EAT: Flinders Sourdough, Flinders
A village bakery good enough that it accidentally became a reason to drive to Flinders. The loaves hold their crust for three days, which is the only real test, and the queue on a Saturday morning is made up almost entirely of people who know exactly what they came for.
Get there before mid-morning. The almond croissants and the miche go first, and by early afternoon the shelves are largely a rumour. In winter this is a better plan than it sounds: buy the bread and a pastry, eat one in the car with the heater running, and take the loaf home.
It is at 48 Cook Street, Flinders. No bookings, no menu, just get there early.
Pair it with: the Flinders General Store, two minutes away, for coffee to go with the pastry.
WALK: Coppins Track, Sorrento
Four kilometres of clifftop coastal heathland from Sorrento Ocean Beach to Diamond Bay, on a route threaded with a century of local history. The interpretive signage along the way reads the landscape properly rather than decorating it, and it is worth the extra ten minutes to actually stop and read it.
Winter is the honest season for this one. The heath is low and wind-shaped, the ocean side is doing something dramatic most days, and you will have long stretches of it to yourself in a way that is simply not true in January.
Start at Sorrento Ocean Beach. Allow two hours return.
Pair it with: a long lunch back in Sorrento once your ears have warmed up.
DISCOVERY: Peninsula Fresh Organics, Baxter
Where the vegetables on Peninsula restaurant plates come from, and the shop attached to it is open to anyone. That second part is the bit most people do not know.
It is a working certified-organic market garden with a farm-gate shop, so you can buy the same produce that goes to the kitchens, on the day it came out of the ground. In July that means brassicas, roots and leaves that taste like something, which is the whole argument for shopping this way in the first place.
It is at 170 Baxter-Tooradin Road, Baxter. Go early and buy what was picked that morning.
Pair it with: cooking it yourself that night, which is rather the point.
Quick Reference
- Flinders Sourdough, 48 Cook St, Flinders. Before mid-morning or you will miss out.
- Coppins Track, Sorrento Ocean Beach to Diamond Bay. 4 km, about two hours return.
- Peninsula Fresh Organics, 170 Baxter-Tooradin Rd, Baxter. Farm-gate shop, open to the public.
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Questions readers actually ask
FAQ
What time should I get to Flinders Sourdough?
Before mid-morning on a weekend. The almond croissants and the miche go first, and the bakery regularly sells out by early afternoon. It is at 48 Cook Street, Flinders.
How long is the Coppins Track?
Roughly four kilometres from Sorrento Ocean Beach to Diamond Bay through clifftop coastal heathland. Allow two hours return at a comfortable pace, more if you stop to read the interpretive signage along the way.
Can the public shop at Peninsula Fresh Organics?
Yes. The farm-gate shop at 170 Baxter-Tooradin Road, Baxter is open to anyone, not only to the restaurants it supplies. Go early for what was picked that morning.
