ADELAIDE, When to go?
 

Hello everyone! Okay, reading all these posts is making me miss Australia something fierce! I love the country and have decided its time to visit again.

This time I thought I'd concentrate on Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, SA and Melbourne and maybe Albury for Victoria. Possibly Tasmania as a side trip. I've been to Sydney and Perth back in the 1980's but certainly would not mind re-visiting those or other parts of NSW and WA. I know, I know if I keep adding to my list I'll be there a year! I was wondering whens the best time to visit SA? Any other suggestions regarding small inns or B&B's would also be appreciated. Also any other recommendations on what to see or where to go or where not to go would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Jon-Eric, New Orleans.

Hi Jon Eric, just one question first, why Albury ?

Hi AussieJo, Albury is mainly for equestrian reasons; I cant be on a horse often enough to suit me. Unless I'm confusing Albury with some other place they have/had excursions on horseback from like 1-5 nights?

Hi Jon-Eric,

In my opinion the best time to visit Adelaide is in the warmer months from November through till the beginning of March.

I am in Adelaide quite a bit in fact my wife and I chose to have our baby born there. We love Adelaide and the surrounding districts. You might like to consider staying over night in the Barossa Valley in a B&B or a motel say in Tanunda or if you are interested I have given you the link to the Tanunda Caravan Park which has nice cabins:

http://www.tanundacaravantouristpark.com.au/index.htm

A nice B&B to try if it is in your price range would be the Marble Lodge:

http://www.marblelodge.com.au/index.htm

Cheers

Paul_S

Thanks everyone! I wonder if Adelaide is very humid in the warmer months? I would think it might be more akin to Perth only not as dry? Not that I'm a stranger to humidity since New Orleans is probably more like Darwin's weather, but its nice to get away from the humidity. Thanks again!

Jon_Eric,

Adelaide doesn't get too humid. You're right in thinking it's similar to Perth.

IMHO Adelaide is one of those funny places that's surrounded by interesting things but there's not much to do in the city itself.

All of the SA wine growing areas are great. The Barossa and Clare Valleys to the north pitch to the tourist market and have magnificent white wines. Coonawarra, to the south, is the home of many of Australia's best red wines.

The Flinders Ranges are cool if your an outdoors type and Kangaroo Island is full of large hopping rats (as the name suggests).

If you really do want to stay in Adelaide, my suggestion would be to stay in the suburb of Glenelg, on the beach, and catch the funny little tram up to the City when you want to go there.

Cheers,
Pumblechook

Jon

Be warned that Adelaide can be extremely hot in Jan-Feb - hot and dry often with strong winds.

The idea of staying at Glenelg is a good one as it is at the beach and (like our family on one holiday) you can ease the heat by getting into the water - which has no surf to speak of.

G'day Jon-Eric,
others already gave you plenty of good advise.
Just a couple of additions:

Warrawong Sanctuary is close to Stirling in den Adelaide Hills.
http://www.warrawong.com/
It's also close to Hahndorf, a historic German Town, although pretty touristy.

Whenever I take a tour that way we stay over night in the Clare Valley, just a bit north of the Carossa Valley, at a beautiful historic hotel in Auburn with That Old World Charm.
Rising Sun Hotel, Auburn, Ph: (08) 8849 2015,
Main North Rd., Auburn SA 5451.

You didn't say how much time you have at your disposal ?
Should you be thinking of driving from Adelaide to Melbourne I would allow about 4 days ( or more ) for that.
Drive along the Coorong, to Mt. Gambier, then to Port Fairy (oldest town in Vic), from there to the the Great Ocean Road.
Detour to the Grampians and then via Ballarat to Melbourne.
Unless you travel during school holidays you won't need to pre-book accommodation along that route. That gives you much greater flexibility and less stress :-)

If you want more info about the above you can email me ( mention Fodors ).

Enjoy,
Mike

Thanks again everyone! Mike, I'll probably stick to two weeks possible three; three would entail a trip to Tasmania. I'm also leaning more towards April at this point in time.
I hadn't really thought about driving to Adelaide, but was thinking of taking the train (if possible) from Sydney or Melbourne to Adelaide. Very hard to narrow down an itinerary in such an interesting and vast country. I may end up going with one of the tour companies as its less worries, but not sure which one.

Thanks guys, if anyone wants to visit New Orleans or our South feel free to email me! Cheers