Copper Coast Rail Trail (extended to Moonta Bay)

Follows the former Balaklava-Moonta railway line (Kadina section opened 1878, closed 1968) connecting the three historic 'Little Cornwall' copper-mining towns of Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula, continuing on to the seaside township of Moonta Bay. The Kadina-Wallaroo section was built in 2017, extended a further 17km to Moonta in 2022, bringing the three towns together on a fully sealed rail trail. IMPORTANT: the final stretch from Moonta to Moonta Bay is a shared-use path, not the rail trail itself - RTA's own page states plainly that this path runs 500m south of the old rail corridor and 'can not be called a rail trail.' Included here as one continuous entity since it's how the ride is done in practice, connecting the mining heritage of the three inland towns to the beach. Passes the historic Moonta Mine site (tours available, 55m underground), dryland scrub scenery giving way to coastal views, with shelters, bike repair stations and signed road crossings along the way.

Kadina to Wallaroo (approx. 8.7km): sealed path within the original rail corridor through dryland shrub country, well protected by native vegetation. Wallaroo to Moonta (approx. 19.5km): the 2022 extension, passing the Wheal Hughes open cut copper mine and the historic Moonta Mines area, finishing at the former Moonta railway station (now a tourism information centre). Moonta to Moonta Bay (approx. 3km, shared-use path, not rail trail): connects to the coast via the Moonta foreshore, past the Splashdown Waterpark, to Moonta Bay.