South Australia

 

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Whether you are looking through the window of a car or plane, South Australia spreads out to the eye as a patchwork of contrasting landscapes. Adelaide’s lush parklands and ideal location on a narrow coastal plain belie just how dry the rest of South Australia is. Beyond the rolling Adelaide hills lay large tracts of untamed, spectacular desert. 80 per cent of it receives less than 250mm of rain annually.

While South Australia is Australia’s Festival state, the bulk of visitors to South Australia’s 12 tourism regions come to see the natural attractions that are on show every day of the year. Each of South Australia’s regions offers a tempting and varied selection of nature at its best, and a style of holiday all it’s won.

Drink world beating wines among the vines that have produced them. Swim with sea lions, dolphins or luminescent cuttlefish. Explore the time capsule of nature that is Kangaroo Island. Cruise the Murray River on a houseboat with berths for two to twelve people. Or swap your city for one with more parkland, more shops in one place, and more festivals; the extremely liveable Adelaide.

South Australia has a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and cool winters. Heat is the major climatic extreme with the mercury regularly topping 38 degrees Celsius between October and April.

The climate certainly contributes to South Australia’s ability to produce more than its fair share of delectable gourmet foods and wines. Sophisticated tastes from all over the world – proof of South Australia’s multicultural mix of people also help in the cultivation of exotic cuisine and silken wines. The Barossa Valley and Coonawarra region are world famous for a very good reason. There is both quantity and quality here, with over 70 per cent of Australia’s wine exports laving from South Australia.

Regional South Australia

Adelaide

Adelaide quite rightly describes itself as a big city without the frustrations. The city area is laid out on a square mile grid of wide streets with gracious colonial architecture and is set on the banks of the River Torrens, between the Adelaide Hills and the waters of Gulf St Vincent. The wine and festival capital of Australia, Adelaide also has buzz to match the beauty.

Barossa

Play a game of word association with the average Australian, and the name of this region is what you’d get in response to wine. Probably in a cluster with “yes please”, “more please” and “hangover”. It’s the country’s most famous wine region, home to over 60 wineries.

Adelaide Hills

If you want to know what season it is in South Australia, the best way to find out is to go to the hills. It is a popular destination for short breaks and touring, give the region’s winding roads which lead to historic homes, national parks and walking trails. Detours are advised, you never know what art and craft gallery, local produce or winery you will stumble upon.

Clare Valley

Clare Valley, has been dubbed the valley in between, and as far as the visitor is concerned, it is between three very attractive holiday experiences; sweeping farmland, premium wines and historic towns.

Eyre Peninsula

Unforgettable is not too great a word. You’d be hard pressed to find a tourist region anywhere in the world that includes clear, green sea water, white sand beaches, swimming with sea lions, great seafood and some edge of the world cliff scenes to take your breath, and your digital camera’s memory card away.

Fleurieu Peninsula

There is a bit of the weird and the wonderful in the Fleurieu Peninsula, but mostly the wonderful. There is gourmet food (and restaurants) on a grand scale, the second largest wine producing region in Australia as well as some time honoured family holiday spots. As for the weird? Well, there is the Leafy Sea Dragon, one of the genuinely weirdest and frilliest animals in Australia.

Flinders and Ranges

This could be no other place but Outback Australia. It will likely be the most Aussie feeling trip you will ever embark on, taking in pioneer towns, rugged gorges, rich Indigenous heritage and the spectacular Wilpena Pound.

Kangaroo Island

For the last 9000 years Kangaroo Island has been inhabited by human beings for a sum total of 200, due to its separation from the mainland in relatively recent natural history. The animals on the island are hardly aware of our presence there, and on a typical day you can bask with tired seals on the beach, step around echidnas on bush trails and see penguins, koalas and goannas at every other turn.

Limestone Coast

The Limestone Coast harbours some mysterious sights. An inland lake that turns the deepest, most brilliant blue for months at a time; a cave system that was once home to Australia’s mega fauna and the Pool of Siloam, a naturally occurring salt water lake seven times saltier than the sea.

The Murray

The South Australian stretch of the Murray contains some of the river’s most spectacular sights; 50metre high ochre cliffs, stately old paddle steamers some three storeys high, and all those fish just waiting to meet your bait and line. House boating is absolutely the way to go to explore it.

Riverland

Just under two hour’s drive from Adelaide, the Riverland is a brilliant place for outdoor and water based activities. Fishing, golfing, bushwalking, canoeing and water skiing will tempt the active. The lazy are well catered for too, with river cruises, bird watching, museums and galleries or visiting cellar doors as low effort options.

Yorke Peninsula

An hour and a half drive from Adelaide, the Yorke Peninsula offers t terrific surfing, walking tracks and scenic drives, which meander through rural farming communities; each village with its own curios little museum to explore. The Peninsula is a landform that juts out between Spencer Gulf and the Gulf of St Vincent, with calm, shallow waters and sheltered coves; ideal spots for family beach holidays.