countries, as well as selling a large range of smoked and cured meats. The German Shop (original branding there) sells a range of cuckoo clocks, Christmas ornaments, wooden toys as well as souvenirs. 

I have a couple of favourite places to eat as well. Hahndorf Inn has never failed me, and their German platters will easily feed a family of four. Then Gepetto's, an Italian restaurant, provides a nice change to German heavy fair. There are other cuisines available here as well. Apart from standard Aussie pub grub (parmas, steaks and pasta), you can also treat yourself to Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Spanish or Greek. German is the dominant cuisine, however.

Anyway, enough spruiking the town. What did I do?

Eating, walking and a bit of shopping. 

Breakfast was at The Haus, with the German breakfast (what else?), including sauerkraut, bratwurst, and sourdough.

Lunch was at Otto's Bakery (pie review to follow) and tea at the aforementioned Gepetto's (wagyu carpaccio, veal saltimbocca and tiramisu).

After

 Presents were bought for the family (and myself) and there was lots of walking. Lots and lots of walking.

The temperature got to the mid twenties, making it a t-shirt and shorts type of day. Lots of people about, all enjoying themselves.

Today was a good day.

Pie Review

Otto's Bakery, provided me with a steak and mushroom pie. A bigger pie than the first day, a thicker pastry, making it a more substantial pie as well.

 The taste though, wasn't.  I probably expected a more mushroomy flavour than what I experienced. Slightly blander flavour. All up, 7/10

 

SA Trip 2026 - Days 1 and 2

This is a different trip.

A close friend of mine's wife tragically passed away a week or so ago.  Her funeral will be on Monday, in Kadina, South Australia.

Not being a massive fan of planes, and also wanting to be there to support my friend, a road trip was the only logical option.  

The basic bones of this trip is to head to Kadina via inland and return home via the coast. Also taking the opportunity to visit a couple of clients along the way.

 Why the blog for this trip?

1. As I get older, I appreciate the effort I have gone into documenting my trips, as my memory does not improve with age. Rereading my blogs about bygone trips is fun, for me.

2. My philosophy is to appreciate the journey as much as the destination. Even with the sad circumstances of this particular destination I want to be as present as I can be in all stages of this journey. Documenting it provides me with the reason/excuse/means to do so. 

I wont be completing this on a daily basis, though will try to cover all aspects of this trip.  

 Day 1

Noradjuha was the end point of this first day's travels.

"Where is Noradjuha?" I hear you ask. 

Get to Horsham, continue on to Natimuk, and once you are getting near Mt Arapiles turn left. 

Noradjuha is the home to a long standing client family of ours, who swapped the sunny climate of the Kinglake Ranges with the sunnier climate of the Wimmera over 17 year ago.

After deciding to take this trip I made contact with them to see if they were available for a quick visit. Which then turned into a feed and overnight stay. 

 Gotta love country hospitality.

The way up included the obligatory stop for morning tea (pie review below). The sign in the male toilets had me a little confused.

Surely this is wrong. The "only" thing to be flushed is toilet paper? ...

Lunch was in Ararat. Up the road from there was Dadswell's Bridge and the obligatory stop for all aficionados of Big Things. 

 

After arriving in Noradjuha, whilst enjoying a cup of tea, I noticed this in my client's kitchen: 

"Excellent Source of Sparkles"

"Made on Equipment that Also Processes Products Containing Nuts and Squirrels"

 Dinner was not from this can.

 Day 2

The second day saw me cross the border with a pretty relaxing trip through to Hahndorf, in the Adelaide Hills.

One very noticeable thing whilst driving for most of this morning (as well as a good chunk of yesterday) was the large amounts of canola crops in flower. The fields of yellow were everywhere. (Sorry - no photos - I was driving.)

 Lunch was in Kaniva, home of the Kaniva Sheep. Readers of this blog should know that I am a sucker for art in the townships.  Sheep Art started in Kaniva back in 2010 and now includes 57 sheep, 4 lambs and 2 sheep dogs. Here is some of them:

I am also a fan of Silo Art:

Kaniva

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Coonalpyn

Hahndorf is one of my favourite places to visit, and whilst I arrived a bit too late in the day for a full exploration, I was able to have a magnificent meal at an old favourite:

 Pie Review(s)

A copped a bit of flack for my pie reviews in my last trip. They're continuing this trip.

