Capturing The Eyre Peninsula: A GoPro Adventure

From swimming with sea lions to shucking fresh oysters, the Eyre Peninsula is an intoxicating blend of natural beauty, thrilling activities and delicious flavours. We captured the entire adventure on the GoPro Hero 12.

Day one

From Adelaide, it’s a short flight to Port Lincoln Airport where you’ll embark on a scenic flight with Lincoln Air Charter. Soar over the expansive coastline and soak up the natural beauty of Lincoln National Park and the rural landscape of the southern Eyre Peninsula.

GoPro tip: Use the handler attachment to capture the view from above.

Lincoln Air Charter flight over Eyre Peninsula — Embark on a scenic flight with Lincoln Air Charter. (Image: Anita Jokovich)

Venture northwest to Oyster Farm Tours in Coffin Bay, where you can harvest oysters straight from the ocean. Slip into waterproof waders and make your way to the semi-submerged saltwater pavilion where you’ll shuck your own oysters while sipping on a South Australian riesling, all while soaking in the stunning surroundings.

GoPro tip: Attach the bite mount to capture all the hands-free shucking action.

FRESHLY PICKED OYSTERS from Oyster Farm Tours in Coffin Bay — Harvest oysters straight from the ocean. (Image: Anita Jokovich)

Next stop is Yarnbala, a pristine piece of bushland in Coffin Bay owned by Kane Slater and his family who host nature-based experiences. One of South Australia’s last remaining grassy low sheoak woodlands, this area is now critically endangered. Kane’s desire to share this tranquil haven led to the creation of a thoughtfully designed central gathering area around a fire pit, crafted from locally sourced natural and recycled materials. Experiences include a guided tour, foraging for bush tucker and live performances of the didgeridoo and lap steel guitar. Enjoy with woodfired pizzas and drinks such as local gin, wine and craft beer. A magical experience.

GoPro tip: Capture the live music hands-free by using the attached tripod while you sip on a Yarnbala signature G&T made with Green Ant Gin.

Retreat to the comfort of Port Lincoln Hotel, a four-star resort boasting panoramic views of Boston Bay. It’s the perfect pit stop to unwind and relax, allowing you to recharge for the next day’s activities.

Yarnbala live performance — Watch live performances at Yarnbala. (Image: Anita Jokovich)

GoPro tip: Charge up your GoPro for the next day while editing and downloading images to social media.

Need tips, more detail or itinerary ideas tailored to you? Ask AT.

Day two

Day two promises the highlight of the Port Lincoln experience: swimming with playful sea lions, affectionally known as the ‘puppies of the ocean’. It’s a 90-minute boat trip from Port Lincoln to Blythe Island, where sea lions can usually be seen basking on the shore. While regulations require visitors to maintain a distance of 50 metres, these curious creatures often approach with excitement. During the hour-long swim, you are likely to encounter about a dozen sea lions, whose enthusiasm will grow as you engage with them in play.

GoPro tip: The GoPro is waterproof to 10 metres and built for rugged conditions. Its hydrophobic lens keeps underwater shots crystal clear, so you can capture footage of these magical sea creatures.

Sea lion in the Eyre Peninsula — Swim with playful sea lions. (Image: Anita Jokovich)

Fuel up at L’Anse French Cafe, known for its flaky French pastries, before embarking on your next adventure.

Make your way to Mikkira Station, a picturesque picnic and camping ground that’s home to a large colony of koalas. Take a stroll through the property to spot koalas in their natural habitat and, if you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of baby joeys nestled in their mothers’ pouches. Indulge in a picnic provided by Australian Coastal Safaris as the sun sets.

GoPro tip: Once the sun has set, you can capture light trails in the night sky with night-lapse videos.

Koala in tree at Mikkira Station in the Eyre Peninsula — Mikkira Station is home to a large colony of koalas. (Image: Anita Jokovich)

On your last day, experience a 4WD and sandboarding adventure with Australian Coastal Safaris in Lincoln National Park. Enjoy the exhilarating thrill of speeding down the dunes on a sandboard or as a passenger four-wheel-driving on the dunes. Capture footage of the towering sand formations and shimmering waters, all while keeping an eye out for native wildlife. With luck, you might even catch a glimpse of an emu roaming the sandy landscape!

GoPro tip: Use HyperSmooth 6.0 and AutoBoost to keep your videos stable when filming your adventurous pursuits. There’s also a built-in Horizon Lock so you can keep the shot level even when your camera is rotating and moving.

Sand dunes in Port Lincoln — Enjoy the exhilarating thrill of speeding down the dunes. (Image: Anita Jokovich)

After tasting the freshest seafood at the Fresh Fish Place, get ready for an e-biking adventure – the perfect way to explore the coastline without exerting too much effort. Set out from Australian Coastal Safaris and make your way to the marina, located about five kilometres from the town centre. The cycle route traces the coast along the picturesque Parnkalla Trail.

GoPro tip: Consider the chest mount accessory to film video while you’re riding your bike for added safety.

Sand dunes and ocean in Port Lincoln, Eyre Peninsula — Take in the stunning views with your GoPro. (Image: Anita Jokovich)

Designed to capture high-quality photos and videos, the GoPro Hero 12 has advanced features such as image stabilisation and enhanced image quality. Download the GoPro Quik app as a tool for editing and sharing footage on the go.

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Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.

Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.

But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.

The rise of Macedon Ranges wine

liquid gold barrels at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.

Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.

Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.

Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat, now one of the largest estates.

Meet the new generation of local winemakers

the Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. — The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate, whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor, who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will, who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.

Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.

farm animals atKyneton Ridge Estate — Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”

the vineyard at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.

Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods. “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.

Come for the wine, stay for the food

pouring sauce onto a dish at Lake HouseDaylesford — Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.

For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.

the Midnight Starling restaurant in Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.

The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.

Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

the accommodation at Cleveland Estate, Macedon Ranges — Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Soak up vineyard views from Cleveland Estate near Lancefield, embrace retro charm at Kyneton Springs Motel or indulge in lakeside luxury at the Lake House.

Eating there

Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument, which also has a sculpture park.

Drinking there

wine tasting at PassingClouds Winery, Macedon Ranges — A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds.

the Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar signage — Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Playing there

a scenic river in Castlemaine — Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens, hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.

purple flowers hanging from a tree — Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Capturing the Eyre Peninsula: A GoPro adventure

From swimming with sea lions to shucking fresh oysters, the Eyre Peninsula is an intoxicating blend of natural beauty, thrilling activities and delicious flavours. We captured the entire adventure on the GoPro Hero 12.

Day one

Day two

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The Macedon Ranges is Victoria’s best-kept food and wine secret

Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.

The rise of Macedon Ranges wine

Meet the new generation of local winemakers

Come for the wine, stay for the food