Secrets of the South East of South Australia

Where can you find the "Tantanoola Tiger"?

The South East of South Australia is also known as The Limestone Coast Wine Region and encompasses the wine areas of Padthaway in the north, Coonawarra and Wrattonbully in the middle, Cape Jaffa and Mount Benson on the north west coast and Mount Gambier in the south. But hey, wine isn‚t all we produce nor all we offer. Our bounties are plentiful; bring your camera and binoculars and capture our scenic spots inland; with majestic red gum dotted paddocks and highways, picnic spots next to creeks, historic buildings, rolling vineyards, acres of pines and unique swimming lakes or our rugged coastlines, beautiful sandy beaches, bountiful seafood with just the best lobster. Port MacDonnell hits the nail on the head there being the lobster capital of Australia! Not to mention the number and variety of conservation parks, limestone caves, wetlands and waterholes offering sink hole diving plus the famous volcanic Blue Lake! And this is mostly natural; when you add our built attractions and art and crafts appreciation, lush green golf courses you can blow your mind out! Cultural and eco tourism almost in a thumbnail of Australia!

This tiny corner of Australia, encompassing just 4% of the State, offers the best of the country in diversity. It borders Big River Country in the north, the coast on the west and south and the Western Districts of Victoria on the east so if you are driving from Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road or the Grampians, in the direction of Adelaide or vice versa, you will experience this magical little region that is big on welcoming visitors. Multi tourism award winners abound from attractions to accommodations to restaurants to our regional tourism board who recently entered the Hall of Fame winning their category for the third year in a row in July 1999 at the state awards presentations in Adelaide. This award winning region will greet you with award winning smiles.

The area has traditionally been a rich pastoral one but diversification has seen the introduction of a variety of fruit and vegetables, seeds, seafood's, emu and Boer goat farming, native plant and lavender farms, pine and blue gum forests and of course, wine grapes. Wines from here are considered premium to top end and there are many cellar doors where you can freely taste them and also purchase to take home or have delivered to your door. You will find the cellar door staff very friendly and knowledgeable and sometimes be able to chat to the winemaker as well. The Coonawarra is famous for its Cabernet Sauvignons although Shiraz comes a close second with some excellent blending of other varieties. Excellent white wines are also made and you will find most varieties available including some stickies at some cellar doors.

The whole of the South East abounds with natural and built attractions and warm, friendly people who enjoy meeting its many visitors. Everywhere you go you will find friendly and courteous service. We go out of our way to make our visitors welcome. We have a feedback service through our regional tourism board, Tourism South East, if your visit is not up to expectations in the level of service, courtesy and hospitality. We are so confident of your experiences that we encourage you to contact the board if you feel dissatisfied in any way so that it can be corrected.

Entering the South East from the Grampians about two hours drive away, you‚ll arrive at Naracoorte, a town of around 5,000 people situated in the centre of the region. Famous for its World Heritage listed Naracoorte Caves Conservation Park, it is the most popular natural attraction of the town. Friendly guides escort visitors on regular daily tours of the Alexandra, Blanche, Victoria Fossil Caves and the Bat Cave Teleview Centre while the Wet Cave is self guided. Alexandra Cave is noted for its beautiful limestone formations while Blanche Cave consists of three large caverns with a soft pink hue. The Victoria Fossil Caves features prehistoric fossil bones found in 1969 of animals long extinct as well as the limestone formations. You can see re-creations of some 19 of these extinct animals in the new Wonambi Fossil Centre where they appear to come to life with movement and sound in a rainforest setting of some 200,000 years ago. The Bat Cave Teleview Centre has infra-red cameras set in four of its chambers and the bats‚ antics can be viewed on a bank of monitors set out in a room above the cave. The bats (tiny Bent-Wings) come in October to have their offspring and depart around February/March for the north. January tours are also held at dusk when one can view them coming and going from the cave entrance on their night feeding flights. They consume up to half their body weight of insects per night on these feeding frenzies! A few ²hang aroundÓ over the winter months and can be seen in the roof cavities of the Blanche Cave. A new licensed restaurant was recently established within the park and serves snacks as well as full meals.

Naracoorte is also home to the Bool Lagoon Wetlands, an area proclaimed as an important wetland by the United Nations. In a good season, one can view up to 155 species of birds - that‚s more than Kakadu National Park! Bournes Bird Museum has many of those species mounted on display in their interesting collection adjacent to the lagoons.

Naracoorte also has many other interesting attractions including the Wool Museum at The Sheep‚s Back which also houses a local craft shop and the Tourist Information Centre, The Naracoorte Museum and Snake Pit which has over 120 fascinating collections in open areas and various rooms connected by open walkways. One can watch the snakes being fed in summer in their enclosures. Barry took the snakes away once and found he had to bring them back such was the demand! Children really enjoy the Tiny Train Park where they can ride on the miniature steam train, play peytonk and miniature golf or Pioneer Park which has a full sized steam engine on display. Both parks have free BBQs.

