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Monday, 02 February 2009 18:55 |
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The Fleurieu Peninsula - Wine and Penguins On Adelaide's Doorstep
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| The Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia (www.southaustralia.com), part of the Melbourne to Adelaide Touring Route and home to the renowned McLaren Vale area, boasts a plethora of wonderful restaurants and award-winning wines, over 60 cellar doors and an impressive array of wildlife spotting opportunities. |
Forty minutes from Adelaide, the Peninsula’s central highlands are dominated by the Mount Lofty Ranges, dramatic gorges that split the landscape and sheer cliffs that drop sharply into the Southern Ocean. To the south-east Coorong National Park, situated between Encounter Bay and Lake Alexandrina, is at the mouth of the Murray, whilst to the south west, hills sweep down to uncrowded beaches that stretch to Cape Jervis.
This diverse landscape, which includes 22 national parks and a beautiful 170 km coastline, offers various activities including sea kayaking, hot air ballooning, cycling, fishing, wildlife spotting, diving, wine-tasting and cookery courses, not to mention walking - the Heysen Trail is one of Australia’s foremost walking trails.
From GOOLWA, gateway to the bird rich Coorong National Park and the Murray River, cruises regularly depart with options ranging from day trips through to the five-day/four-night Great Murray River Run cruise on the “Spirit of the Murray” catamaran.
Encounter Bay’s VICTOR HARBOR is a seaside resort offering fantastic views, great beaches and a horse-drawn tram to Granite Island. This is a great base from which to visit nearby Inman Valley with its majestic roadway lined with huge gum trees and Glacier Rock, thought to be one of the largest glacial exposures in the world.
The SELF DRIVE ART TRAIL takes visitors to many of the region’s artist studios and galleries many of which offer b&b accommodation, cellar doors, cafes and restaurants.
WILDLIFE SPOTTING - Kangaroos can be seen widely, whilst 2,000 little penguins reside on Granite Island. In the winter months (June-September), southern right whales return to Encounter Bay and in the summer dolphins and Australian fur seals return to Granite Island. Birds are best spotted on a Coorong National Park Goolwa cruise as the 120kms of shallow lagoons, protected by towering sand hills, are home to 230 species of birds. This area has international significance as a refuge for migratory waders and waterfowl.
NATIONAL PARKS - Deep Creek Conservation Park, with its amazing views of Kangaroo Island, has an 18km coastline and offers some of the State’s most challenging bushwalking through tall stringy bark forests and vegetated hills. Wildlife spotting includes western grey kangaroos, short-beaked echidnas, southern brown bandicoots and southern emu-wrens.
Other parks include Aldinga Scrub Conservation Park with its rare plants, impressive sand dunes and a range of walking trails of varying lengths; Onkaparinga River National Park features South Australia’s second longest river which flows into a steep-sided valley through a magnificent gorge with 50-metre high cliffs; both the Scott Creek and Talisker Conservation Parks are home to heritage-listed ruins including early Cornish mining settlements.
SURFING AND SEA KAYAKING - Surf and Sun offers small group lessons in surfing and sea kayaking between October and June. Surfing lessons are conducted on Middleton Beach whilst sea kayaking tours take place on the offshore islands of Encounter Bay.
WRECK DIVING - The former naval destroyer, HMAS Hobart, located beneath the waters at Yankalilla Bay is the place to sample a guided wreck dive from five to 35 metres. Participants may explore 90,000 square metres of the ship, including engine room, missile launcher, gun turrets and tunnels. Here one can also spot the rare leafy sea dragon, the State’s marine emblem, as well as rock lobsters. Additionally, there is an interpretive underwater trail running north along the reefs from Aldinga Bay.
Other aquatic activities include DEEP SEA FISHING CHARTERS, PARASAILING, SNORKELLING, BODY BOARDING, SWIMMING, COASTAL and FRESH WATER LAKE SAILING.
