Adelaide The capital of South Australia. Its central square mile ringed by protective parklands. The gateway to the Barossa Valley, settled in the main by German Lutheran immigrants and famed for its many excellent wineries. Population 1.2 million.

If you have any spare days, I suggest that you take an al day tour of the Barossa Valley. Tanunda, Eudunda, Kapunda, Nurioopta, and Angaston are the villages of today’s generation of once German refugees who settled the Barossa Valley over 100 years ago. You will find wineries such as Wolf Blass, TNT Tolleys, Seppelts and Orlando where the well known Jocobs Creek red is produced. Many buildings and shops reflect the European tradition of this region. Names such as Swartzchoff, Luckie and Schmidt are common in this beautiful and glorious valley.

More wine? Visit the Clare Valley, north from Adelaide.

Do you want opals? Take the day and overnight flight to Cobber Pedy where you will be accommodated in an underground motel and where you can buy some of the world's finest opals and jewellery.

The Coober Pedy Precious Stones Field, from which the opal is mined, covers an area of 4,954 square kilometres of which it is estimated that approximately 10% of the total area has been worked. Although opal had been discovered elsewhere in Australia around the late 1800's and early 1900's, it was first discovered in this area by Willie Hutchinson, aged 15 years, in February 1915. Following this discovery settlement began and subsequently developed into the modern town of Coober Pedy.

Take a coach tour to the Flinders Ranges, see Quorn and its Pichi Richi steam train railway.

If you love trains, travel to Alice Springs on the famous Ghan Railway or trip to Melbourne or Perth by the Overlander and the Indian Pacific