8 DAYS SOUTH AUSTRALIA ROAD TRIPPIN’ IN STYLE

Upon arrival in Adelaide, please make your own way to the car rental counter and collect your rental vehicle (Audi Q5 or similar, auto). Make your way to Adelaide Hills (approx. 22km, 30min) and check into your luxury hotel with amazing views of the valley.

Sequoia Lodge Experiences

Part of the hotel’s philosophy is to connect guests with the land and its people through a range of intimate and curated onsite experiences that are included in your stay. These changes daily and may include a welcome and history tour, campfire under the stars, talk and taste with HVR head chef; wine tasting with local winemaker, brewer or distiller; food tasting with local artisan producer; bush walk or botanic garden walk.

Cleland Wildlife Park Private Koala Experience (1hr)

This morning, take a short drive to Cleland Wildlife Park where a personalised private koala hold experience has been included. In your private session, you have access to a koala and a koala keeper for the specified time (subject to staff and animal availability).

The package includes park entry for the day,the rare opportunity to hold a koala,a professional photograph to mark the occasion presented in a souvenir wallet, a private session out of public waiting times,your own personal keeper for an hour to answer all your questions, animal food to feed some of the other animals in the park.

Gourmet Chocolate & Wine Experience (1hr)

A short drive will take you to a local winery, where we have included a Gourmet Chocolate and Wine Experience, matching boutique wines to the world’s most acclaimed chocolate. This is based on the concept of terroir, and it allows you to take your tastebuds on a journey of discovery while learning about gourmet chocolate and fine wine in a fun and informative way.

In the quaint village of Hahndorf, with a visit to the Hahndorf Hill Winery. Here we have included the ChocoVino experience.

The remainder of the day is free for you to explore the region at your leisure.

We recommend a visit to the Udder Delights Cheese Cellar.

Sequoia Lodge At Leisure

Enjoy a full day at leisure to enjoy the lodge and the surrounding area. Some recommendations:

• Artisan Hot Pools: The Estate is connected to the local ancient natural spring waters that run deep down in the mountain. The naturally filtered springs feed every tap on the estate and provide for the lodge’s bottled water. You can also reap its benefits when relaxing in the artesian spring-fed hot pool or infinity pool overlooking on the valley rim.
• Maker & Somm: A South Australian based winemaker will join one of our sommeliers for an hour to pour, discuss and taste their wines. A rare opportunity to spend time with the duo, in an intimate, creative, and informative setting. Canapés and tapas are appropriately paired with the wine selection. The Maker & Somm series will answer all your pressing wine questions.
• Guided Nature Walk: Absorb the land, nature and wildlife surrounding Sequoia on our daily walk, guided by our experience team. Hike along the Heysen Trail, up to long ridge look-out, observing sweeping views of Adelaide and the Mount Lofty Ranges. Be sure to look for kangaroos, koalas and wallabies. The team will greet you with refreshments and a transfer back to the lodge.

Adelaide Central Markets Walking Tour (2hrs)

Drive into Adelaide to join a 08:00 tour of Adelaide’s Central Markets (available on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday). Your tour includes a light market breakfast, generous tastings of fresh produce whilst you learn about the History and Social Evolution of the market from your informative guide. 

After the tour, you can explore Adelaide further, before driving towards Renmark (approx. 270km, 3hrs). Renmark sits majestically on the flourishing banks of the Murray River – a historic town that was established in 1987 and is the largest in the Riverland with impressive ochre-coloured cliff tops, wetlands brimming with birdlife and riverscapes ready to be explored by kayak. Renmark is also home to Twenty Third Street Distillery, a revitalised 100 year old cellar door producing one of South Australia’s most loved gin.

Murray River Wetland & Wildlife Cruise with Lunch (6hrs)

Today, you will be taken on a private cruise to experience the Murray River wetlands and wildlife that most people will never get to see. This exclusive guided river cruise in a comfortable and customised dinghy takes you through the creeks and wetlands of the Murray River. Encounter diverse wildlife and birds of the region. It includes morning tea, a gourmet lunch, refreshments and an optional visit to the Wilkadene Woolshed Brewery.

