Narelle Zanker is a dairy farmer, former teacher and co-founder of Dairy Adventures, an agritourism venture bringing the story of dairy farming to life on the family’s 4,000-acre property just outside Mannum, South Australia.
Raised on the land and shaped by four years in the classroom teaching from ELC to Year 11, Narelle returned to her family farm to combine her twin passions for education and agriculture. In September 2024 she co-founded Dairy Adventures, the only experience of its kind in South Australia, welcoming visitors of all ages for hands-on encounters with daily farm life, from bottle-feeding calves and touring the dairy to meeting pet cow Elvis.
In its first year, Dairy Adventures attracted more than 1,000 visitors and earned a Silver Medal at the 2025 South Australian Tourism Awards. With the support of the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award and the Westpac $15,000 grant, Narelle is expanding the farm’s visitor spaces, developing educational spaces, activities and signage on the farm, and delivering educational resources in collaboration with Dairy Australia.