Round Journey: approximately 3 to 4 hours driving time.
The sea is only 1.5 hours from Mintaro! From Clare, take the road to Blyth (through the historic settlement of Armagh). Five kilometres through Blyth the road carries on to Lochiel or turns north to Snowtown. Keep going to Lochiel (we will come home through Snowtown). It’s an interesting drive through changing country, including salt pans.
At Lochiel, turn left to Kadina and you will follow the ridge that offers superb views then head west to the sea! A right/left turn at Ninnes (you will work it out!) will bring you out at the Paskeville Field Day site on the Port Wakefield to Kadina road. Turn right to the historic Copper mining towns of upper Yorke Peninsula.
Options open up as you head up the road and they are well signposted. The towns of Moonta, Wallaroo and Kadina are well connected to each other so the order of visit is flexible. There is much literature and on line info on the Copper Coast so we won’t repeat it here. Note however that you have got to the Copper Coast in approximately 1.5 hours so you have plenty of the day left to explore and still be home in Mintaro for drinks with the locals at the Magpie and Stump.
Two alternatives for the trip home. The swifter one is to take the road from Kadina to Bute. Alternatively, take the Wallaroo to Port Broughton or Kadina to Port Broughton road and visit the fishing village of Port Broughton. Both routes are around a half hour. It has a great jetty well worth a walk and the most stunning colonial hotel, right on the foreshore adjacent to the jetty. Then take the road to Bute, past Cream Puff Corner and maybe a quick stop at Bute’s wildlife park (its free!).
Bute to Snowtown is another half hour and then its a further half hour back to Clare via Blyth then “home” to Mintaro. So whichever way you go, its no further than 1.5 hours from the Clare Valley to these coastal towns!