South Australia deserves attention. Although no Sydney, Adelaide is an attractive State capital, and the State is filled with unique towns such as volcanic Mount Gambier and quaint Glenelg. There is no Uluru but there is Wilpena Pound, a huge natural amphitheater with rocks protruding like gnarled fingers in Flinders Ranges National Park. There is no Sunshine Coast but there are great chunks of dramatic shoreline. Instead of reefs, South Australia is probably the best destination in Australia for seeing roaming native wildlife.
South Australia is the driest State in one of the driest Continents.
As harsh as the scenery is, however, it encloses a distinct beauty. There are stunning National Parks to ramble, from the cerise dunes of Simpson Desert to Lake Eyre National Park and its enormous 'salt-sink' and wilderness, opening up giant skies. And even if the State occasionally gets thirsty, there is plenty to quench the thirst of the visitor. The Barossa Valley is just one prized wine-growing region in South Australia.
South Australia is the only State that was not colonized through convicts. Its early settlers were mostly religious non-conformists and South Australia has since paved the way in Australian reform: the first State to give women equal voting rights; first to appoint an Aboriginal and a female Governor; and the first in the British Commonwealth to employ policewomen.
South Australia still leads in innovation. It is host to some of the biggest worldwide challenges, from the World Solar Challenge to Tour Down Under. No wonder South Australia is called the 'Festival State'. There is always something to celebrate in such captivating land.
GeographyExcept for the State capital of Adelaide, South Australia is sparsely inhabited – it is four times the area of the UK. It is the country’s driest State, a region of rocky plains and desert landscape broken by the fertile wine-growing areas, which include the Barossa Valley. South Australia stretches upwards to the Northern Territory, and eastwards to Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and westwards to Western Australia. The countryside ranges from the beach resorts of the Adelaide suburbs to the vast expanses of isolated, semi-desert outback; from the craggy mountains of Flinders Ranges to the meandering Murray River. Offshore is the popular Kangaroo Island. Adelaide nestles in the foothills of Mount Lofty Ranges.
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