New hotels, restaurants and tours in SA for 2016
TOURS
An extraordinary new tour of the Maralinga Bomb Site is being offered in the South Australian Outback, an area that has been off-limits for more than half a century. Maralinga Tours (maralingatours.com.au) is run by indigenous operators who were given access to the land in 2014. The three-day two-night tag-along tours take in several ground zeros and the British-built airstrip. Radiation levels are safe, so leave the Geiger counter at home.
In December, the magnificent coastline of little-visited Yorke Peninsula will be linked by a chain of walks. Walk the Yorke (yorkepeninsula.com.au/trails) will be launched in December, opening a 500km continuous trail from the sandy havens of coastal copper town Moonta to the bottom of the boot-shaped peninsula (home to rugged Innes National Park) and up to head of gulf, Port Wakefield.
Award-winning operator Quenten Agius offers five new Aboriginal Cultural Tours (aboriginalsa.com.au) for 2015. Among them is Ngadjuri Country New Frontier, taking guests from Adelaide into Clare Valley and the Mid North. Expect plenty of ancient memory on megafauna and ancestral engravings.
Venerable operator Spirit of the Coorong (coorongcruises.com.au) continues to cruise the region but also goes up the Murray River. The new Five Rivers Outback Safari explores remote sections and tributaries between Renmark and Tooleybuc in Victoria, with excursions to Lake Mungo.
EcoCaddy (eco-caddy.com) is a new Adelaide initiative to help with the “trip too far to walk and too short to cab”. A flat fee of $5 will see you across anywhere in the CBD on hybrid-electric passenger tricycles.
ARTS AND CULTURE
Andamooka is Coober Pedy’s little brother – a little more wild, a little less visited and enjoying a desert landscape that’s every bit as alluring. It’s now home to the Andamooka Yacht Club (andamookayachtclub.com), a hub featuring gallery, cafe and community space. It showcases the work of artists and metal-smiths using the town’s opal.
October sees the launch of Tarnanthi (artgallery.sa.gov.au), the SA Gallery’s “most ambitious exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in its 134-year history”. The new festival will include an art fair attended by more than 40 art centres from all over the nation.
The Adelaide Fringe (adelaidefringe.com.au) sold a whopping half-million tickets in 2015, up 20 per cent on its previous best. Expect more in 2016.
WHERE TO STAY
SA is home to a new initiative called Maui Winery Havens (maui.com.au/winery-havens). Hire a Maui motorhome and you can stay at four participating wineries in the Adelaide Hills, Langhorne Creek, Riverlands and Coonawarra.
Still in wine country, you can also stay alongside the heritage orchard that Maggie Beer uses in her eponymous gourmet products: stunning two-bedroom Orchard House (orchardhouse.com.au) which is an original Barossa farmhouse.
In Coonawarra, Arches of Allendale (archesofallendale.com) is an 1866 church converted into a boutique hotel. And McLaren Vale now has its first hostel, the McLaren Vale Backpackers (mclarenvalebackpackers.com.au).
The big news in Adelaide is the new 170-room five-star Mayfair Hotel (mayfairhotel.com.au).
Formerly an old insurance building on King William St, its location between the attractions of North Terrace and the delights of the Leigh/Peel laneways is gold.
FOOD AND DRINK
Small bar-restaurants continue to spread across Adelaide like some weird virus. Peel and Leigh streets were inoculated first, but Topham Mall, Gilbert Place and parts of Hindley St are now showing feverish activity. Among the latest: Lady Burra Brewhouse (ladyburrabrewhouse .com.au/) establishes the city’s first micro brewery and serves Portuguese food; Hains & Co (hainsco.com.au) offers 25 varieties of rum; and La Buvette Drinkery (labuvettedrinkery.com) is a slice of Parisian chic.
In the CBD, Kang Kong and Gypsy Dragon (kangkong.com.au) have taken up residence in Waymouth St (the city’s most serious eat street) an drink-eat experience that starts with cocktails and ends with Asian-fusion cuisine. Rooftop bar/restaurant 2KW (2kwbar.com.au) on King William St opened early 2015 and is still proving popular.
Regionally speaking, doyen of the McLaren the Salopian Inn (salopian.com.au) is back to its best under new owner Karena Armstrong.
BIG TICKET EVENTS
The biggest ticket in Adelaide is still Mad March, when Adelaide Fringe coincides with the Adelaide Festival (arts/theatre/you-name-it), Clipsal 500 (V8 Supercars) and WOMADelaide (world music). Accommodation reliably books out. You have been warned.
The six-stage race routes for the 2016 Santos Tour Down Under (tourdownunder.com.au) sees the return of the dreaded Norton Summit climb.
Australia Day Cricket returns to Adelaide Oval (adelaideoval.com.au) with a T20 against India in January.
Expect rivalry, action and possibly some cricketing redemption.
Source: Adelaide Now, Max Anderson, 18th October 2015
Originally published as: New hotels, restaurants and tours in SA for 2016
