Am expecting we will stay one month in the Adelaide region. We are hoping to stay in one place for the whole time. We'd like to stay somewhere where we can easily access the beach and the Barossa Valley. Is there any rentals that can accomplish this that you know of? We stayed one month in Tuscany last year and loved every minute of it...will we be bored staying the whole month in Adelaide? We really like to settle into a place and not move around except for day trips to nice villages and towns.

Hi, I'm a Tour Operator based in Adelaide and can assist you with accommodation/tours/car rental but unable to communicate without your correct email address. Please contact me direct (if you wish to enlist my aid) as I'm not permitted to "advertise" on this forum. Thankyou. Regards, Suzanne.<BR>

Anyone else have any info??

Yes you will be bored to death staying in Adelaide and anyone who says otherwise is deluding themselves and you. Adelaide is a small city which can be seen in one day, just about. There are not many small, nice villages and towns around South Australia that you could do day trips to that could not be done in one week. <BR>If Australians are honest they will admit that South Australia is probably the least attractive of the Australian states from a tourist point of view and as you have not mentioned WHEN you are going to stay there it is difficult to make any more suggestions because a lot would depend on the time of year - you either frizzle or freeze at the beach.<BR>Suzanne, as we have seen in the past, is from South Australia and is a travel agent and is not even supposed to suggest that you contact her. There are many, many reputable Travel Agents around Australia and in South Australia and I would be loath to make contact with one until you have cemented yourself in the area or have a lot more information than you have at this stage.

Yes you will be bored to death staying in Adelaide and anyone who says otherwise is deluding themselves and you. Adelaide is a small city which can be seen in one day, just about. There are not many small, nice villages and towns around South Australia that you could do day trips to that could not be done in one week. <BR>If Australians are honest they will admit that South Australia is probably the least attractive of the Australian states from a tourist point of view and as you have not mentioned WHEN you are going to stay there it is difficult to make any more suggestions because a lot would depend on the time of year - you either frizzle or freeze at the beach.<BR>Suzanne, as we have seen in the past, is from South Australia and is a travel agent and is not even supposed to suggest that you contact her. There are many, many reputable Travel Agents around Australia and in South Australia and I would be loath to make contact with one until you have cemented yourself in the area or have a lot more information than you have at this stage. <BR>There are many rental agents who can assist you with holiday rentals and I would suggest that you decide where you are staying first then do a search for Real Estate Agents in that area second and thirdly see if they have a rent roll for holiday rentals. Another very good place to start is the South Australian Tourist Board which is a Government run agency and is unbiased in their suggestions

Many thanks Marg for that info. We are retired and want to spend a couple of months in Australia in the winter months (Jan/Feb.) .. we had though of one month in Sydney area and were checking around for another month. Thought the north would be way too hot and like wine tours, small towns. Wanted to stay in one place and just do nice little day trips or relax, read, walk etc. I sure would love some recommendations from you and then I'll do the research on them...could you help?

If you are looking for a lot of interesting things to do and you are retired then you can not go past the Northern New South Wales area where many people have retired to and there are heaps of things in place to enjoy. Also it is one of the most scenic areas in Australia and an area that you COULD spend a lot of time puddling about in. <BR>Locating yourself in say Tweed Heads would be lovely. You don't say if you will have a car. However that is not a problem in Tweed as there are buses everywhere and the it is right on the beach and I would suggest that you join one on the many many groups of retirees who have a lot of fun travelling around the countryside and enjoying each others company.<BR>The Tweed Valley is the side of the Southern Hemisphere's largest caldera and as such is very interesting both in flora and its fauna ( though that doesn't effect fauna much) The river itself is very nice and you can hire b b que boats for the day or 1/2 day and explore, Also house boats are a lovely way to go too. I love visiting Tumbulgum which is up the river a way and there is an old Pub there which has wonderful Pub food overlooking the river. You can puddle around Mt Warning and the National Parks that abound in this area. The beaches are wonderful too and there is always a spot you can go where no one else will be. You can choose to either be by yourselves or take a tour, or just a bus to somewhere else if you get bored. ALL of the clubs i.e. Football, Golf, Bowls, Returned Services or whatever have their own very large Club Houses which you can go to and the meals are soooooooo cheap, they also have entertainment as well but there choice is there if you want it. <BR>I hope that this has helped you a bit. I will check out some web sites and let you know where to look. <BR>It is a misconception that the North ( or a little bit north) is hotter in summer than the south, although in Melbourne this year people wondered it there was going to be ANY summer at all. Usually it is hotter in Adelaide and Melbourne as they get the heat off the desert where upon in the Tweed area your average day would be about 28 celcuis with about 45 - 55% humidity. Some days will be hotter and some a little cooler but most days will have a sea breeze to cool you down.<BR><BR>

