Australia with Gavin Kaysen

Welcome to Melbourne! We begin and end our first day with the legendary Sam Gordon of Robert Gordon Pottery Studio & Kitchen. Sam is the grandson of the founder, and part of Gavin’s long-time connection to Australia. We’ll have an exclusive tour of the studio and its iconic ceramic designs—featured in each of Gavin’s restaurants—in various stages of creation. We’ll also have the chance to create our own ceramics.

Lunch is at The Independent, set beautiful Gembrook, with a private meal hosted by head chef and owner Mauro Callegari, whose menu is inspired by his Argentinean childhood. We’ll continue on to the Melbourne Gin Company—one of the country’s finest distilleries and normally closed to the public—for a private tour and tasting.

Our day wraps at Sam Gordon’s beautiful private home for a welcome cocktail hour with an assortment of small plates and bites to feast on. This will be Aussie hospitality at its late-spring finest, with local wines and plenty of laughter as we experience Australia in ways no other traveler can.

Today we’ll uncover the best of Melbourne, starting with a mid-morning walking tour of the city’s vibrant urban heart. Narrow lanes, grand boulevards, 19th-century arcades—all gilded with the colorful street art—have made Melbourne a destination for art lovers the world over. Melbourne is equally known for its food and drink, so of course we’ll visit cult-favorite Lune Croissant before continuing on to Aunty Peg’s Coffee Roasters for a private tour as we sip.

Lunch and the afternoon is on our own before meeting up in the evening for a moveable feast of Melbourne highlights: a hands-on cocktail class at The Everleigh, stopovers at top-flight kitchens to sample an array of local dishes, finishing up meeting some of the passionate tastemakers behind one of the country’s most innovative gelaterias.

Today we’re off to explore the emerald foothills of the Macedon Ranges, with an obligatory morning tea stopover at Mr. Macedon, a gorgeous regional cafe and bakery famed for its all-day breakfasts (green eggs and ham, anyone?).

We’ll spend some time meeting with local farmers at a sustainable sheep and cattle station, the perfect preface to our lunch with an Aussie barbecue specialist. His preparation and cooking techniques are things of genuine beauty. He and Gavin will roll up their sleeves and treat us to an only-in-Australia barbecue, a true bacchanalia featuring fresh local produce paired with fabulous local beer and wine. On our way back to Melbourne we’ll stop for a quick visit to the glorious, 100-foot-tall Trentham Falls as they cascade downward over a craggy orange and red basalt rock face. Tonight is our final night in Melbourne, a chance to revisit favorite haunts and discover new ones.

Today we take a quick 90-minute flight from Melbourne to Adelaide, the cosmopolitan capital of South Australia, situated on the coast and at the doorstep of the world-famous Barossa Valley wine region. After settling into our downtown hotel, we’ll freshen up and venture out to the outstanding JamFactory. For more than 40 years, this non-profit has been supporting innovative craft and design through its studios and galleries focusing on ceramics, glass, furniture, and metal. We’ll have the pleasure of meeting with local artists and watch a glass-blowing demonstration.

Tonight we’ll dine at one of the restaurants that’s rapidly turning Adelaide into an exciting new Australian culinary destination. Just a short stroll from our hotel, we’ll gather for a fun, informal and casual dining experience together. Turn in for the night afterward, or head out to explore Adelaide’s nightlife.

If you love incredible wine, this is a day to get excited about! After breakfast we’ll drive out to the stunning Barossa Valley, its hills and valleys the source of some of the world’s greatest wines. Our first destination is Torbreck Vintners, a multi-generational wine producer, for an exclusive barrel tasting—yes, that’s direct from the barrels—before turning our attention to a masterclass tasting of Torbreck’s award-winning Shiraz.

Lunchtime finds us meeting with sixth-generation Barrossan farmers John and Jan Angus, who will greet us and guide us on a tour of the farm and the history of farming in the area before serving us an incredible paddock-to-plate lunch. We’ll continue on to the rolling estate of Seppeltsfield Winery, which dates back to 1850, to sample our birth year vintage of their famous Tawny Port.

Dinner is on our own to explore Adelaide’s exciting restaurant scene; take your pick of the cutting-edge establishments located just a stone’s throw from our hotel.

This morning we’ll wake up bright and early for a private breakfast tour of Adelaide’s farmers market: sample tart-sweet loquats and ruby-red strawberries, local bumbleberry jam, fresh scones and other baked goods. Thus fortified, we’ll head to the airport for our short hop over to Port Lincoln. We’ll enjoy a relaxed lunch after our morning of travel, then head out to Mikkira Koala Station, to spend quality time communing with this most adorable of marsupials. As we settle in under the manna gum trees, we may also spot kangaroos, emus, native birds and reptiles. We’ll stay in this tranquil bush environment through the evening, enjoying nibbles and white wine and savoring the aroma of dinner: a free-range Berkshire pig slowly turning on the spit.

We’ll spend today “hunting and gathering” some of Australia’s best seafood in Coffin Bay and along the Eyre Peninsula, a designated maritime wilderness area and one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. Local oyster farmer Chris Hank will be our guide as we glide over crystal-clear, iridescent-turquoise waters, past white-sand beaches fringed with crooked paperbark trees, to the Coffin Bay oyster farm. Our lunch is on the beach in Black Springs, where we’ll also collect cockles, harvesting them by rake.

After lunch, we’ll have plenty of time to explore the beach by 4WD, speeding over sand dunes and the rugged terrain of Coffin Bay National Park. We’ll try our hand at some surf fishing before transferring back to Port Lincoln to enjoy our catches at over dinner at The Beach House.

Today we continue exploring Australia’s seafood mecca, setting off across Boston Bay for an intimate look at two local fisheries—yellowtail kingfish and blue mussels—before selecting our own fish from the morning’s catch and having it cooked à la minute to perfection.

In the afternoon we visit the ancestral home of Susie Betts, one of Australia’s most famous artists (her work can be found emblazoned on everything from Qantas jets to Coca Cola bottles), and her mother Veda, an elder of the Wirangu and Kokatha tribes. Together they’ll show us the secret sights, waterholes and bush tucker—indigenous flora and fauna used in cooking and the healing arts—that make this coastline sacred to indigenous Australians.

We have something special planned for our final night: dinner hosted by renowned local chef (and comedian!) Tony Ford. He’ll dazzle our palettes with seafood delicacies of the Eyre Peninsula—otherwise known as Australia’s Seafood Frontier—that few tourists ever get to experience. We’ll raise our glasses to Gavin and our new friends, and above all, to Australia itself.

It’s hard to believe it’s time to say goodbye! After one final brekky, we’ll head to the airport for our flight back to Adelaide. From there, we’ll head home, our hearts and minds swirling with inspiration. Catch you later, mates!