To celebrate my parents’ birthdays in August 2012 I booked a mini break at Normanville staying in a really nice, new, holiday house called Bungala Shores.
With Thursday to Sunday to plan out, I called into the Visitors Centre at Yankalilla where the staff were very helpful and I came away with brochures and things to do.
Getting into town around 5.00 pm on Thursday night I got acquainted with the house, unpacked and we picked up fish and chips from the Normanville Fish and Pizza shop.
After a workforce plan coaching and mentoring session with a client in Victor Harbor the next morning I drove back to Normanville via Inman Valley Road (my new favourite country drive). Such stunning, lush, green scenery and I just had to stop at the Rock View Café. A real surprise with the café perched overlooking the glacier rock and the creek running quickly over the top of the surface. The owners have been there 17 weeks having taken it over after it was vacant for 15 months – organic fair trade coffee, a cosy place to sit in the sun and a beautiful view, all just 13 kms out of Victor.
After warming up back the house, we drove into Yankalilla for lunch (for Jess and Dad) at the well-known Yankalilla Bakery with lovely creamy coffee and topped off our Friday afternoon with a drink in the bar at the Links Lady Bay Resort. Movie time and relaxing before an excellent dinner at Lilla’s Café – very impressed with the service, menu choice, environment and quality of the meals.
A Saturday morning sleep in, walk to Normanville Beach to burn off the sticky date pudding from the night before, mug of coffee at the Courthouse Cafe and then exploring at Carrickalinga and Ingalalla Falls in the rain.
The afternoon saw a drive to Myponga, via the Reservoir which has a great lookout, then a beer or cider at Myponga Brewery and a liqueur from Trafford Hill Winery on the hill above Yankalilla.
Dinner with the family at the Normanville Hotel, established in 1851, topped off a full day!
View photos here.
Written by Wendy Perry, August 2012.