Day 1 - Bourkie's Bakery

This was from a bakery located in Woodend. My favourite pie is a steak and mushroom, which was a good way to start these reviews:

Solid, but not spectacular 7/10

 Day 2 - Kaniva Morning Loaf Bakery

Not a lot of options available. Chose the Pepper Steak.

Unfortunately it felt as tasted as though this had been sitting there quite a while. Not the best pie I've ever had. 5.5/10

Big Trip 2026(1) Day 12 - The Way Home and Epilogue

We could have driven straight home from Foster. The total time for this trip, per Google Maps, is just over three hours. We weren't going to do that.

Today's plan was to travel to Inverloch, then on to Phillip Island.  After mucking around there for a while we would then head home. The hope was that rain would not be too much of an issue.

Inverloch was going to be the place we would stop for a pie/sausage roll however neither of were all that hungry, having cleaned up all the left over food for breakfast before we left (apples, muesli bars, ice-cream and a stray bun). So the final food review was abandoned as we continued on to Phillip Island, and Cowes.

The scenery along the coast from Inverloch is stunning.  It's known as the Bunarong Coastal Drive and features locally iconic spots such as Eagles Nest (Sandstone rock stack), Twin Reefs and The Oaks. Unfortunately it had started to rain and we were unwilling to get wet, so were content to admire the scenery we could view from the comfort of our car.

After a while we crossed the bridge at San Remo in to Phillip Island. Our lunch destination was Cowes, and an Italian restaurant overlooking the Western Port Bay, Isola di Capri.

In times gone by I used to take day trips driving down to Cowes, and I would often visit this restaurant for lunch.  I have never been disappointed here.

Nick wasn't massively hungry so we ended up sharing a pizza between us.  Their wood fired pizzas are next level stuff.

There were roadworks occurring outside the restaurant with some pretty significant streetscape improvements which will end up a) being very pedestrian/visitor friendly and b) reducing the ability to use it as a road for traffic.

Having completed lunch we had one more stop before heading home, and that was to the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory.

We skipped entry to Panny's Amazing World of Chocolate (I must do that one day, but not today), and went straight to the shop.  After stocking up on Easter Eggs and other presents for Lesley, we made our way out and headed for home, in the pouring rain. 

Final Thoughts

Back in 2021, as I was recovering from some fairly significant health issues in hospital, I had made a commitment to myself to travel more. This didn't mean backpacking across Europe or travelling around the Americas. My interest was closer to home. Australia is a big, big place and I had not seen much of it.

2023 was a road trip to Byron Bay and country NSW and 2024 was to Port Lincoln, Ceduna and Broken Hill.

2025 caused a blip in my travel plans as further surgery, and my recovery from that, caused a delay in any travel. 

This trip was me getting back on that horse and reconfirming my commitment to travel, albeit at a lesser rate (for now).  The fact that I had Nick enthusiastically on board for this trip was an added bonus.

A lot of this trip felt like a series of greatest hits from holidays gone past, and that's not a bad thing. Enjoying the Mallacoota beaches, mini golf in Lakes Entrance, the Shell Museum (also Lakes Entrance), Wild Brumby Distillery outside Jindabyne, the Star Hotel in Echuca, Lee's Take Away in Mallacoota and Isola di Capri are reinforcing why I like travelling so much. Driving on unfamiliar roads, Corowa, wrong turns, too much walking and Yarram, are the new and/or unexpected experiences that I thoroughly enjoyed and will add to the memory bank as part of this overall holiday experience.     

 Highlights:

• Watching a pod of dolphins swimming off Quarry Beach on my last morning in Mallacoota.
• Takayama Restaurant - Jindabyne
• Mini golf in Lakes Entrance

This trip was always Part 1 of my trip around Victoria. I am looking forward to completing this trip in the latter half of 2026 as I cover the Western half of the state. Nick has already put his hand up to complete this trip with me.

Food Review

Whilst there were no reviews today we come to that time of the trip when we look at which bakery "won".

When I asked Nick about his favourite sausage roll of the trip, he replied, without hesitation, that it was the first one he had at Gaffney's Pie Kitchen in Seymour.

I had rated two pies equally on 8.5, however, on a count back, my favourite pie of the trip was the Bacon and Cheese pie at the Mallacoota Bakery. 

No album for the last day of our trip - Podcasts all the way home

Kms Travelled Today - 331

Kms Travelled Total - 2,637