Here is a web site that may help you regarding my suggestion: <BR><BR>http://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/touristinfo/<BR><BR>I have used the Government one which is unbiased in nature and therefore you can link to whatever you want. <BR><BR>Whilst I think that the Barossa Valley is the best area for wines, you will be able to do a tour of the Hunter Valley ( they will argue that they are as good) whilst you are in Sydney. You can take a tour from the Tweed area to Stanthorpe and surrounds which would be a 2 day trip for you, or you can just get some darn good wine, get some really good steak and sit at the beach b b que and watch the waves - which is really infective.<BR>Cheers<BR>

Adelaide is a lovely small city, however 1 month is far too long. Maybe you would be best breaking up your trip.<BR>For a cooler climate you could try Tasmania for around 10 days but you would have to hire a car & move around the state.<BR>Tweed Heads ??? I would much sooner north of Brisbane. But thats my choice.<BR>Melbourne offers Yarra Valley wineries, great coastal drives, great eating places, interesting drives in the Dandenong Ranges. Could easy fill in a couple of weeks looking around, but once again you would have to drive or catch tour bus. Good luck<BR>

Where, further north of Brisbane, would you get the climate that you do in Tweed and with lots more to see. The Sunshine Coast and Noosa are stinking hot in Summer and they are more for younger people anyway who want to cruise down Hastings Street and be seen. <BR>I would think that spending one month in Hobart, particularly around Battery Point and Sandy Bay would be lovely too. There is enough to see and do in Tasmania for the entire time, weather is nice, water is nice, the east coast is nice as is Cradle Mountain area and the West Coast and the North. Adelaide and Melbourne are too fickle with the weather and Adelaide can get hotter than any other Australian city in summer. When I lived in S.A it actually got too hot to go to the beach as you could not walk on the sand because it was so hot. It is dry and it is arid and the Barossa Valley in summer would not be my favourite place to be by a long shot. <BR>Northern New South Wales is lovely, if one has bothered to take the time to explore it. No, it doesn't rate in the tourist brochures all that much because it has the much quieter things to do that is enjoyable and it doesn't rate with the young as its not their style - with the exception of Byron Bay. I think it would be the most pleasant place to be for one month and you would not run out of things to do and places to go either. I would give my front teeth to be able to spend a summer there.

I second, or third the comment about northern new south wales. I grew up around Ballina and I yearn to return there to live but my work stops me, but one day!!!!<BR>That area is on the border of Queensland and between that area and Cairns there is only the Mackay area that matches the "value for money" so to speak, in terms of countryside. I still love flying into Coolangatta because the area is so beautiful and full of scenery and the National Parks, rivers and mountains make it the best holiday place in Australia outside the GBR.

Hi, Wizard!<BR><BR>While the idea of staying in a small town in inland Australia for a month and just doing day trips sounds lovely, the reality is that most of these places are not geared to tourists and, unless you are prepared to buy or hire a car, you are going to have no way to get around! I have tried to see the point of view of the people who told you that the area around Tweed Heads would be great for a month, but, frankly, I can't see that, either. In January/February it would just be hot and blindingly bright! I guess the area has its charms, but, frankly, Tuscany it ain't! <BR>The more I think about your situation (and I am about to retire myself, at the end of this month, so I am on your wave-length) the more I think that you should spread your two months between, say, three major centres where you can be sure that transport is available to anywhere you want. The month in Sydney seems okay.... for the other two choices, why not take two weeks each in Tasmania (for contrast... it is VERY different to the rest of Australia) and whichever of the suggestions above took your fancy.

