Contents
Wine regions
Flinders Ranges
July climate
Where to get more information

South Australia's population of 1.4 million live mostly along the coast and in the capital city, Adelaide.

With its Mediterranean climate, fine food and wines, numerous festivals and events, kilometres of clean, sandy beaches and more sunshine than is decently allowed, South Australia is a great holiday destination.

South Australia boasts most of the world's opals. Coober Pedy, the main opal mining town, produces 90 per cent of Australia's opals.

Adelaide

Adelaide is set on a narrow coastal plain between between the rolling hills of the Mt Lofty Ranges and the blue waters of Gulf St Vincent.

Surrounded by parkland, Adelaide combines the vitality of a large modern city with an easygoing Australian lifestyle.

The city centre is completely surrounded by parklands, with beautiful flower-beds, playgrounds and sportsfields. There are barbecues with tables and chairs under shady trees.

The beautiful formal Botanic Gardens have 16 hectares of Australian and imported plants with lakes where children can feed ducks and swans.

Wine regions

South Australia provides about 65 per cent of the wines and 83 per cent of the brandy made in Australia. Kilometres of vineyards stretch over valleys, plains and hillsides of the southern and eastern regions of the state.

The state has six distinct grape growing regions: the Barossa Valley, the Fleurieu Peninsula, the Murray River, the Clare Valley, the Adelaide Hills and the Coonawarra area of the south-east.

The vineyards of the Clare Valley are about 130 kilometres north of Adelaide, and produce fine, light table wines.

Flinders Ranges

The Flinders Ranges are part of a mountain chain which extends almost 800 kilometres from its seaward end at Gulf St Vincent.

There is something unique in the contrast of the dry, stony land and the richly lines rock faces - the characteristics of a desert range - with the rich vegetation of the river red gums. In spring, after rain, the display of wildflowers is breathtaking, carpeting the whole region with masses of reds, pinks, yellows, purples and white. The wildflowers, together with the natural beauty of the rock shapes, pools and caves and twisted trees which abound in the Flinders Ranges, make them a favourite haunt of photographers and artists.

The best known feature of the Flinders Ranges is the Wilpena Pound, an immense elevated basin covering about 50 square kilometres and encircles by sheer cliffs which are set in a foundation of purple shale and rise through red stone to white-topped peaks. Within the pound are low, rounded hills and folded ridges, grasslands and pine-clad slopes which run down to gums along Wilpena Creek.

There is a well organised resort at Wilpena, catering for levels of accommodation from camping to modern motel.

July climate

Where to get more information

Please visit Tourism South Australia's web site at http://www.tourism.sa.gov.au.

All material and images are provided courtesy of the South Australian Tourism Commission. The Commission remains copyright owners.