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Australia

Attitudes to Children
Eating
Finding Out More
Getting Around
Getting There
Health
New South Wales
Northern Territory
Queensland
Reader Reports
Safety
South Australia
Standard Itineraries
Tasmania
Tour Operators
Types of Holiday
Victoria
Western Australia
What to Do and Where to Go
When to Go

Holidays by Destination Australasia Australia South Australia 

Australian Tourist Commission House http://www.southaustralia.com

10-18 Putney Hill, London SW15 6AA
tel: 0870 9009928

South Australia, about twice the size of Texas with a population of just 1.5 million, has plenty of room for tourists. Although not generally visited by first-timers, the big draw is the great outdoors, which divides into the settled, southern part, with the Murray River and Adelaide, and the far wilder north.

Adelaide

Called the city of churches, founded in 1836 by people who came to get away from religious persecution in what is proud of being the only convict-free state in the country. The city fathers, who left lots of Victorian architecture, also wanted lots of greenery so there are lots of parks, it was known as the Australian Cheltenham.

Out and About
The Adelaide Oval http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=2 is widely regarded as the world's most attractive cricket ground.
Central Markets http://www.adelaide.sa.gov.au/centralmarket dating from 1869 are stocked with local cheeses, olives, pasta, smoked meats, fruits, herbs and vegetables.
Adelaide Botanic Garden includes the restored 1875 palm house and the largest greenhouse in the southern hemisphere.
Just 15 minutes from the city the suburbs of Glenelg (like Brighton with a Grand Hotel, beach (sand not pebbles), prom and shops. Semaphore, Henley Beach and Brighton are the other main seaside spots.
There's Adelaide zoo http://www.adelaide-zoo.com.au with a sister site, Monartozp http://www.monartozp.com.au, located in the Adelaide hills which combines zoo and natural wilderness area including cheetah habitate, herds of zebra and antelope, and African Painted Dogs.

Culture and Tourist Attractions
The Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute (Tandanya http://www.tandanya.com.au is a multi-arts centre with regular exhibitions by Aboriginal artists from across the country, as well as the Aboriginal Cultures Gallery at the South Australian Museum http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au. (There are also dinosaur fossils).
In the Adelaide Hills Warrawong Earth Sanctuary http://www.warrawong.com at Mylor is one of the conservation and recreation parks with rare nocturnal animals such as bandicoots in their natural environment and a programme seeking to protect the Australian mammals which are not yet extinct. And Cleland Wildlife Park http://www.cleland.sa.gov.au is home to native species including koalas, some of which can be 'interacted with'.
There is also the Arid Lands Botanic Garden http://www.australian-aridlands-botanic-garden.org in Port Augusta.

