← Barossa Marathon·3 nights

McLaren Vale and Victor Harbor: Wine and Winter Whales

A second wine region by the sea, then a winter coast where southern right whales come close inshore to calve, three nights south of the Barossa.

Duration3 nights
TransitAbout 2 hours by car south from Tanunda to the Fleurieu Peninsula
DepartsTanunda

After the Barossa Marathon: McLaren Vale and Victor Harbor

The Route: Tanunda → McLaren Vale → Victor Harbor → Adelaide Airport Logistics: Hire car. About 1 hour 45 minutes to McLaren Vale, bypassing central Adelaide, then 40 minutes on to Victor Harbor. Marathon Month: August Duration: 3 nights

Tanunda ──(approx. 1 hr 45 mins by car)──> McLaren Vale ──(approx. 40 mins)──> Victor Harbor
                                                                                  │
               Adelaide Airport (ADL) ◄──(approx. 1 hr 15 mins by car)────────────┘

The Barossa Marathon finishes in Tanunda in late August, in the middle of winter. That timing, which gives the Barossa bare vines and log fires, also brings southern right whales to the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide. Three nights here combine a second wine region with one of the best land-based whale watching coasts in Australia.

August on the Fleurieu Peninsula is winter: cool, often windy, with rain moving through from the Southern Ocean and bright days between. Southern right whales arrive along this coast in winter to calve and nurse their young, usually from about June to September or October, often within a few hundred metres of the shore. August falls in the middle of that season. Sightings are common but depend on where the whales choose to be; the South Australian Whale Centre in Victor Harbor tracks them.

Drive south from the Barossa via the Northern Expressway and the Southern Expressway, bypassing the city centre, to McLaren Vale in about an hour and three quarters. Victor Harbor is another 40 minutes south over the hills.

Night One: McLaren Vale

McLaren Vale lies between the Mount Lofty Ranges and Gulf St Vincent, a wine region known for shiraz and grenache, with the sea visible from many of its vineyards. It is warmer than the Barossa, and the cellar doors are a few minutes apart.

The d'Arenberg Cube, a five-storey building designed to look like an unsolved Rubik's cube floating over the vines, holds a tasting room and restaurant; there are lifts. The Shiraz Trail, a walking and cycling path on an old railway line from McLaren Vale to Willunga, is flat, sealed in parts and about 8 km long; walk a short section from the town.

Where to stay: Serafino, a winery just outside McLaren Vale, has hotel rooms among the vines and its own restaurant, so the evening needs no car.

Where to eat: The Star of Greece, on the cliffs above Port Willunga beach, looks straight out over the gulf and serves South Australian seafood; book a window table for a winter sunset.

Nights Two and Three: Victor Harbor

Victor Harbor is a seaside town on Encounter Bay, named after the meeting of Matthew Flinders and the French explorer Nicolas Baudin in these waters in 1802. The foreshore path along the bay is flat and paved, and the benches look out over the water where the whales often appear.

Granite Island, a small granite outcrop in the bay, is joined to the town by a causeway about 600 m long, flat and walkable. A horse-drawn tram has run across it for most of the time since 1894; check whether it is operating. On the island, a path circles the rocky shore with some slopes and steps.

The South Australian Whale Centre, near the causeway, explains the whales' migration, takes sighting reports and posts them daily. Start there each morning, then drive the coast road to wherever the whales were last seen. Waitpinga and Petrel Cove, west of town, are good vantage points, with short walks from the car parks. Carry binoculars and a warm layer; the wind off the Southern Ocean is cold in August.

Where to stay: The Anchorage Seaview Hotel, on the Victor Harbor foreshore, faces the bay and the causeway, so the morning whale watch can start from the window. Holiday houses and apartments along the Esplanade are an alternative for a longer stay.

Where to eat: Victor Harbor's foreshore cafés and pubs serve fish and chips and seafood. Port Elliot, a few minutes east, has a bakery known across the state and a short, flat walk along Horseshoe Bay.

Getting to Adelaide Airport

Adelaide Airport (ADL) is about 1 hour 15 minutes from Victor Harbor by car, over the hills to Mount Compass and north on the Southern Expressway. Allow extra time for the winding hill road in rain.