I have read a lot of what Alan has to suggest and I am amazed that he doesn't like the Tweed River area and northern NSW. I am not even sure that he has been there and if he has he sure has not had a good look around because it is the most diverse and beautiful area in Australia. <BR>If Alan is from Sydney then I can understand that he may not appreciate the country areas and probably has not "experienced" them. Yes the Tweed area is near the Gold Coast but he also thinks that the Gold Coast is a "Must Miss area" when in fact it is Australia's premier holiday destination ( all Australia can't be wrong). Sure there are areas of the Gold Coast that are glitzy - so stay away from those but there are those areas which the rest of Australia doesn't have such as the closeness of the many National Parks, the diversity of the flora and fauna, the fantastic waterways and so on and so forth. You don't have to cavort around Kings Cross if you go to Sydney and people don't suggest not going to Sydney because of Kings Cross do they - no. Then why is Alan hell bent on stopping people from going to what has many, many diverse and interesting areas around it just because the middle of the Gold Coast gives too much emphasis to over-seas visitors and their likes? One does not have to go there. However you can enjoy much of what the area has to offer and because it is also close and accessable to Brisbane that makes it the ideal holiday destination. <BR>People ask for ideas, if you do not really know an area or have not really been there then please shut up!

<BR><BR>Hi, I live in Adelaide and wanted to respond to Marg above, and give you some ideas for your trip.<BR><BR>I don't think that you can really base yourself anywhere in Australia for 1 month and do lots of day trips without either running out of things to do or spending your life in the car. Everything is just too spread out. The only exception may be Tasmania, and I would second the recommendations above that say you should see Tassie - it is lovely, and the weather in Jan/Feb would still be warm, but be much more mild than on the mainland. <BR><BR>Adelaide does get hot, but any tourist who had to put up with the heat and the smoke from the enormous bushfires which ringed Sydney last summer would have been far better off in Adelaide. Sydney does get bloody hot, and very humid. I much prefer Adelaide summers - dry, desert heat that makes you want a really cold beer or glass of wine.<BR><BR>Adelaide is certainly not a big city and 1 month in the city itself would be too long. However, it is a nice city to spend a few days in, wandering around the cafes of North Terrace and eating at some of Australia's best restaurants, like The Grange and Magill Estate.<BR><BR>However, if you want to see the real outback, try the Flinder's Ranges, particularly Wilpena Pound - incredibly beautiful, and a few hours north of Adelaide. <BR><BR>Then there is the Barrossa Valley. You have said that you like wine tours. In SA, you could try the Barrossa, or the Clare Valley, or the Adelaide Hills, or the Coonawarra, or McLaren Vale or the Southern Vales and so on.... Each of these regions is well worth a few days, and you could do winery tours in each.<BR><BR>Then there is Kangaroo Island, one of the most pristine and beautiful areas in the country. Seal Bay, Flinder's Chase National Park, American River etc... Again, a few days here would be lovely.<BR><BR>Then there is the Coorong, and lovely Murray River towns like Goolwa, or you could get a river boat and go on the Murray.<BR><BR>There is lots to do in SA, but you could not do it all from one place. You could do 1 week in the city and surrounds, 1 week in the Flinder's Ranges, 1 week on Kangaroo Island, 1 week at one or two of the winery regions. That way there would be some moving around, but not much. You could even keep using Adelaide as a central base. The other great advantage of doing that is that it is a hell of a lot cheaper than doing it in Sydney!<BR><BR>Have a look at http://www.australianexplorer.com/to..._australia.htm, and http://www.southaustralia.com/home.asp<BR><BR>I hope this info is helpful, and have a great holiday.<BR><BR><BR>

I had the misfortune to live in Bordertown, S. A. for 3 years and let me tell you that South Australia in summer is hell!. You would not want to be anything other than a desert skink to be in the Barossa Valley or anyof the wine regions in summer, let alone the Flinders Ranges which can be soooooo hot. It is hot, dry and uninteresting. Sorry Crow-eaters but an interesting place it aint.

Several years ago my husband was on a business trip to Adelaide for a month and I went along-loved it!! We live in a small town so Adelaide felt big to us.<BR>I loved the zoo about a 20 min. drive on the way to Hondorf (don't have my notes in front of me). I love animals and you can really be with the kangroos there.<BR>We took the ferry over to Kangaroo Island for a weekend and stayed at a lovely B&B and went to Seal Beach, saw the Fairy Penquins etc. Lots of animals to see there!<BR>While in Adelaide we went to the Culinary Institute for dinner twice-wonderful and great prices-we had never been to one before and that was special for us.<BR>We were there when they were having a wine tasting/food festival in the Barossa Valley (August). We did it as a bus tour-they started with Champagne on the bus! We went to 4 or 5 wineries and there was wonderful food served at each-the bus was the way to go!<BR>Loved Adelaide-hope to get back someday.<BR>Shadow