Coast and Scenery

To the west the coast lies along the Great Australian Bight and to the east and south the Southern Ocean. May to September 60-100 Southern Right whales arrive to give birth and play with their young. The Head of Bight, on the remote Nullarbor Plain and the deep Southern Ocean waters off the Fleuriu Peninsula coast are two of the world biggest maritime nurseries for southern right whales. In both cases whales can be seen from land-based vantage points.
The annual giant cuttlefish migration, spawning millions of eggs, takes place off the Eyre peninsula.
The Eyre Peninsula offers 2,000 kilometres of unspoilt coastline where pods of up to 100 odd dolphins can be seen from the cliffs. At Port Lincoln a Seahorse Farm breeds seahorses and is also home to Port Jackson sharks. Baird Bay http://www.bairdbay.com is the place to swim with sea lions (friendly but ‘not tame') and dolphins.
The coast is backed by desert plains - the Nullarbor (a National Park), treeless with underground caves and blowholes, the plains dropping at the 60 metre Bunda cliffs on into the sea, and to the east the Gawler Ranges, the result of volcanic activity some 1,600 years ago, feature volcanic rock domes showing different colours against the area's many bright, white, dry salt lakes. They are also home to crowds of kangaroos and emus grazing in the evenings. Spring is the time to see the wildflowers and other animals include the southern, hairy-nosed wombat, pygmy possums and hopping mice.
The Fleurieu Peninsula southwest from Adelaide to Cape Jervis and jumping off point for Kangaroo Island, includes conservation parks, beaches and a coastline from which to surf and swim and watch whales in season. Victor Harbour http://www.tourismvictorharbor.com.au on the peninsula is an old whaling station turned coastal resort, with thousands of fairy penguins on Granite Island.
Kangaroo Island http://www.kangarooislandbc.com. 155km long and 55km wide, almost a third of the land covered in wilderness, with 21 national and conservation parks with flora and fauna, much not found on the mainland. There are a number of tourist attractions (an 1852 lighthouse, Maritime and Folk Museum, places to watch sheep milking and cheese production.http://www.tourkangarooisland.com.au) but more special are the open spaces. In Flinders Chase Park are kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, echidnas, platypus, and Cape Barren geese and the Remarkable Rocks, huge granite boulders shaped by the weather, perched on a dome that rises 75 metres out of the sea. Also on the southwest of the island is Admiral's Arch in the rock, leading to a nursery of native New Zealand fur seals, and at Seal Bay visitors can walk with park rangers among a breeding colony of rare Australian sea lions.
Yorke Peninsula just west of Adelaide is known as Little Cornwall because of its copper mining past. Innes National Park offers bushwalking and the ghost mining town of Inneston at the southern toe.
East of Adelaide are the dry plains around the Murray River - described by Mark Twain as Australia's Mississippi - which has its own National Park, through which the river winds, also home to lots of Aboriginal sites.
The Limestone Coast (Great Ocean Drive) stretches from the Fleurieu Peninsula to the Coorong National Park http://www.parks.sa.gov.au/coorong with the 100km long lagoon, home to the largest breeding colony of Australian pelicans and bird migration stop, pine forest, extinct volcanoes and Naracoorte Caves with prehistoric animal fossils. Naracoorte Caves National Park http://www.parks.sa.gov.au includes 26 limestone caves, the only World Heritage listed site in South Australia, home to 50,000 bats. Robe is a popular historic port with large fishing fleet, considered the best base for summer coastal activities.
Goolwa near the mouth of the River Murray, is a combined paddleboat and steam rail centre with cruises into the Coorong National Park with its Aboriginal heritage, birdlife and coastal scenery. During school holidays Cocke Steam Train runs on the coast between Goolwa and Victor harbour.
Inland Lake Eyre National Park is deep in the Outback with the lake bed in parts 15m below sea level. When dry the salt is up to 46cm thick.
To the east the Flinders Ranges cover almost 80% of the state and are home to less than 1% of the population but seven national and conservation reserves. Considered particularly good for spotting kangaroos, emus, lizards and wallabies, this is desert country where in spring the rains bring a mass of wild flowers. Wilpena Pound, the main attraction of the national park, looks like a meteor crater or extinct volcano, but is part of an ancient seabed.
Arkaroola and Mount Painter is a wildlife sanctuary with geological formation, hot springs, rare wildlife, historic mining areas and Observatory for viewing the sky at night.
Almost in the dead centre of the state.
Coober Pedy is the world's opal producing capital, still very much a frontier town with half the 3,500 living underground to escape the summer heat. A great base from which to take desert tours or the mail run to Oodnadatta and William Creek.

History and Culture

The National Motor Museum at Birdwood near Adelaide houses the country's largest classic, vintage and veteran cars and motor cycles.
In the Clare Valley (Australia's Tuscany says the tourist office) Burra is a well preserved colonial mining community with pioneer streets, cottages, goal, churches, museums and the copper mines.
Not far away is Mintaro, which once provided the slate for most of the world's billiard tables, is a registered historic town.
Moonta Mines State Heritage Area includes Cornish cottages, a miners' church, and Wheal Hughes Mine gives access to the workings of a former mine.

The culture of the Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal people and ancient ancestral trails can be followed through the 130km system of lagoons at the Coorong National Park in the southeast, and the state offers rock carvings 16,000 years older than Neanderthal carvings in Europe.
Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park is good for Aboriginal rock art.
The Flinders Ranges include sites with the fossil remains of dinosaurs and other early life forms.


(updated 08 April, 2006)
         

© FamilyTravel 2006