SA Trip 2026 - Days 9 and 10 - The Run Home (II)

 Day 9 - Port Fairy to Torquay

I woke up to the sound of rain against the bedroom window. After having a very good run with warm weather for most of this trip, the closer I got to home the colder and wetter it became. 

I visited a couple of my favourite beaches before continuing east.

East Beach (Port Fairy)

Killarney Beach (not Port Fairy)

It's normally a relatively straight forward drive from Port Fairy to home, which can normally be achieved in one day. I had a couple of final stops which stretched this out into a two day trip.

The first stop was lunch in a familiar place, Timboon Cafe & Distillery.

That is a mocktail, by the way. I think this has been the first time I have purposefully visited a distillery and not tried their product. Being a responsible adult (also on medication) (also without someone else to drive) I behaved myself. Did I buy a bottle for later consumption? Yes I did.

No pies today. Instead, I enjoyed some Korean Fried Chicken with some chips. Yum.

After lunch I hopped across to Timboon Fine Ice-Cream. The flavour combination chosen today? Whisky cream and lemon sorbet. Yes, it did work. 

From Timboon it was pleasant drive through the Otways to Lorne. Then things went a little bit mad. The traffic going through Lorne was banked up about 500 metres or so. I soon worked out what was happening. Friday was a public holiday, and those people not interested in seeing two interstate teams fight it out in the AFL grand final the next day (i.e. most people) had skipped town (Melbourne) to enjoy a long weekend. The great Ocean Road seemed to be a popular place to do just that. From Lorne through to Torquay the popular road was busier that Bourke Street.

Eventually I made it to Torquay and my last overnight stay away. I stayed at a place called Surf Hotel which is being managed by one of my clients with his partner looking after the culinary side of things. The place had recently been renovated and my room included something I hadnt seen in a hotel room before: 

The beer garden was absolutely packed with patrons enjoying themselves. As were the other two venues located next door. Gotta love pointless public holidays!

It was good to catch up with my clients, and pleased for them that the hotel was so busy.

Day 10 - Torquay to Home

All good trips must some to an end and sadly, that included this one. The trip home took only a couple of hours and I arrived home around lunch time.

Final Thoughts

The primary purpose(s) of this trip was to attend a funeral and support a friend. There were a number of secondary purposes, including the visiting of some clients who I had not seen in a while and also doing something I really like (road trips).

This trip was a reinforcement of my philosophy of making the most of your experiences. The funeral, as well as my health challenges, were, and are, reminders of this tenet. 

Pie Winner

Elliott's Bakehouse in Kadina and their steak and mushroom pie. Ignoring the actual scores, this pie was the most memorable and deserves to be crowned Pie Winner of This Trip.
 

SA Trip 2026 - Days 7 and 8 - The Run Home (I)

 Day 7 - Kadina to Kingston SE

The trip home will take three days and will cover around 1,180km, give or take.

The first leg involved traveling around Adelaide and not through it (again), with about 450km on the clock.

I was still on the lookout for some spectacular Silo art and the town of Owen (between Balaklava and Gawler) did not disappoint.

I have previously travelled around the plains north of Adelaide and the Yorke Peninsula either in winter or in late spring/summer, after crops have been cut. Driving through these areas in September, after what seemed to be pretty good rains, was a bit of a revelation to me. Instead of short, stubbly, yellow stalks in dusty fields it was lush greenery as far as the eye could see. I hope this means that the harvests in the next couple of months will be bountiful for the farmers.

After a lunch stop in Tailem Bend (you know the drill) it was a drive down the Coorong to my overnight stop in Kingston SE. Apart from the spectacular scenery the only point of interest was during one of my short breaks on the side of the road. An RAA (local roadside assist) van drove past me, stopped and then doubled back until he was next to me.  I got out of the car and said g'day. He asked if I was OK. I thought I was. He then said that we was on his way to a call out to a car that had run out of petrol. A red Mazda. I was driving a red Mazda. After determining that another red Mazda on this road needed petrol, he continued on his way.

This stretch of road is a favourite of mine. The landscapes and vistas are gob-smackingly beautiful. I wrote about this in my 2024 trip, here.

Mid afternoon I arrived in at Kingston SE and found my motel. I then had a bit of a wander around the town. This seemed a different Kingston SE to the one I drove through a couple of years ago. So many empty shops, closed down businesses or businesses up for sale. I did a bit of online digging to try to work out why but nothing obvious came up.

This town has my favourite Big Thing and it was an obligatory stopping point for a selfie with it.

Me and Larry

 After tea at the local pub I then walked down to the local jetty. 

