An Adventure Across Australia - City, Outback and Coast

Fifteen days from Sydney into the South Australian outback, which is the part most visitors miss entirely in favour of the east coast.

Sydney opens it with three nights, a private walking tour, a harbour cruise past the Opera House and Manly Beach. Kangaroo Island follows via Adelaide and the ferry, Australia’s third largest island, with a private tour of the sea lion colony at Seal Bay, sandboarding on the dunes at Little Sahara, and the Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch in Flinders Chase National Park on the exposed western end.

The Barossa Valley gets two nights, reached by ferry and a coastal drive. German settlers planted vines here in the 1840s and some of the shiraz vines are among the oldest surviving anywhere, which makes the tastings more interesting than the usual circuit.

Wilpena Pound is the destination and gets three nights. It is a natural amphitheatre of folded rock, around eight hundred million years in the making, ringed by hills and sacred to the Adnyamathanha people, whose account of its formation differs from the geological one and is worth hearing. A guided walk goes into the bowl, there is almost no light pollution for the night sky, and a scenic flight is available. Adelaide closes the trip with two nights, a local-led walk, the Art Gallery, Glenelg Beach, Mount Lofty and the Central Market with its seventy-odd stalls. Original Travel include the hire car, internal flights, accommodation, the tours, concierge access, a 24-hour helpline and carbon absorption. International flights and most meals are separate. Prices run from 4,750 to 5,700 pounds per person.