With its fine food and wine, numerous festivals and events, kilometres of white sandy beaches and some of the most spectacular outback scenery in Australia, South Australia is unquestionably a great holiday destination. Its cosmopolitan capital, Adelaide, is an elegant, gracious city of parks and tree-lined boulevards. The city enjoys a relaxed atmosphere and vibrant café culture, which is further enhanced by its picturesque setting, beside the River Torrens between the Adelaide Hills and the waters of Gulf St Vincent. You can enjoy the good life on such famous ‘eat streets’ as Gouger Street and Rundle Street, or O'Connell Street in North Adelaide or tempt your taste buds with fresh local produce at Adelaide’s Central Market. If you’re a beach lover, Adelaide’s beachside suburb, Glenelg, is only a 20 minute ride away aboard the old Glenelg Tram, an Adelaide institution.

Not surprisingly, South Australians are extremely proud of their internationally acclaimed award-winning wines from the rolling vineyards of the surrounding Barossa and Clare Valleys, Coonawarra and McLaren Vale (in fact, the Barossa is Australia’s largest premium wine producer). Originally settled back in the 1840's by predominantly German immigrants, the Barossa is dotted with historic townships where you can enjoy charming B&B accommodation - it’s a wonderful place to spend a few days. For those preferring a walk on the wild side, a short ferry ride or flight south of Adelaide to Kangaroo Island is an absolute must. This pristine island is one of the few places where it is still possible to see native animals in their natural environment - visitors delight in seeing kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, seals and echidnas, not to mention the island’s spectacular coastal scenery, deserted white sandy beaches and beautiful bushland. In complete contrast, a journey north of Adelaide takes you to the breathtaking outback scenery of the Flinders Ranges. This is real 4WD country, renowned for its rugged mountains, spectacular gorges, plentiful wildlife and the gigantic natural amphitheatre of Wilpena Pound. After the rains, this desert wilderness transforms into a stunning landscape of purple wildflowers. Further north still beyond the Flinders, lies the ancient Outback with unique frontier towns like the opal-mining centre of Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world where most of the community lives underground to protect themselves from the sun and the cold winter nights. The mighty Murray River, which reaches its prime in South Australia, boasts spectacular cliffs andabundant birdlife, and one of the best ways to go exploring through the lagoons and backwaters is aboard a unique paddle steamer with an experienced ecologist.