South Australia Steam Safari

Today, we explore Adelaide. After breakfast we head to the National Railway Museum in Port Adelaide where we explore the history of the Australian Railways.  Enjoy lunch in Port Adelaide before heading to St Kilda to visit the Adelaide Tram Museum.   

Overnight: Adina Apartment Hotel Treasury, Adelaide (B, L)

Farewell Adelaide after breakfast this morning and travel north by coach to Peterborough. We’ll make a few stops along the way to explore historic towns and homesteads, including the magnificent Martindale Hall, made famous by the iconic film ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’. This Georgian-style mansion is considered one of South Australia’s grandest stately homes, built in 1879 and sitting within a 45-acre pastoral property. It is now a museum for visitors, and we’ll take time to explore its charming character followed up with lunch and a tasting just up the road at a local winery.

Continue to the town of Burra and visit the quaint Burra Railway Station, where there is also a large and interesting fossil of a giant marsupial on display. Enjoy some free time to have lunch and explore the town. Then on to the Burra Copper Mine and take a photo stop at the ‘Midnight Oil house’, an old homestead a short drive north of Burra, made famous by being on the cover of a Midnight Oil Album.

On arrival in Peterborough, check into our hotel and freshen up, and enjoy dinner at the hotel before transferring to the Steamtown Heritage Rail Museum for an evening guided tour. Here, you’ll find Australia’s only operational triple gauge turntable, a wide range of historic rolling stock including heroic steam trains, powerful diesel locomotives and unique passenger and freight trains- all exhibited in original settings in the heritage listed roundhouse and original work sheds.

Following our guided tour, we’ll enjoy an entertaining Sound and Light show at the museum, which tells the story of the heritage trains of this area and the history of the museum.

Overnight: Roundhouse Motel, Peterborough (B, D)

Enjoy a relaxed morning with time to revisit Steamtown Museum or the town of Peterborough. Lunch is at a local cafe before departing by coach to Wilpena Pound and the Flinders Ranges. On arrival at this incredible natural wonder we’ll spend some time to relax, explore and soak up the peaceful ambience. You also have the opportunity to take one of the optional walks or scenic flights (at your own cost) through the surrounding area.

The Flinders Ranges National Park encompasses some of the most spectacular scenery in South Australia and has been made famous by numerous films and the epic paintings of Sir Hans Heysen. Early in the evening, we head up to watch the sunset from the vantage point of Stokes Hill with canapés and a beer or glass of wine. We’ll return to our resort later on and enjoy dinner together. 

Overnight: Wilpena Pound Resort, Flinders Rangers (B, L, D)

After breakfast we will head north up through the Flinders Rangers, soaking up the astounding landscapes and natural wonders that make it such an interesting part of the country.  Our destination is Blinman to visit the historic Copper Mine and the hilly desert countryside. Lunch is provided at the local hotel before journeying back down the highway to Quorn, our home for the next three nights.

We settle into the hotel and later this evening a classic Aussie bush dinner will be hosted at the Lodge.

Overnight: The Great Northern Lodge, Quorn (B, L, D)

After breakfast this morning we’ll travel a short way by coach to the industrial, coastal city of Whyalla on the Eyre Peninsula’s Spencer Gulf. Here we’ll pay a visit to the Whyalla Steelworks where we’ll enjoy a guided tour, before taking some free time to explore. You might want to enjoy a local lunch on your own, do some shopping and wander the town at leisure.

In the afternoon we’ll pay a visit to the interesting Whyalla Maritime Museum, the home of the former ‘HMAS Whyalla’, the first ship built in the Whyalla Shipyards in 1941, before making our way back via Port Augusta to explore some of the sights in the town that calls itself ‘The Outback by the Sea”. We’ll also enjoy some time for an early Dinner at a local Restaurant in the ‘Port’ before the short ride back home to the Lodge at Quorn.

Overnight: The Great Northern Lodge, Quorn (B, D)

After breakfast we head down to Quorn station to embark on a special excursion of vintage travel with Pichi Richi Railway on a privately chartered steam-hauled heritage train. Our special return trip to Woolshed Flat takes us along the Old Ghan line, and will feature plenty of stops, run pasts and time to savour the landscape.

The gentle journey back in the afternoon reveals more of the important story of the great nation building project that was the Trans-Continental Railway. Back at Quorn in the afternoon feel free to join us on a private tour of the active museum workshops before retiring to the Lodge and an evening at leisure.

Overnight: The Great Northern Lodge, Quorn (B)

Bid Quorn goodbye this morning and take a revealing journey back to the capital along the Gulf coast.  En route we’ll pause at Port Pirie to check out the historic station and town. We’ll also enjoy some time at the interesting RSL Military Museum in town before continuing onto Moonta.  Here we take a train journey on the local tourist railway that circles the historic relics and ruins of one of Australia’s early industrial sights, built around the rich Copper deposits that were discovered in the 1860’s. We then continue south towards Adelaide. On arrival we’ll check into our hotel. This evening we will re-group for a special dinner in the hotel restaurant.  

Overnight: Adina Apartment Hotel Adelaide Treasury, Adelaide, (B, D)

After a leisurely breakfast, head out of Adelaide by coach, up into the hills to Mt Barker and the depot of the SteamRanger Heritage Railway organization.

Depart on our last train for this tour, the ‘Steam Encounter’ vintage train to the scenic southern coast. Our train makes brief stops along the way and trundles through the heart of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Goolwa at the mouth of the Murray River.

Our excursion then continues along the coastal route of The Cockle Train to Victor Harbor, which travels along the edge of the Great Southern Ocean, parts of which are on the oldest steel-railed railway in Australia, constructed to provide a link between the River Murray and the ocean wharfs at Port Elliot, and later Victor Harbor. Enjoy some free time to wander the streets of this charming town; take a ride on one of the very few horse-drawn tram routes remaining in public transit service anywhere in the world – to Granite Island – and enjoy lunch at your own pace. Later in the afternoon, we jump back on the ‘Steam Encounter’ to Mount Barker where we will board our coach for the last leg to Adelaide.

Overnight: Overnight: Adina Apartment Hotel Adelaide Treasury, (B)

Our tour comes to an end after breakfast this morning. Transfer to the airport for flights home or onward for other journeys.