Driving west, Lucindale is on the way to Kingston SE and situated 42km from Naracoorte. Its home to a couple of rather unusual attractions. One being the Lucindale Motor Co and Gift Gallery. This quaint working garage, offering fuel, oil, parts and efficient service has murals of old cars painted on its walls and houses an impressive collection of wooden vintage cars and restored brass burners. Gladys, a talented folk artist, has taken over part of the workshop to house her wide array of ²country styledÓ hand-painted gifts.

The other is a museum on the soldier settlement and contains old houses, train carriages and memorabilia. This museum is only open by appointment so you‚ll need to call the president of the Historical Society, Keith Bates on 08 8766 2198.

48km west of Lucindale is Kingston SE. A thriving fish port where you‚ll find freshly caught lobster at Lacepede Seafood by the jetty on Marine Parade during the season from October to April. Larry the Lobster greets visitors coming from Adelaide on the Princes Highway. An unusual attraction here is Key‚s Collection of over 100 vintage, operational tractors, engines, assorted farm equipment and antiques. Enjoy a coffee, lunch or a snack at the Cottage Coffee Shop on Agnes Street where patrons are served by a fully liveried butler!

Travelling south, down the Coast a bit, you‚ll come across Cape Jaffa a Wines who have a cellar door offering free tastings and sales and just down the road is Mount Benson where you can sample some more from these two award winning wineries.

Travelling on down the Princes Highway you‚ll find yourself at the picturesque fishing port of Robe just 23km from Kingston SE. Steeped in history and full of delightfully restored buildings of yesteryear, this popular family holiday spot has superb beaches, great galleries, restaurants, coffee shops and plenty of accommodation choices from holiday flats to B&Bs to cottages to hotels, motels and caravan and camping parks. Try some coffee and cake at the Wild Mulberry Coffee Shop or enjoy a superb lunch. Mahalia and Paul will certainly look after you. You‚ll also find fresh lobster and other seafood in season on the jetty.

43km down the coast lies Beachport, an historic whaling port but now another busy fishing port with, of course, the proverbial lobsters. During the drive you will pass the great lakes of Eliza, St Clair and St George to the west. St George is renowned for its mullet. A couple of unusual attractions here are the Butcher‚s Gallery, a museum and local art gallery, housed in South Australia‚s first original Butcher‚s shop and the National Trust museum which has an extensive collection of relics from the whaling past as well as rooms furnished in the style of the 1870‚s. The Woakwine Cutting, which opened up the swamplands to farming, is10km north of the town and Australia‚s biggest one-man engineering feat! Beautiful scenic drives offer magnificent ocean views and access to secluded beaches.

The Princes Highway continues on south, past the pretty village of Rendlesham a short 34km onto Millicent this is Pine Tree country. Take some time to turn off and drive the 6km to Southend, another fishing village and take a walk around the rugged coast. Many ships met their end in these rugged waters during the last century. You‚ll find the history of some of these in the little museum in Port MacDonnell, the Lobster Capital of South Australia. Millicent also has a National Trust Museum with a Shipwreck Room featuring memorabilia in the Tourist Information Complex which also features the Admella Gallery (The Admella was a ship which sunk in 1859 off the coast). The Tantanoola Caves are located close by on the way to Mount Gambier and have some really stunning limestone formations. Take a look at the Tantanoola Tiger on display at the Tantanoola Hotel where the publican or a regular will be pleased to tell the tale of the legend over a jar or two!

A short hop of about l6kms and you‚re in Mount Gambier, famous for its Blue Lake and entry point to the South East for travellers ²doing the Great Ocean RoadÓ from Victoria. A bustling city of about 25,000 it has much to imbue the visitor from mysterious caves and sink holes to unique volcanic lakes to wonderful food and wines, top class galleries, theatres and cinemas, scenic bus and steam train tours and award winning hospitality. Triple award winning Blue Lake Aquifer Tours can take you into the ²depthsÓ of the mysterious lake which turns from grey to a deep sapphire blue in November until about April, backpackers, groups and families can stop in the Old Goal for a unique overnight experience and licensed divers can descend the depths of the sink holes. The Limestone Coast Railway offers steam train rides on Sundays through pine forests, prime farmlands studded with majestic red gums and on into the famous premium wine country of Coonawarra, a stop for lunch in Penola with time to browse the shops before returning (Bookings required on 08 8739 4367). Mount Gambier has many diverse festivals and events throughout the year.

