Travel Australia - by Craig Hill

Located around 100 km southwest of Adelaide in South Australia, the lush Kangaroo Island is Australia's third largest island (behind Tasmania and Melville Island) or equivalent to seven times the size of Singapore!

As one of Australia's premier tourist destinations, the island is famous for its unspoilt environment where wildlife and can quite literally be found crawling in its natural habitat. Some of the country's best loved creatures such as koalas can be found relaxing at 'home' in native trees; seals appear to enjoy sunbathing just as much as we do as they lounge themselves on the beach; and of course, plenty of our other national icon, the kangaroo.

Discovered by British navigator Matthew Flinders in 1802, at least half the native bushland on Kangaroo Island remains just as it was back in the day and more than one-third of the Island is now either a National or Conservation Park.

There's plenty of 'must sees' and 'must dos' - the list is just simply too long to include everything so here's just a few of everyones favourites:

Flinders Chase National Park - a 33,000-hectare national park featuring Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch, a 1909 Cape du Couedic lighthouse and wildlife aplenty.

Seal Bay Conservation Park - the home to the nation's third largest and most accessible colony of Australian Sea Lions.

Penguin Pageantry - watch little Penguins return home from waters to their seaside burrows.

Kangaroo Island Caving - the ultimate caving tour featuring caverns and sinkholes.

Vivonne Bay - rated as Australia's best beach in terms of water clarity, privacy and cleanliness.

For the foodies out there, you will be delighted with the Island's offerings of some of the country's best free-range eggs, olive oil, native jams, smoked fish, sauces and marinades, not to mention the fantastic wine, cheeses, and seafood such as oysters and lobsters.
So whether you're enjoying the views from seaside cottages and cliff-top cabins, playing with wildlife or sampling great good, there's something for everyone at Kangaroo Island.

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Posted By: Arnold - Category: SA

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Will the Libs escape responsibility over Hicks?

March 28th 2007 06:29

There is no doubt in my mind that the processing of David Hicks' case has come about recently because of the fear from the current Government over it becoming an election issue. Had it been left for another year, it definitely would have been something that the electorate decided their voting on.

Now Hicks has been charged and lodges a guilty plea, so not only has the process began, but the guilty plea has meant there is every chance Hicks will be forgotten by the time the election has come about. Of course the Government are claiming this guilty plea can only mean Hicks is guilty. It can't have anything to do with the fact he just wants to get out of a prison that has lights on 24 hours forcing him to grow his hair to get some sleep. It can't have anything to do with the fact that the process is so tainted and he has no chance of receiving a hearing that is unbiased. It has nothing to do with the fact that duress has been used to aid the successful prosecution of him whatever he was to plead.

Downer, you aren't kidding anyone when you say a guilty plea clearly means David Hicks is guilty of terrorism and you aren't kidding the electorate either because many people still believe he has not had the fair go the government you are a part of has been preaching for years.

The current government has got to go this year and let's hope that Hicks can appeal any decision when he finally makes it back to Australia.

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Posted By: Glen - Category: SA

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Coonawarra Wine Wins Awards

July 18th 2006 06:24

We are back to wine country today. As I have expressed before, the wine regions of Australia rate amongst the best in the world. In the news today was the announcement a wine from the Coonawarra wine region in South Australia won champion of the Royal Queensland Wine Show.

Congratulations must go to a 2004 Cab Sav from the Majella winery, one of many wineries in the Coonawarra region. Coonawarra is unique in that it has a 12 km stretch where soil is a rich terra rossa red sitting on top of limestone. The cool climate also allows for a long ripening season. These sorts of conditions make it an excellent region for the cab sav as well as other red and white wines.

Most of the 21 wineries in the short stretch are open to the public every day of the week offering tasting and public purchasing. The wineries are set up in a stretch so that you can move from one to the next with ease.

It is slightly more than 300 km from Adelaide and includes a number of accommodation options centred on cottage and guest house style stays, but with motels also available. Like many wine regions in Australia, Coonawarra also provides good eating with an array of restaurants and cafes. The region is a perfect relaxing social destination with wineries that have won recent acclaim, which is something in the current competitive Australian wine industry.

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Posted By: Glen - Category: SA

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Victor Harbor

May 22nd 2006 03:10

Victor Harbor is a beautiful seaside town just over 80 kms from Adelaide on the South Australian southern coast. It has become a vibrant town tourism wise and attempts to cater for a wide range of travellers. With its great beaches, surfing and swimming are popular activities, but there is also an historical element to the town that will add to your wide ranging experience.

