Semaphore Beach (~12 kms from Adelaide) - Nice little beach around 18 kms from Mawson Lakes. Best part about this beach is small natural kiddies pool, where the water is around 18 inches deep as soon as the shoreline starts. After around 5 meters of this kiddies pool, the water height actually reduces to 10 inches. So no fear of kiddies getting washed into the sea. A very gradual slope inside the water and water is not too salty. Parking is free, but limited to 1 hour (on the main street) before 5 pm on every day of the week. After 5 pm, parking is for unlimited hours.
Rundle Mall (Adelaide City) - Nice pedestrian only walking street with over 700 retail stores. Parking is obviously a problem. Best to park at King Williams Street or adjacent by lanes, where parking on Saturday and Sunday is 1$ for 3 hours between 8 am and 6 pm (weekday parking is 7.50$ during 8-6)
South Australian Museum (Adelaide City) - Interesting exhibits, especially for ankle biters. Exhibits include "world animals" (stuffed animals, from tigers to elephants and more) on the ground floor, an aboriginal gallery, a small little room for Egyptian civilization (I did not find this impressive) and a giant squid (could not make out whether the squid is real or a model). There are also some dinosaur bones and models. Entry is free.
Gumercha - Woodside - Oakbanks - Hahndorf round trip: This round trip is around 105 kms in all, starting from Mawson Lakes. See individual entries below for what's to-do in each of these places.
Gumercha: The big rocking horse - (thebigrockinghorse.com.au/) This is a huge horse around 18 feet tall (the horse does NOT actually rock!!). The horse is part of the Toy Factory campus which also has an animal farm housing Alpacas, Kangaroos, Wallabys, Goats, Sheep, Birds, Ducks, Emu. All of them are very friendly and not averse to getting touched, patted or pushed around, especially if you have an animal food packet that sells for 2$ a packet (otherwise, entry is free to the animal farm). There is also a mini-pony called Trippy and children under 6 years can ride on this for 5$. Best to pack your own lunch which can be consumed on one of the park benches. There is also a canteen, though with a limited menu of burgers and chips. (Point to note - the Toy Factory is not a "factory" as such. There is only a shop with sells mostly wooden toys)
Woodside: Melba's Chocolate Factory - (melbaschocolates.com.au/) Around 10 kms from Gumercha, Melba's Chocolate Factory is a small factory (with 2 or 3 employees) where you can see chocolates being made from behind a glass panel. Do not expect too much activity in the factory - at best, you will get to see some chocolates being packed into boxes, or chocolate slabs being cut. There is also a chocolate shop, which sells produce from the factory. While the chocolate shop is open 7 days, the factory itself is closed on Sundays. Entry is free.
Oakbanks: Easter horse jump racing - (www.oakbankracingclub.com.au/) Around 5 kms from Woodside, Oakbanks has a race course where the speciality is hurdle racing. Races mainly run on the Easter weekend and entry is 30$ a person.
Hahndorf (~40 kms from Adelaide) - Quaint little German village in Adelaide Hills. There is a small museum that tries to preserve the short history of Hahndorf. There are also wineries in this area; I visited the Shaw + Smith wines, and ended up paying 14$ for wine tasting session. Some free cheese was thrown in with the wines. Most other wineries will give free wine tasting sessions, so I think this particular wine yard can best be avoided. The best part is Beerenberg Farm (www.beerenberg.com.au/), where you can pick strawberries. Best season for picking premium strawberries is November to February, though the farm is open for strawberry picking until as late as June (and then it reopens in October). You pay 3$ a person for entry to the farms, and you can taste as many strawberries as you like while picking the strawberries. The ones that you pick are sold at 9.5$ a kilo.
