One of Australia’s most remote bakeries, in the South Australian ghost town of Farina, is open for business again this year … and is already attracting a steady stream of grey nomads.
The bakery will open daily until July 20, and its bread products are still all baked in a 130-year-old underground Scotch Oven.
It helps sustain the dozens of volunteers currently restoring the town’s stone buildings, as well as hungry visitors. While the Farina Bakery is unique, it’s not alone in drawing ‘bakery tourists’.
Across Australia, outlets are developing a ‘have-to-eat-a-pie-from-them there’ following. In some cases, such as the Birdsville Bakery, it can be a combination of isolated Outback location and ‘exotic’ offerings – like curried camel pie – that creates an irresistible mystique.
Fancy a bite to eat? A crocodile pie from Fredo Pies may hit the spot!
The establishment reportedly sells well over 10,000 pies during September’s Birdsville Races.
A good bakery can even play its part on helping a town through the economic trauma of being bypassed. When the small NSW Mid North Coast town of Frederickton was bypassed in 2012, the iconic Fredo Pies outlet, known as the ‘home of the crocodile pie’, was worried.
The bakery in the SA ghost town of Farina is open again.
However, with plenty of parking for caravans and trucks, travellers proved happy to turn off the Pacific Highway to grab a crocodile pie, or an emu pie, or wild boar pie, or even a kangaroo with bush spice pie.
“Travellers in general, and particularly grey nomads, are on an adventure wanting to get the most out of life,” said Oliver Cooke from Fredo Pies. “And new food experiences fit well with that narrative.”
And, of course, pies – and bakeries – can be incredibly evocative, bringing back a host of happy memories.
“The really nice thing is that everyday people come in and are really excited to tell us how they used to come in as kids and couldn’t go past without stopping,” said Mr Cooke. “We also get many families who tell a similar story but are introducing their children or even grandchildren to Fredo Pies for the first time which creates a lot of excitement and is a lovely nostalgic experience.”
Are you a Grey Nomad member yet? Click here to find out about the discounts, competitions and other benefits on offer.
