January is holiday month here in Australia. After Christmas, we pack up and head to the beach for a few weeks of swimming, reading and leisure. There’s nothing better than a beach holiday.
The population of rural beachside locations swells with holiday makers. It’s a fine Australian tradition, but can also be a little tricky with a gluten-free child in tow, particularly if you’re heading to a place for the first time. Many beachside towns and settlements are catered to by a little general store which will stock the basics (bread, milk, newspapers), but if you don’t know how much gluten-free food will be available, you will be packing everything from your pantry and leaving nothing to chance.
We often holiday at Edithburgh on the lower Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. A fantastic spot for fishing, swimming and scenery. Even though its permanent population is just 300 people, it really puts out the welcome mat when the Coeliacs hit town!
The Foodland Supermarket in the rural hub of Yorketown (approximately 10 minutes’ drive away) provides one of the best gluten-free shopping experiences I have had anywhere, ever. It continues to amaze me that I can get a larger range of products there than at my local supermarkets in the city. I make sure I tell them that everytime I go through the checkout.
Since my Little Coeliac was diagnosed in early 2011, we haven’t eaten fish and chips on the beach (another great Aussie tradition). It’s a shame, but just the way life is for us. So we created our own tradition -a meal out at the local cafe every time we stay at Edithburgh. Whilst many, many eateries cater for gluten-free diets these days, very few offer gluten-free kids’ menus. It’s tricky to find a place that will provide hot chips that are free of contamination, or even gluten-free pizza. Whilst these foods are special treats only, we don’t eat out very often, so it’s nice for my Little Coeliac to be able to choose at least one of these options.
The Location Cafe in Edithburgh always provides us with fantastic food and the choice of about three kids’ gluten-free meals- more than we get at many of our local eateries in the city. It’s a great experience for us, made all the better by friendly and knowledgeable staff who understand about cross-contamination issues.
These two businesses have ensured that our gluten-free holidays are easy and stress-free. So if you’re ever in that neck of the woods, please support them!
I found this to be entirely accurate. We love Edithburgh holidays and Location cafe is very much part of our holiday tradition. Di Spence
thank you for that update, we have had some real doosys with eating out when we are away including 1 particular place on the Yorke Peninsula 🙁
We were lucky enough to have 2 summer holidays in very different parts of SA this Christmas holidays, we were also veryy lucky with eating out. If you are around Mannum I would highly reccommend the Pretoria Hotel they did great gluten free meals for my 9 & 4 year old coeliacs and if you are down near Goolwa Rankines Landing was absolutely fabulous.
Thanks Kelly! Great information! I wish I’d known about Rankines Landing a few weeks ago … I’ll be storing that away when we are in the Goolwa area next summer.
There was another one that we went to for lunch in Goolwa that I went in and saw 3 days prior and they made it seem so easy but when it came to the day it wasn’t so easy but I will promote the good ones and forget the bad ones.
That’s always so disappointing, especially when you’ve done the right thing and spoken to the venue in advance. But yes, let’s just focus on the good experiences! Thanks for your contribution.
Thank you, I have a son with coeliac disease too and we are heading to Yorke Peninsula soon. JF&C at Victor Harbor do gluten free battered fish, potato cakes and pineapple fritters. Southgate chicken and seafood Morphett Vale do gluten free chicken nuggets and chips with gluten free chicken salt, across the road is pizza & pasta king that have yummy gluten free garlic bread and around the corner is Gourmet Gluten Free Bakery that do everything savory and sweet with donuts on the weekends. Another favourite place is chicken hub at Aberfoyle Park that have hot chickens with gluten free seasoning. All delicious!
Thanks for the great tips, Michelle!