Victor Harbour (~100 kms from Adelaide) - Not much of a beach here. We visited on Sunday, when we found that there was a Sunday market in operation. Mainly on sale were books, bric-a-bacs, small ornaments, stuffed toys, plants, CDs, dresses; all set up on temporary tables put out there by individuals. There is a 500 meter walk on a wooden bridge to Granite Island. This is the home to little penguins, who go fishing during the day and return in the evening to the island. If you want to see the little penguins, the best time would be towards evening. There are tours to see the penguins return home from fishing and this is the only way to see penguins, because you cannot hang out on the island after dusk unless you are part of this tour. There is also a horse pulled railway carriage that travels from Victor Harbour to Granite Island for 6$ ticket per adult; however, this was closed at the time of my visit for some repairs. This is likely to reopen around June or July of 2012. On Granite Island, there is a walking trail around the island, which is around 2 km long and offers good view of the sea beyond.
Goowla (~15 kms from Victor Harbour) - this is a surfing beach, where waves are high and ideal for surfing, not swimming.
Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary - Lower Botanical Gardens - Mount Lofty Summit round trip: This round trip is around 65 kms in all, starting from Mawson Lakes. See individual entries below for what's to-do in each of these places.
Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary - (www.zoossa.com.au/warrawong) Be prepared to find friendly Kangaroos (seems to be common in Australia!), a variety of birds, ducks, two black swans and the native Platypus (though the Platypus could not be spotted). The sanctuary is a free range walk along park trails and wooden bridges, with the highlight being the rain-forest section, where there is a lot of tropical undergrowth. Feeding the animals is limited to one bag (2$) per group of 4 people. Kangaroos will feed out of your hand without fear (now, if you are afraid, that is another problem)! Budget around 45 minutes to an hour for a stroll through the Sanctuary. Entry to the Sanctuary continues to be free until 4 pm.
Lower Botanical Gardens - or more accurately, lower entrance to Botanical Gardens is so named, because there is obviously an upper entrance to the Botanical Gardens as well. There are various trails here, some of them quite steep and can take around an hour and half one way. The short walk we took in the Garden was quite pleasant and we also got to watch the photo shoot of a Chinese wedding that was taking place in the park. Open from 9 to 4 on weekdays and until 5 pm on weekends.
Mount Lofty Summit - gives a complete view of Adelaide and surrounding suburbs. We stayed back to watch the sunset and the lights come up in the city. There is a telescope on the top - make sure to carry a 1$ coin if you want to have a go at the telescope. A nice little dining place forms the background at the Summit. While parking is ticketed, if you park to the right at the entrance of the Summit, that's legal and free.
Rundle Mall (Adelaide City) - Nice pedestrian only walking street with over 700 retail stores. Parking is obviously a problem. Best to park at King Williams Street or adjacent by lanes, where parking on Saturday and Sunday is 1$ for 3 hours between 8 am and 6 pm (weekday parking is 7.50$ during 8-6)
South Australian Museum (Adelaide City) - Interesting exhibits, especially for ankle biters. Exhibits include "world animals" (stuffed animals, from tigers to elephants and more) on the ground floor, an aboriginal gallery, a small little room for Egyptian civilization (I did not find this impressive) and a giant squid (could not make out whether the squid is real or a model). There are also some dinosaur bones and models. Entry is free.
Gumercha - Woodside - Oakbanks - Hahndorf round trip: This round trip is around 105 kms in all, starting from Mawson Lakes. See individual entries below for what's to-do in each of these places.
Gumercha: The big rocking horse - (thebigrockinghorse.com.au/) This is a huge horse around 18 feet tall (the horse does NOT actually rock!!). The horse is part of the Toy Factory campus which also has an animal farm housing Alpacas, Kangaroos, Wallabys, Goats, Sheep, Birds, Ducks, Emu. All of them are very friendly and not averse to getting touched, patted or pushed around, especially if you have an animal food packet that sells for 2$ a packet (otherwise, entry is free to the animal farm). There is also a mini-pony called Trippy and children under 6 years can ride on this for 5$. Best to pack your own lunch which can be consumed on one of the park benches. There is also a canteen, though with a limited menu of burgers and chips. (Point to note - the Toy Factory is not a "factory" as such. There is only a shop with sells mostly wooden toys)
Woodside: Melba's Chocolate Factory - (melbaschocolates.com.au/) Around 10 kms from Gumercha, Melba's Chocolate Factory is a small factory (with 2 or 3 employees) where you can see chocolates being made from behind a glass panel. Do not expect too much activity in the factory - at best, you will get to see some chocolates being packed into boxes, or chocolate slabs being cut. There is also a chocolate shop, which sells produce from the factory. While the chocolate shop is open 7 days, the factory itself is closed on Sundays. Entry is free.
