Tim Grigg wants to show you why SA's Clare Valley is known as the Tuscany of Australia.
I came across the concept of tour guiding when in my mid 20s. I signed up to do a mountaineering course in NZ. Our tour group had three guides who ran the trip, I looked at their lifestyle and their job and thought this is what I need to be doing. So, I came back home, quit my job and got another as a tour guide on a backpacker 4WD tour from Adelaide to Alice Springs.
The travel, sharing my knowledge, leading groups, constructing new and better ways to wow my guests, making friends, I just loved it. It’s also where I met my wife Bianca, and ever since we have been on a joint adventure running our tour business.
Our Clare Valley Walk is a new venture, it has come about due to our involvement in building the walking trail. We are still active in the outback and our Kimberley product (Kimberley Adventure Tours) is very successful. Our walking takes place in the Clare Valley, a premium SA wine region, 1hr 45min north of Adelaide. It’s dotted with rustic villages and historic stone homes and offers stunning walking experiences.
It’s the sort of place you never want to leave. Sometimes, however, you do and it was on one of these occasions, sitting around a campfire at a Heysen Trail camp in the Flinders Ranges about 15 years ago with fellow hiking buddy Michael Nugent, that a plan was hatched to build an epic walking trail around the Clare Valley.
The plan was simple, talk to the wineries, link them together with a walking trail through the bush and the people will come. The project finally kicked off in 2020, our ‘committee’ of two quickly grew to a core group of about 10-15 keen locals and over four years we managed to build 105km of trail.
A key feature of the trail is that it passes through lots of private property; all up around 50 landholders have given permission for the trail to pass through their properties. It’s on this trail where we operate our walking tours.
We do about 12km per day so don’t complete the full loop, but rather pick the best bits. For most days it’s an early start, stopping for morning tea, often with a small campfire and billy, then stopping at a winery where those who are keen can do a tasting, we then finish the walk at a restaurant and normally walk straight through the doors to our table, where we’ll enjoy some seriously good food and wine. We then retire to the lodge, which is a large stone home in a beautiful bush setting, to chill out around an open fire and watch kangaroos graze on the lawn.
Interview_Brent McKean
We combine challenging outdoor adventure with luxurious food, wine and accommodation. Most people are blown away at the quality of the food, we are blessed in Clare to have some exceptional restaurants. Walking into a gourmet restaurant at the end or a challenging walk is special. Also, the lodge is amazing, it’s set on a 55 acre rural property which borders the Spring Gully Conservation Park. The lodge can accommodate 12 and is complete with huge open fire, leather couches and floor to ceiling windows to capture the views.