Classic South Australia from $2,718

Travel Team > Australia – Independent Tours > Classic South Australia from $2,718

Day 1: Adelaide Domestic Airport to Adelaide City Hotel

Ibis Adelaide

Located in the heart of the Adelaide CBD Ibis Adelaide offers guests all the facilities for a great stay. The hotel features 311 rooms and is a short stroll from the city’s famous shopping and dining precincts, Rundle Mall and Rundle Street. The Adelaide Oval, Casino, Convention Centre, Botanic Gardens, National Wine Centre and Royal Adelaide Hospital are also within walking distance. The hotel is also located close to Adelaide’s Arts district, which includes the Festival Centre and Dunstan Playhouse.

Duration:1 Night

Accommodation: Ibis Adelaide

Day 2: Depart Mannum

The morning is at leisure in Adelaide before travelling to Mannum to join the cruise. The PS Murray Princess departs the historic Mannum, birthplace of the Murray River trade and communication, and heads downriver while you enjoy pre-dinner drinks and a welcome dinner. You may see nocturnal wildlife on the riverbank, including grey kangaroos, wombats, tortoises, echidnas and many other species.

Meal Plan: Dinner

Duration: 3 Nights

Day 3: Murray River Cruise

In 1879 the first bridge to span the Murray River was built at Edwards Crossing, which quickly became the bustling township of Murray Bridge. After a hearty breakfast, join a guided tour of the town’s historic landmarks and local attractions. This afternoon you begin your journey upriver. Tonight, you moor at Craignook, where after dinner you can enjoy being entertained by the talented crew.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 4: Murray River Cruise

All ashore for a guided nature walk where your guide will share the secrets of the local flora and fauna. It’s a great way to get in a little exercise before Murray Princess departs for the big river gorges and 90 meter cliffs of the upper river. Mid-morning venture to the Sturt Dining Room for a special presentation on the bounty of food and wine produced in the river lands. At the 207km mark you turn and head downriver to River View Lodge where your discovery vessel awaits for a backwater wildlife tour. Travelling in small, personalized groups, you explore the maze of the river, and the birdlife is amazing. Watch for darters, herons and egrets feeding along the river’s muddy edges. Late afternoon, photography enthusiasts have a great opportunity to capture a spectacular river sunset before joining the Captain and Officers for pre-dinner drinks and the finale Captain’s Dinner and Dance.

Meal Plan        Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 5: Arrive Mannum and Disembark

After breakfast this morning, the PS Murray Princess arrives at Mannum where you will reluctantly say farewell.

Meal Plan: Breakfast

Ibis Adelaide

Located in the heart of the Adelaide CBD Ibis Adelaide offers guests all the facilities for a great stay. The hotel features 311 rooms and is a short stroll from the city’s famous shopping and dining precincts, Rundle Mall and Rundle Street. The Adelaide Oval, Casino, Convention Centre, Botanic Gardens, National Wine Centre and Royal Adelaide Hospital are also within walking distance. The hotel is also located close to Adelaide’s Arts district, which includes the Festival Centre and Dunstan Playhouse.

Duration: 2 Nights

Accommodation: Ibis Adelaide

Day 6: Barossa and Hahndorf Highlights

Travel through the city of Adelaide northwards to the world renowned Barossa wine region. Enjoy the change of scenery as you make your way into the vineyards of South Australia’s premium wine district. Your first stop is at the multi-award winning Jacob’s Creek Visitor Centre where you will have the opportunity to sample their famous wines in a structured tasting, take a tour of the surrounding vines and cellar door and enjoy morning tea as you overlook the vineyards.

Leaving Jacob’s Creek Visitor Centre, travel to Mengler Hill Lookout for sweeping views over the valley and then onto Saltram Wine Estate at Angaston. Here you will learn about Saltram’s 150 year history and taste some of the wide selection of quality wines from the stunning cellar door. After a memorable cellar door experience, journey to the South Australian Company Store and Kitchen for a delicious lunch. The Company Kitchen draws on ingredients and traditions that are distinctly from the Barossa regional producers. You will enjoy a scrumptious 2 course lunch (including a tasting plate) along with wine tastings from two boutique Barossa wineries.

In the afternoon you will journey your way through the picturesque Adelaide Hills where you will have a short stop at the Herbig Family Tree at Springton. This hollow tree trunk provided a ‘home’ for Friedrich and Caroline Herbig and two of their 16 children until 1860. On arrival into Hahndorf (Adelaide’s oldest German settlement), you can choose between wine tastings at the boutique RockBare Cellar Door or free time to explore Hahndorf’s main street with many shops and galleries full of local arts, crafts and produce and pubs where you can sample some German Beers.

Day 7: Seal Bay Guided Beach Walk, Kangaroos and Koalas in the Wild

Today you will depart Adelaide by air. On arrival at Kingscote Airport you will be met by your guide and your island nature experience begins with an introduction to Kangaroo Island. Tour through several island habitats and see wildlife in its natural environment. Kangaroo Island is a haven for Australian wildlife, which exists in its natural habitat without the threat of introduced predators. Listen to the distinct sounds of the native birdlife as they chorus from the tall eucalyptus trees. Kangaroo Island is home to some 250 species of birds, many of which, through isolation from the mainland, have developed their own subspecies and are therefore unique to Kangaroo Island. As you travel the island keep an eye out for echidnas, wallabies, reptiles and wildflowers.

At the spectacular Seal Bay Conservation Park, your guide will escort you on a memorable walk along the beach. This bay is home to a healthy Australian Sea-lion colony. Walk among the sea-lions as they bask on the beach or among the sand dunes after their extensive fishing expedition. With your guide you are able to stand at a safe distance to these wonderful endangered creatures and hear them sigh and watch them at play. This is a truly unforgettable experience, one that you will treasure forever.

Enter a exclusive heritage-listed natural bush property to enjoy a delicious gourmet style lunch with complimentary wine. Follow your lunch with a pleasant bushwalk looking out for koalas in the eucalyptus trees. Travel through the island’s interior keeping an eye out for koalas and echidnas. Explore the spectacular beaches of the north coast and enjoy a bushwalk. Listen for Australia’s rarest cockatoo, the Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo and watch out for the Tammar wallaby, with its small, fine features, in its natural habitat. Later in the afternoon, as the day draws to a close, see the kangaroos leave the safety of the bush to begin grazing on the open pastures. Your coach will return you to your accommodation for your overnight stay on Kangaroo Island.

Accommodation: Mercure Kangaroo Island Lodge

Day 8: Flinders Chase National Park, Fur Seals, Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch

This morning travel to the western section of the island and discover the remarkable Flinders Chase National Park, one of the oldest and most important national parks in South Australia. The park incorporates almost 20 per cent of the island and much of it is a Wilderness Protection Area, home to a variety of fauna and flora unique to Kangaroo Island. Enjoy the opportunity to walk through the park in search for kangaroos, wallabies and a variety of birdlife. See at close range some of the 10,000 healthy New Zealand fur seals in their colony at Cape du Couedic and discover the formation of the Remarkable Rocks. These large granite boulders balance dramatically on the cliff edge, which plunges 75 metres into the turbulent Southern Ocean below. At Admirals Arch see where the powerful forces of nature have cut through the headland to create this natural geological formation. A delicious gourmet style lunch with complimentary wine will be served in a secluded bush setting. During the day koalas can be observed peacefully existing in their treetop habitat. By special permit, enter the Kelly Hill Conservation Park to see kangaroos and other native wildlife emerge from the safety of the bushland to graze on the open plains.

Your tour concludes at Kingscote Airport for your return flight to Adelaide.

Meal Plan: Breakfast and Lunch