Renmark Activities

Enjoy your day at leisure. A range of experiences are available including a sunset cruise with champagne and nibbles in a beautifully restored Gondola, visit the National Parks or taste award winning Riverland wines from cellar doors.

Depart Renmark and drive towards Barossa Valley (approx. 190km, 2.5hrs).  

Barossa Valley Private Wine Tour (Full Day)

The Barossa Valley is one of Australia’s most celebrated wine growing regions, originally settled by English and German pioneers in the mid-19th century. Start with an interactive and fun wine experience to create your own blend, the first of its kind in the Barossa Valley. After a tour of the winery and cellars, guests are invited to the lab to try their hand at making their own wine from the local grapes, blending to suit your own personal taste. It’s a fascinating and satisfying experience, with a personalized bottle to take your wine home.

Enjoy the ‘Make Your Own Blend’ Tour – the first of its kind in the Barossa Valley, and for anyone who has wanted to be a winemaker for a day! Guests are invited to the Winemakers Laboratory to try their hand at making their own wine from Genache, Shiraz and Mourvedre, just like Penfold’s own Bin 138.

Next, taste the excellent local wines and enjoy a relaxing lunch at a local restaurant. 

Your tour includes a VIP private tasting at Peter Lehmann Wines, with a selection of Super Premium and Cellar Door Exclusive wines which are showcased in an intimate private room and accompanied with a taste plate of fresh regional produce for you to indulge on during your tasting.

After breakfast, depart Barossa Valley to Adelaide Airport (approx. 80km, 1hr) for your onward journey.

Take a domestic flight to Kangaroo Island, where your driver will meet you at the airport and take you to your accommodation for check-in.

Kangaroo Island

Widely acclaimed as Australia’s Galapagos, Kangaroo Island is home to an abundance of native wildlife and spectacular natural attractions. Covering almost 4,500 square kilometres, it is Australia’s third largest island and offers the best of the mainland on a smaller, more intimate scale. With more than one third of the island declared as Conservation or National Park, visitors readily come face-to-face with prolific bird and animal species such as New Zealand fur seals, koalas, kangaroos, Australian sea lions, ospreys, echidnas and much, much more.

Kangaroo Island Nature & Wildlife Tour (Full Day)

Your local guide will collect you from your accommodation for a full day of touring on the island. First up, you’ll enjoy a cuppa with some home-made treats before taking a walk down a country track through tall Eucalyptus trees where koalas snooze overhead or wake briefly for a feed. Listen for the sounds of the bush – brightly coloured honeyeaters and brilliant parrots, cicadas or perhaps just the sound of silence. Continue through the Island’s most productive country to the north coast. Walk through strangely shaped trees and look for small wallabies almost extinct on the mainland, a kangaroo species found only on Kangaroo Island and a variety of other birds, plants and animals.

Break for lunch at a private bush camp and enjoy a delicious fresh meal accompanied by fine South Australian wines. Next, at Seal Bay Conservation Park take a private tour with your guide among Australian sea-lions on a beautiful sandy beach – an experience similar to that of the Galapagos. Watch pups nursing or playing in the surf, see old bulls bearing the scars of territorial disputes and learn about their unique breeding biology.

Kangaroo Island Landscapes (Full Day)

Begin the day travelling through some of the fire-affected landscapes of Kangaroo Island, which are recovering quickly following generous winter rains. Learn about fire ecology and how nature deals with fire. Some of our native flora species only flower following fire! Travel into Flinders Chase National Park and explore the massive shapes of Remarkable Rocks, a natural sculpture perched impossibly on top a granite dome plunging into the ocean. Break for an elegant picnic lunch in the bush, or if weather permits, on a spectacular clifftop, accompanied by local wine, beer, soft drinks and spring water. Evidence of the power of the Southern Ocean swell continues at Admirals Arch – a coastal grotto which provides a haul out for a large colony of Long-nosed fur seals which swim effortlessly through crashing waves.

After breakfast, transfer to Kangaroo Island Airport for your flight to Adelaide, where you will continue on your onward journey.