Victor Harbor Tram. Pic from www.victor.sa.gov.au

The highlight of this historical element is the Victor Harbor Tramway. Though it seems very popular to discuss the benefits of trams these days, very few tram systems are as rare as the Victor Harbor Tramway. Why? There are Clydesdales pulling them. You know the big horses, recognisable from a certain Victorian beer. These horses started pulling the trams in 1894 and in the 1980s, after a few decades out of commission started pulling the trams again. The tram runs regularly and there are a number of horses used in order to limit the amount of work each horse does. Something like 2 hours a day. The trip takes in the beautiful coastline of the area and is a perfect way to experience Victor Harbor.

The region also plays host to the oldest steam train in South Australia called the SteamRanger 'Cockle' Train, which on weekends and in school holidays travels between Goolwa and Port Elliot to Victor Harbor. Steam Trains are a great experience for the kids (and adults alike I tend to think).

We are approaching the time to go to Victor Harbor. June sees the start of the whale season where Southern Right Whales head into Victor Harbor’s Encounter Bay. To compliment this great experience, there is a Whale Centre, which will provide you with info on the whales as well as some historical info on South Australia’s whaling industry that though now no longer in operation was once an important part of Victor Harbor living.

For more info check out Victor Harbour Tourism site.

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Posted By: Glen - Category: SA

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Adelaide Oval for the Ashes

May 16th 2006 09:26

I’ll remind all you cricket fans that it is only about 2 weeks out from tickets going on sale for the 2006/07 Ashes series where Australia will attempt to take back what is rightfully there’s. Why is it rightfully there’s? Australia are a consistent cricket team not a team that has fate deal it some luck because it had been years since they won anything sporting wise.

One of the matches during the Ashes will be played at the Adelaide Oval. The Adelaide Oval is arguably the greatest cricket ground in the world. It has not been the victim of the corporate sport psychology of cramming as many people into a ground as has been the case in Melbourne or Sydney as well as many grounds around the world. Its prestige and its main attractions have been cherished. It still has a hill and it still has an old score board. It does have technology that is necessary to host a test match in the current day, but not at the expense of atmosphere and a sense of community.

Adelaide Oval was a place Sir Donald Bradman played a lot of his career for South Australia, the state team that call Adelaide Oval their home and it is probably fitting that the best player who ever played the game of cricket would be so closely associated with arguably the most beautiful test ground in the world.

I write this small piece on the Adelaide Oval, not to give a complete analysis of the ground, but with the thought that if you plan to go to an Ashes test at the end of the year, how magnificent would it be to watch part of the most anticipated series of cricket in Australia for years, sitting on a picnic blanket rather than on an uncomfortable plastic chair mounted to concrete ground.

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Posted By: Glen - Category: SA

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Wine Tour: Barossa Valley South Australia

April 29th 2006 08:29

Australia has such a healthy wine industry so I’m going to occasionally feature a good wine region that offers tours. Let’s face it, what more could you want to do on your holiday than jump on a bus with a pack of strangers and get pissed on quality wine.

Barossa Vines

Let’s start with arguably the most famous wine region in Australia, the Barossa Valley, not far north of Adelaide. When you go to wineries you want to maximise your tasting and you also want plenty of your hosts using words such as nutty, pears, warmth, nectar etc etc – all the things you wouldn’t think of when it comes to grapes, to increase the authenticity of the experience. You’ll get plenty of this in the Barossa.

Tours start from $40 up to $745 for wine or food and wine experiences. You’ll want to head to http://www.southaustralia.com to check out your list of tours, but really you want one that takes you to two or three wineries, picks you up and drops you off either at your accommodation or at least a major centre and provides includes a dining stop for some lunch.

The Barossa includes 500 family's vineyards so the views are stunning and of course there is a tonne of small to large wineries including Penfolds or Seppelt Winery, but there are other things to do including a farmers market, hot air balloon rides, walking tours and eating at some of the fine restaurants. The restaurants are really there to go with the drinking of the wine though of course. I suppose if you were a non-drinker the 150 years of wine making history could interest you, but the Barossa really is a place to visit for the wine lover.

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Posted By: Glen - Category: SA

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