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Actor and author Chloe Hayden's guide to South Australia
16 APR 2025
EYRE.WAY, Port Lincoln
Meet a unicorn: Chloé Hayden. She’s an actor, author, content creator and disability rights activist who’s uncovered the quiet magic of South Australia. Her guide celebrates the simple pleasures that make this state unique.
If people in real life were assigned little computer graphic personality traits like in The Sims, there would be a few that would come up instantaneously when my code was written.
One: I’m autistic. I say this first because being autistic is an intrinsic part of who I am; it isn’t attached, or something I have, or an addition. It is wholly me. My brain is an autistic brain, my body is an autistic body — I am wholly an autistic person.
Two: I’m a disability advocate (known for my book Different, Not Less and my TikTok and Instagram, with over one million followers) and an actor (Heartbreak High, Inside, Reef School) — an important part of me that fills up a deep section of another pie chart.
Three: I love animals.
Four: I love travelling.
The "love for travelling" fact can, at times, get a little tricky. Being autistic, there are sensory and access needs to consider. Being an actor, I’m often away for extended and unpredictable periods, leaving little room for planned holidays. And being an animal lover — with a current total of 15 pets (and counting) — I can’t just go wherever and whenever the wind takes me. So, when the stars aligned, offering me a four-day window of peace, adventure, and a chance to dive into multiple special interests (you’ll get the pun soon), my bags were packed. South Australia knocked, and I answered with flappy hands of excitement.
Being autistic is an intrinsic part of who I am. Chloe Hayden
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Adelaide CBD
Adelaide and I got along the moment we landed. Driving through the capital felt more like driving through a regional city: warm, welcoming and familiar. With the Adelaide Fringe Festival in full swing, the city had transformed into a hub of colour, music, and art. But, unlike other Australian cities where it’s so easy to get lost amongst it all, Adelaide made it feel like a local festival with a personal invitation.
Our first stop — after looking through a few op shops and vintage stores (Midwest Trader was a favourite) — was dinner at Paper Tiger, a Southeast Asian restaurant with, quite truly, the best vegan bao buns I have ever had. And as a picky autistic vegan, I am a tricky palate to please.
With our bellies soon full, we wandered over to The Belgian Beer Cafe for a taste of the Fringe with Best of Fringe, an intimate gig where comedians performed seven-minute acts ahead of their festival shows. If you’re not sure what to see, these shows — featuring an array of national and international acts — are the perfect place to figure it out.
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Ghost tour
As the afternoon turned to night and the moon rose — the night still young, laughter on our lips — there was only one true way to continue and really get to know a new city. Ugh, there couldn’t be anything more perfect than a… trip to a local bar? Another show, perhaps? Wrong.
Ghost tour.
Brilliant.
Z Ward, complete with Australia’s only standing ha-ha wall, was home to South Australia’s criminally insane from 1885 to 1973, and the history and energy in the place are palpable from the moment you stand at the gates. I was lucky enough to do a solo paranormal investigation of the historic site, courtesy of the incredible Kag from Haunted Horizons.
Our tour consisted of a detailed history, complete with several terrifying ghostly encounters that had me questioning if I should have eaten that many bao for dinner (I won’t write the stories here — it’s truly something you have to experience with your own eyes and ears), before we moved on to the paranormal investigation, conducted using some of the highest-tech equipment in the world. Whether you’re a believer, a skeptic, or just looking for a unique way to experience Adelaide’s history, Haunted Horizons and Z Ward were an early and standout favourite.
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Mikkira Station Koala Sanctuary
Morning, thankfully, came quickly — and with it, the promise of another adventure and another plane ride. We were now on our way to Port Lincoln which is breathtaking — it's like the personification of closing your eyes and imagining a perfect Australia. Sandy roads stretch across untouched, rugged coastlines that meet crystal-blue water, with kangaroos, emus and wallabies at every turn.
It was the perfect introduction to our first stop: Mikkira Station Koala Sanctuary, a 600-acre haven that is home to Port Lincoln’s only wild koalas. Wandering through the sanctuary and getting up close to dozens of wild, happy, healthy koalas was an utter delight.
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EYRE.WAY tiny home
After an early start and a huge walk, we were more than ready to settle into our accommodation at EYRE.WAY: a secluded, zero-carbon, off-grid, low-impact tiny home on the cliffs of a sheep station overlooking the ocean. You would be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful place to sleep in the whole world — truly.
One of the most unforgettable parts of our trip came when we least expected it. When the sun went down — with no artificial lights for kilometres — the night sky exploded into a canvas of stars brighter than I’d ever seen. The darkness was so complete that when the moon began to rise over the horizon, we mistook it for the glow of a lighthouse.
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Calypso Star Charters
The stars said both goodnight and good morning to us, as the following morning we were up before the sun — for what brought me to Port Lincoln in the first place… cage diving with Great White Sharks. As a reminder: I am a huge animal lover, and I am also autistic. The combination of the two means that having a special interest in sharks was, quite frankly, a guarantee. With Port Lincoln being one of only a few places in the world where you can cage dive with Great White Sharks, it has been on my bucket list for a lifetime — and Calypso Star Charters was the vessel for the job.
Boarding the boat, my heart was already glowing with joy. I’ve always loved the ocean, and whenever I can be near it, in it, or on it — I am. It truly is as good as therapy for me, and just being on the ocean, watching the sun rise, was an experience in and of itself that I will never forget. Pause for an autistic info dump: Great White Sharks are nomadic creatures, with no fixed home — they roam freely throughout their lives, travelling up to 20,000km. However, the Neptune Islands — about 40 nautical miles from Port Lincoln — are a significant location for them. Now a protected marine conservation park, the islands are home to Australia’s largest fur seal colony and ideal hunting conditions. It’s one of the only places in the world where you can see these remarkable creatures year-round.
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Shark cage diving
I’ll let you down gently — we didn’t see a shark on this trip. But you know what? I wasn’t upset.
The ocean makes up more than 70% of our planet. But due to trophy hunting, entanglement in shark nets along Australia’s beaches, pollution, climate change, overfishing and the fear-mongering (sparked mainly by the 1975 film Jaws), these incredible creatures are now extremely vulnerable. Only a few years ago, Calypso would rarely go a day without seeing half a dozen sharks on a single trip.
While I’m not saying human interference is solely to blame, it did serve as a powerful reminder — not only of how lucky we are to share our oceans with literal dinosaurs, but how urgently we need to protect them. Even though I didn’t see one this time, just being in the vast, blue unknown — surrounded by hundreds of silver trevally and kingfish almost the size of sharks — was more than enough. We are merely tiny guests in this massive expanse these incredible creatures call home, and I do hope one day they’ll be there to welcome me.
Farewell for now, Chloé
I came to South Australia for a getaway, to experience both adventure and calm in a Chloé-esque setting so perfect it couldn’t be curated — but I left knowing it had offered me so much more. South Australia isn’t loud about its magic. But when you embrace the stillness, you can feel it, hear it, and allow it to take you.
Whether it be in the stillness of a historic building, where the weight of its history seeps through your bones.
Or the joy that comes from encountering our native wildlife in ways that are so unique to South Australia.
Or the stretch of an open road that makes you exhale in awe at the country in which you are lucky enough to live.
Or the expanse of an endless ocean, where each pull of the tide is just a whisper of its power.
Or the stillness of a dark and starlit sky, reminding you of just how small you truly are, and just how much magic is around us every single day.
But God, is the magic there.
I’ll be back, and I’m counting down the days until I am.
