From the top of Tapanappa Ridge, the view is a full sweep of Australian wonders. On your left: the hulking mass of Deep Creek National Park, its muscular ridges flexed as though poised to leap into the sparkling Southern Ocean. Ahead, dolphin-dotted coves dip into fingernails of creamy sands, finished with threads of foaming white water. Beyond, a band of thick blue horizon slices the endless sky in two. If you set off from here, you would meet nothing until Antarctica.
It feels like you’re standing on the edge of the world. But in reality, you’re just pausing to memorise the mid-hike view halfway through a new, four-day gourmet walking tour along South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula.
South Australia has often found itself playing second fiddle to Australia’s big-hitters like Sydney or Melbourne – especially when it comes to claiming a share of international tourism. Of the roughly eight million visitors to the state every year, only five per cent tend to come from outside Australia. The upside is that South Australia feels authentically Australian; this is where Aussies go in Australia, and this new walk shows you exactly why.
The three-night excursion is set on the Fleurieu Peninsula, a 140km stretch of coastline about 90 minutes from the state capital, Adelaide. The peninsula is packed with a field guide’s worth of plants, animals and landscapes, and the idea of the tour is to spend four days hiking its varied terrain – and three nights eating your fill of the peninsula’s produce.
During those four days on foot, you’ll amble along secluded beaches and up vine-stitched hills, hike through bushland and dip your toes in waterfalls, and cross “saw kangaroos in the wild” off your bucket list. You’ll even pick up part of the Heysen Trail – Australia’s longest and best-known walking route, which stretches some 1,200km across South Australia (although each day is capped at around 10km of hiking).
But the point of this tour is not just what you see; it’s also about what you eat. South Australia has some of the best produce of any Australian state, which has driven its restaurant scene forwards in recent years. Adelaide’s eateries in particular are increasingly gaining international recognition for their quality. Every May, a long-running food festival – Tasting Australia – lands in Adelaide, which shows off the unique eating and drinking experiences only found in South Australia.
The state’s wines, too, are world-renowned – McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills and the Barossa Valley are all here, alongside tons of other wineries producing incredible shiraz, grenache and cabernet sauvignon.
So, because this is a gourmet tour, every day ends with an epicurean experience: you stagger into a homestead, post a few Instagram stories of the sights you’ve just witnessed, and then settle in for a food event rooted in the land you’ve just walked through. That might mean a three-course dinner with paired wines, or a cooking class with the homestead’s resident chef. The final night even involves a degustation at one of McLaren Vale’s best-known wineries – complete with matching wines – before heading back to Adelaide.
It’s always been a wonder to me that more people don’t add South Australia to their Australian itineraries. But perhaps that makes it feel more special; there are no big tour groups clogging its trails, nor does it have that atmosphere of tick-box tourism that can pervade bigger cities. In fact, on this tour, you get to spend four days walking and eating your way along one of the state’s prettiest peninsulas – with the feeling that you have South Australia’s wonders all to yourself.
Georgie Young is digital editor of Secret Trips