The drive north to Penola is 50km and takes you past the townships of Tarpeena with its Fairytale Park and Nangwarry which has a large saw milling industry because this is pine country. Further along are potatoes and the potato chip factory. Take a detour and visit the Trout Farm! Watch for the sign post.

The pretty township of Penola is also steeped in history with many renovated buildings and cottages. This township was home to the Blessed Mother Mary MacKillop, Australia‚s first ²saint to beÓ and founder of the Catholic Order of St Joseph nuns. Here you will find the school she set up for the poor children to be educated in conjunction with Father Woods. A new centre has been set up and dedicated to her memory. Wander down Petticoat Lane, east of the main street, and take yourself back in time 150 years! Here you will find the original cottages some selling goods like toys and fine linens others open for inspection to give an insight of life during those times. Each year they have a sound and light display in this street. The main street is full of interesting shops like Never Too Old stocked with antiques, bric a brac and antique replica furniture at very reasonable prices and Toffee and Treats, an old fashioned sweet store. There are plenty of restaurants and coffee shops to suit all tastes in the town and up the road a bit on the outskirts The Hermitage Wine Bar for lunch or dinner. Do drop into the Strawberry Farm as you drive north for the best you‚ll ever taste plus a range of other fresh vegies, local smoked trout from down the road and other goodies plus their range of home made jams. Delicious!

So we are heading north to Naracoorte, another 50km past the famous vines of Coonawarra and the 20 or so cellar door tastings and sales and onto Padthaway past more acres of vines. Drop into Padthaway Estate, which also offers luxury, heritage accommodation, if you‚d like to taste the local drops in the stables cellar door although BRL Hardy do plan to open their own cellar door at their new $18m Stonehaven Winery in August. Its just south of Padthaway and well sign posted.

From Padthaway you can make an interesting detour to Bordertown, birth place of former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke. Here you can see white kangaroos at the Wildlife Park which also has emus, wallabies and water birds or try and a hitch a ride in a glider! A soaring experience! Some interesting side trips are the Mundulla Tea Rooms housed in the old Mundulla Hotel containing a gallery and National Trust museum, Clayton Farm off the western approach to Bordertown and the Teatrick Lavender Farm at Wolseley where you‚ll find homemade goodies with the scent and flavour of Lavender.

If you choose to take the Princes Highway driving from Adelaide into the South East you will come across the Coorong before you reach Kingston, a unique place in the Aboriginal Dreamtime! Its one of the most important waterbird habitats in Australia and is a critical freshwater resource in times of drought. The world‚s largest breeding colony of the Australian pelican nests here. The 47,000 hectares are home to about 90 species of water birds and shore birds, 21 species of seabirds and 33 species of birds that migrate annually from Siberia, Japan, China and 14 protected species. The Aboriginal connection is at Camp Coorong, south of Meningie. Here you can appreciate and learn from the Ngarrindjeri people about the place where they have lived for thousands of years. You can also do 4WD tours with the award winning Coorong Nature Tours.

If you are entering the South East from the Dukes Highway from Adelaide or the Western Highway from Melbourne you‚ll come to our northern gateway of Keith. Take the time to stroll down Heritage Street which runs parallel to the highway. It features a travellers rest area with a heritage style rotunda, a lawned picnic spot and a playground for the children or drop in for a coffee at the Penny Farthing Cafe which also stocks tourist information. Spot the Land Rover on a pole! Its a unique memorial to the tireless work and spirit of the farmers who opened up and developed the Keith area for agriculture under the AMP scheme.

Come and discover the Secrets of The South East of South Australia.

This editorial acknowledges that some of the information was sourced from the Secrets of the SE Visitor Guide and was supplied by:

Jane Frost
Dartmoor Homestead B&B Guesthouse
30 McLay Street
Naracoorte
South Australia, 5271, Australia

Email: dartmoor@rbm.com.au
Web: rbm.com.au/dartmoor/
Tel: 08 8762 0487 - Int: 61 8 8762 0487
Fax: 08 8762 0481 - Int: 61 8 8762 0481
Mobile: 0408 600 930 - Int: 61 408 600 930

Free copies of the Secrets of the SE Visitor, Historic, Arts and Golf guides are available by calling Naracoorte Tourism‚s Freecall number, saying you read about the region on the "Holiday Oz" website, on (Aust) Freecall: 1800 244 421 or by email from: dartmoor@rbm.com.au.

You can also visit my website for lots of Oz travel links at http://www.rbm.com.au/dartmoor

SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S EASTERN BORDER ATTRACTIONS

Half an hour from the border with Victoria, South Australia has several country townships well worth some exploration. To enjoy them all, take the quiet and good country road from Mount Gambier to Naracoorte, or vice versa. All these townships are about half way between Adelaide and Melbourne and are thus an excellent stopping place for between city diversions.