Take time to refuel and purchase last minute necessities in Mt Gambier before the 9km drive to ‘The Barn’, OB Flat.  Meet your host Annie, settle in with fellow travellers over dinner, and as overnight guests.

Dinner included

Boandik Elder, Ken Jones joins you at a 4WD access point to a remote corner of Piccaninnie Ponds, a wetland National Park area fed by freshwater springs in a unique cast landscape of sinkholes and caves.  

Amongst drives and short walks hear the traditional stories of this fascinating coastal landscape, all along the coast to Pt MacDonnell.

‘Port Mac’ is home to the largest Southern Rock Lobster fleet in Australia, and where the Ferguson family hold and pack live crays for export.  A crayfish lunch is a perfect reason to linger after a private tour of the facility.

From Part Mac wind through pinus radiata forest and backroads to arrive at ‘Punters Retreat’, your idyllic Coonawarra escape in sprawling redgum studded grounds, surrounded by vineyard. Relax and recharge over dinner and an evening ‘in’.  

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included

Your morning includes an audience with ‘Prof’ of Majella Wines. Raconteur and elder statesman of the wine region, enjoy his regional insights, and an update on his latest entrepreneurial project over morning tea.

A step back in time, you join the Clifford family, avid custodians since 1914, of ‘Yallum Park’. This Victorian mansion built between 1878-1880, is one of the best-preserved historic homes in Australia, built for John Riddoch, founding father of the ‘Coonawarra Fruit Colony’, parliamentarian, grazier, and philanthropist.  Stories continue well into lunch!

In the afternoon take a journey from barrel to bottle with the Bowen family. Coonawarra veteran Doug Bowen has ‘retired’ to viticulturist, his daughter Emma at the helm of Bowen Estate winemaking. The theme continues with  an especially curated  regional dining experience at renowned ‘Pipers of Penola’, owned by son, brother and chef, Simon Bowen and his wife Erika. You will be taken home to the luxury and comfort of Punters Retreat.

Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Wine Tastings and Dinner included

After breakfast, you  take a short drive to ‘Gum Park’, certified organic farm and home to South Glynde Southdown Sheep Stud. Back in the hands of 3rd generation descendant Dee Nolan and her English husband John Southgate, with his own Ford Europe story to tell. From olives to sheep, Dee’s passion is breeding back to the original, smaller-sized Southdown sheep breed, called Babydoll’s, a far cry from a distinguished career as author, senior newspaper executive and magazine editor on many of the world’s leading publications in London and New York.

Next door, in the Wrattonbully wine region, experience Grindstone Vineyards, a family property of 110 years, tended by descendant Susie Harris. Susie is working to re-establish native understory plantings to the red and manna gums re-vegetated by her father, and as a vineyard insect management practice.  A relaxing walk with Susie, then savour a tasting of the family’s ‘Land of Tomorrow’ Wines and a long lunch showcasing a bounty of locally sourced seasonal fare at their vineyard Tasting Hut. 

A free evening, and final overnight at ‘Punters Retreat’. 

Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch and Wine included

After breakfast depart Coonawarra for a privately escorted 4WD and walking adventure through Canunda National Park on the wild Limestone Coast.  Your long term local and Park Ranger guide shares this incredibly dynamic area of changing  landscapes and seascapes. Explore sandy surf beaches, large sand dunes, rocky headlands and steep cliffs, reef platforms and rock pools, geological formations, Aboriginal middens, shipwrecks, remnants of a forlorn pastoral era, amongst unique coastal flora and fauna – watch for wombats.

Arriving in South End, on Rivoli Bay, return to bitumen for a 45 minute drive to Robe, and the luxurious comfort of Stony Rise Lodge. Charming, luxurious, contemporary, and discretely nestled in native vegetation on sand dunes just one kilometre from the ocean near Robe. Your home for 2 nights.

Free evening to dine at leisure in Robe and nestle in to your accommdaotion. 

Breakfast, Morning Tea, Packed Lunch included

Exclusive guests of the Lodge, relax and soak in the seclusion of this unexpected sanctuary, or perhaps take a stroll or drive to the beach, before a mid-morning  walk with the owners to a family favourite spot in the tea tree bush, for a scrub lunch. Once a cattle property, Bek and husband Andrew Rosser continue the regeneration started by Bek’s father through a native revegetation programme. Their story and vision is inspiring!

Our final dinner in the magnificent  Stony-Rise Lodge Dining Room is catered by Bek, with a focus on local and foraged produce from the area.

Overnight Stony Rise Lodge

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and some wines included

Your  Limestone Coast experience draws to a close following breakfast. Depart at leisure. 

Breakfast included