Holiday houses in Keith

Keith is a laid-back little country town surrounded by flat farmland, and a stop on the highway between Adelaide and Melbourne. Due to its location at the junction of the Riddoch Highway and Dukes Highway, Keith is known as one of the gateways to South Australia’s Limestone Coast, a spectacular region of beaches, farms, and vineyards in the southeastern corner of the state.

The town is also on the train line between the two capitals, although the station was knocked down years ago and passenger trains no longer stop here. Almost all of Keith occupies the triangle formed by the Y-shaped junction between the highways, with only a few grain silos, some houses, and a showground on the other side of the train tracks. The town serves as a great base for exploring the nearby Mount Monster and Ngarkat conservation parks.

The cooling breezes coming off the Southern Ocean don’t make it to the inland areas of the Limestone Coast, so summer days in Keith are hot and dry. Summer nights, on the other hand, tend to be quite cool under the open skies. In mid-to-late spring, you’ll enjoy mild nights and warm days that are perfect for exploring the nearby conservation parks. Early autumn is another great time of year for hiking in the bush around Keith. In late March, the arrival of an autumnal chill coincides with the Keith Diesel and Dirt Derby at the town’s showgrounds. This festival of motorised power features a demolition derby, tractor pulls, and V8-boat racing on a manmade water course.

Ngarkat Conservation Park

An immense conservation area that joins up with the Big Desert Wilderness Area in neighbouring Victoria, Ngarkat Conservation Park is around 50 minutes from Keith. You can tackle some of the short to seven-hour-long bushwalking tracks through the scrubby sand dunes and mallee bush, or tour the park by four-wheel drive.

Mount Monster Conservation Park

A 15-minute drive from Keith, Mount Monster Conservation Park is a wildlife haven in a sea of farmland. On walking trails through bush and scrub you may encounter echidnas as well as the more ubiquitous kangaroos, wallabies, and native birds. The park is named for Mount Monster, a granite outcrop rising above the trees; the hike to the summit and back takes around half an hour.

Wineries

The Limestone Coast wine region of Padthaway is roughly a 40-minute drive from Keith; you’ll pass Mount Monster on the way. At cellar doors lining Riddoch Highway you can find Shiraz and Chardonnay made from grapes grown in the area’s rich red soils. The renowned Coonawarra wine region is a further hour’s drive down the highway from Padthaway.