Day 8 - Kingston SE to Port Fairy

The second leg of this home run saw another 360km travelled with some more spectacular driving along the Limestone Coast until I reached the Victorian border, and then the coastal towns until reaching Port Fairy.

I need to learn to use the online thesaurus in order to avoid repetition. The scenery continued to be spectacular right along the coast:

Robe

Bridgeport

Nelson

Portland

One of the highlights of this trip actually wasn't by the water, but further inland. I spotted a large wedge-tailed eagle that seemed to have found some roadkill and was enjoying it by the side of the road. When it saw my car approaching it flew off across the road, in front of my car (no, I didn't hit it). Majestic.

After arriving in Port Fairy, and having a small break, I took a look around the town. It seemed to be busier than normal. Probably because of the Grand Final Day holiday on Friday allowing people to enjoy a long weekend. Absolutely understandable. From a Victorian viewpoint I could not care less about the two teams playing on Saturday.

Pie Review

Day 7 - Tailem Bend Bakery 

Steak, Bacon and Cheese (I think - in all honesty I forgot what pie this was. It wasn't steak and mushroom).

I think this was good, but not memorable? Let's give it 7.5/10

Day 8 - Rivoli Bay Deli

This one was a steak and mushroom.

This was probably my second favourite steak and mushroom pie of the trip. 8/10 

SA Trip 2026 Days 4,5 & 6 - Kadina

As always, the stay in Hahndorf was not long enough, however it was time for the next leg of this trip, Kadina.

Kadina is located about 150km north of Adelaide on the west side of the Yorke Peninsula. Kadina forms part of the Copper Triangle with the other two points being Wallaroo and Moonta. The area had/has rich cooper deposits and had a mining boom from the 1860s to the 1920s. As with all mining booms in Australia, it encouraged an influx of workers to the region, both from within Australia as well as internationally. One of the largest contributors was from the Cornish region of England. Cornish miners had a reputation as being the best in the world. And so they flocked to South Australia. The area became known as Little Cornwall, and Kernewek Lowender, a festival held every 2 years in the area, is actually the biggest Cornish Festival in the world.

Kadina is the biggest town of the three, and consequently is/was my home base for the next three nights.

The funeral was on Monday, in Moonta. A wonderful celebration of her life.

Rest in Peace, Nola.

Client meeting, Tuesday morning followed by a wander around the main shopping district of Moonta. As with a lot of old, small towns in "the country", Moonta is a mixture of very old and very new shops. The fine balancing act of preserving the old whilst also allowing the town to grow.

Moonta is very proud of its history and has recently been fighting a "takeover" by the National Trust of South Australia (NTSA), which did hit the mainstream media back in February. The resultant legal action and subsequent settlement meant that the local group regained control of management of the historic mines and there is now a state inquiry into the operations of the NTSA.

I mention this because the local group was having a meeting at the same cafe that I was meeting my client.  Luckily they weren't too noisy.

In the late afternoon I drove out to Port Hughes and Moonta Bay to have a wander and a ponder.

Port Hughes 1

Port Hughes 2

Moonta Bay 1

Moonta Bay 2

I have visited this area around half a dozen times (maybe more?) over the years. I find the area both captivating and intriguing. The beaches are pristine and the waters crystal clear. And whilst it can be a busy tourism spot (think The Peninsula for Melbournians) it can sometimes be quiet and peaceful. Like it was this evening.

I begin my run home tomorrow. Next stop - Kingston SE.

Pie Review

Day 4 - Port Wakefield Bakery

 

This was my second beef and mushroom pie. This was better than the first one, but still not awe inspiring. 7.5/10

Day 5 - Elliott's Bakehouse

I was feeling particularly hungry so chose two pies.

The one above was a steak an mushroom pie. This was starting to get to the standard I am looking for in this type of pie. Big chunks of mushroom and large chunks of slow cooked steak pieces. Very flavourful. 8.75/10

The name got me. It was an eggs benedict pie. Conceptually this could have been a contest winner however I think the execution wasn't quite there. Probably needed more hollandaise sauce, to be honest. 6.75/10

Day 6 - Taste the Yorke 

Something a bit different on Day 6 Instead of a pie I had the Moonta Oggie. This is a "2 course pastry" that has 2/3 of it filled with mince and vegetables and 1/3 apple. As you can see in the photo it was served with both tomato sauce as well as whipped cream, to compliment the different parts of it.

This was mostly tasty with the one weird bit being where the two fillings intermingled. Neither the sauce, nor the cream, worked in that area. 

There is a bit of Cornish history to the Oggie, explained to me by the waitress when it was served to me. Back in the mining days these were provided by the wives to the miners as a way to have a full meal in one package. 

This was weird, but in a good way, and I am glad I went for it. 7.5/10