WINE AND ART TOUR. Visitors can enjoy a relaxing day tour visiting wineries, art galleries and artist studios whilst being driven around in a fully licensed limousine. The trip includes an a la carte lunch
at Red Poles and complimentary champagne.
HOT AIR BALLOONING with Adelaide Ballooning is available over Strathalbyn, one of the most picturesque villages in South Australia, surrounded by vineyards and farmland. Flights include champagne, breakfast after landing and flight certificates.
AIRBORNE SOLUTIONS offers wine tours throughout the summer whilst for the rest of the year a helicopter is available for private charter.
ADELAIDE BIPLANES, based out of Aldinga Airfield, organises scenic and aerobatic fights as well as offering flying lessons.
CYCLING - Cycling Tours Australia offer a range of self guided cycle tours ranging from two days to five days that wind their way through the suburbs of Somerton Park, Brighton, Seacliff, Port Noarlunga and Moana, as well as the McLaren Vale and Victor Harbor.
STONE SCULPTURE AND ART CLASSES can be done at Bella Cosa in the heart of McLaren Vale. The centre promotes art, food and wine with its unique blend of winery, cafe, art gallery and sculpture park. Wine and tapas can be enjoyed whilst learning to sculpt or paint.
RICH AND LINGERING provides premium service private gourmet tours. Each custom designed tour is led by Jason Miller who is also a qualified wine taster and judge.
Other activities include ABSEILING, SKIRMISH, HANG GLIDING and SCENIC FLIGHTS
Producers of McLaren Vale shows visitors how to make, and then taste, wine, olive oil, verjuice, apple cider, preserves and cheese. Activities include grape picking, olive harvesting, cheese and bread-making, pickling, preserving and blending wine.
Salopian Inn – Located on the outskirts of McLaren Vale, this 1851 slate-floored stone building creates a seasonally changing menu with the chef selecting only the best ingredients, preferring local fresh
produce where possible.
Star of Greece – Located on a cliff top and arguably the region’s most famous restaurant, this former bait and tackle shop serves modern Australian cuisine and is named after a shipwreck.
Awganix Brasserie - Pronounced ‘aw-gan-ix’, is an organic and wholefood brasserie.
d’Arrys Verandah Restaurant – this is a magnificent hilltop restaurant overlooking d’Arenberg’s vineyards and the McLaren Vale.
ACCOMMODATION HIGHLIGHTS: Chapel Hill Guest House is a five-star, seven-room gourmet retreat whose focal point is its impressive demonstration kitchen which seats up to 20 guests, theatre-style, offering hands-on gourmet cooking classes.
Authenticity Health & Wellness Retreat - a boutique retreat offering a range of spa treatments, gourmet vegetarian cuisine, exercises classes and massages.
Ridgetop Retreats, located in Deep Creek Conservation Park surrounded by vegetation and wildlife, is the winner of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Award for design excellence.
The Vintage b&b is an elegantly furnished, 1850’s home from home in the McLaren Vale.
Beach Huts b&b offers eight, individually decorated, Brighton beach style huts in Middleton.
The McCracken Country Club is perched on the Tony Cashmore designed links/lakes McCracken Golf Course.
Victor Harbor based Harbor Hampers offers homemade hampers deliverable to any b&b door.
ANNUAL EVENT HIGHLIGHTS: MEET THE WADERS FESTIVAL (September - November), the State’s biggest celebration of migratory bird life, marks the annual arrival of wader bird species. Many birds fly non-stop from Japan, China or Siberia over a three to four-day period, which is the equivalent of a human running the four-minute mile for 60 hours continuously.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The Murray River completes its 2,500 kms. journey at Goolwa where the river enters the Great Southern Ocean at the Murray Mouth.
- Lake Alexandrina is the largest fresh water lake in Australia
- Academy Award-nominated British actor, Clive Owen, filmed "The Boys Are Back" in over 33 locations throughout South Australia (www.southaustralia.com) - from the beaches of the Fleurieu Peninsula to the vineyards of the Adelaide Hills.
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| -ENDS- |
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