Oakbanks: Easter horse jump racing - (www.oakbankracingclub.com.au/) Around 5 kms from Woodside, Oakbanks has a race course where the speciality is hurdle racing. Races mainly run on the Easter weekend and entry is 30$ a person.
Hahndorf (~40 kms from Adelaide) - Quaint little German village in Adelaide Hills. There is a small museum that tries to preserve the short history of Hahndorf. There are also wineries in this area; I visited the Shaw + Smith wines, and ended up paying 14$ for wine tasting session. Some free cheese was thrown in with the wines. Most other wineries will give free wine tasting sessions, so I think this particular wine yard can best be avoided. The best part is Beerenberg Farm (www.beerenberg.com.au/), where you can pick strawberries. Best season for picking premium strawberries is November to February, though the farm is open for strawberry picking until as late as June (and then it reopens in October). You pay 3$ a person for entry to the farms, and you can taste as many strawberries as you like while picking the strawberries. The ones that you pick are sold at 9.5$ a kilo.
Victor Harbour (~100 kms from Adelaide) - Not much of a beach here. We visited on Sunday, when we found that there was a Sunday market in operation. Mainly on sale were books, bric-a-bacs, small ornaments, stuffed toys, plants, CDs, dresses; all set up on temporary tables put out there by individuals. There is a 500 meter walk on a wooden bridge to Granite Island. This is the home to little penguins, who go fishing during the day and return in the evening to the island. If you want to see the little penguins, the best time would be towards evening. There are tours to see the penguins return home from fishing and this is the only way to see penguins, because you cannot hang out on the island after dusk unless you are part of this tour. There is also a horse pulled railway carriage that travels from Victor Harbour to Granite Island for 6$ ticket per adult; however, this was closed at the time of my visit for some repairs. This is likely to reopen around June or July of 2012. On Granite Island, there is a walking trail around the island, which is around 2 km long and offers good view of the sea beyond.
Goowla (~15 kms from Victor Harbour) - this is a surfing beach, where waves are high and ideal for surfing, not swimming.
Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary - Lower Botanical Gardens - Mount Lofty Summit round trip: This round trip is around 65 kms in all, starting from Mawson Lakes. See individual entries below for what's to-do in each of these places.
Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary - (www.zoossa.com.au/warrawong) Be prepared to find friendly Kangaroos (seems to be common in Australia!), a variety of birds, ducks, two black swans and the native Platypus (though the Platypus could not be spotted). The sanctuary is a free range walk along park trails and wooden bridges, with the highlight being the rain-forest section, where there is a lot of tropical undergrowth. Feeding the animals is limited to one bag (2$) per group of 4 people. Kangaroos will feed out of your hand without fear (now, if you are afraid, that is another problem)! Budget around 45 minutes to an hour for a stroll through the Sanctuary. Entry to the Sanctuary continues to be free until 4 pm.
Lower Botanical Gardens - or more accurately, lower entrance to Botanical Gardens is so named, because there is obviously an upper entrance to the Botanical Gardens as well. There are various trails here, some of them quite steep and can take around an hour and half one way. The short walk we took in the Garden was quite pleasant and we also got to watch the photo shoot of a Chinese wedding that was taking place in the park. Open from 9 to 4 on weekdays and until 5 pm on weekends.
Mount Lofty Summit - gives a complete view of Adelaide and surrounding suburbs. We stayed back to watch the sunset and the lights come up in the city. There is a telescope on the top - make sure to carry a 1$ coin if you want to have a go at the telescope. A nice little dining place forms the background at the Summit. While parking is ticketed, if you park to the right at the entrance of the Summit, that's legal and free.
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