Adelaide Festival & Surrounds

The tour starts at 5.00pm on Wednesday 12 March, at The Crowne Plaza, Adelaide.

The tour ends after breakfast on Wednesday 19 March, at The Crowne Plaza, Adelaide.

The tour begins in our Adelaide hotel at 5.00pm, where we meet our tour leader Kenneth W. Park in the bar of the hotel for a welcome drink and a light dinner. Following brief introductions, we take in our first Adelaide Festival performance, the landmark musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the historic Queens Theatre. Winner of the Tony Award as Best Revival of a Musical, this fourth-wall smashing sensation sees Seann Miley Moore – recently celebrated for their role-defining take on The Engineer in Miss Saigon – transform into the character of Hedwig, a fractured, hedonistic, anti-heroine ready to break every rule on their journey in search of stardom and love. Overnight Adelaide (B, D)

Performance I
Venue: The Queens Theatre, Gilles Arcade
Program: Musical - Hedwig and the Angry Inch

After a leisurely breakfast we make our way to the Adelaide Botanic Garden, an oasis in the cosmopolitan heart of the city. Here our guided tour takes us through the extensive public gardens, home to a diverse range of plants from Australia and around the world. We also visit the beautiful 19th-century Palm House, imported from Germany in 1875 and reopened after painstaking restoration. After a break for lunch, we then make our way along North Terrace to the Art Gallery of South Australia, where we have the afternoon to enjoy the gallery’s extensive collection of fine and decorative art. This evening we return to the Botanic Gardens for a special exhibition by the celebrated contemporary glass artist Dale Chihuly. Inside the strikingly modern and award-winning Bicentennial Conservatory, groupings of Chihuly’s dramatically lit glass sculptures will appear to sprout like ‘hybrid plants’ from the vegetation. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Fermoy House, the former residence of unconventional Adelaide-based millionaire David Roche, will be our starting point today. This eccentric and elaborate estate, filled with an extraordinary private art collection, is highly unique and reflects Roche’s French/Irish ancestry. We then travel by coach to the stately home and 40 hectares of gardens of the Carrick Hill estate, which has survived with most of the original contents intact. After lunch at Carrick Hill cafe, we tour the house and private collection of the original owners and art patrons Sir Edward and Lady Ursula Hayward, which includes contemporary European and Australian paintings and decorative arts. In the late afternoon we return to the hotel, with time to freshen up before tonight’s performance at the Dunstan Playhouse. Following the resounding success of Boy Swallows Universe as a novel, play, and Netflix series, Trent Dalton’s Love Stories has been brought to life in a new play adapted by Tim McGarry and directed by Sam Strong. McGarry’s adaptation anchors the disparate vignettes in Love Stories in a central narrative by enlarging Dalton’s own love story with his wife, Fiona Franzmann (the pair share writing credits). Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Performance II
Venue: Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
Performance: Trent Dalton’s Love Stories

Icon of the wine industry, Seppeltsfield Estate, was established in 1851 and will be the highlight of today. On arrival in the Barossa, we first take a guided heritage tour of the palm-tree lined grounds, visiting the historic Seppelt family homestead and underground Blending Cellar, followed by a private fortified wine tasting in the 1878 Centennial Cellar. We then enjoy a leisurely lunch at FINO on the estate, one of South Australia’s most successful regional restaurants showcasing the best of Barossa produce. On our return to Adelaide, we stop by the historic Langmeil Church, established by
the Lutherans at Tanunda. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

This morning we depart by coach and travel to the picturesque Adelaide Hills. After taking in the spectacular views at Mount Lofty, we continue to ‘The Cedars’ – the stunning home, garden and studios of renowned father and daughter artists Hans and Nora Heysen. Our tour of the estate takes in the over 200 artworks on display, with many appearing in their original setting, and concludes with an afternoon tea of freshly baked scones and a selection of wonderful inhouse-made cakes and sandwiches in the Cedars’ Kitchen. We then make our way to the beautiful UKARIA Cultural Centre deep in the picturesque Adelaide Hills for a special concert with Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov and German baritone Matthias Goerne. Schubert’s final masterpieces will be on glittering display, as the beloved song cycle Schwanengesang is paired with his final Piano Sonata - a work written just weeks before his death which showcases a lifetime of transcendent spirit and musical inspiration. This concert offers an unmissable opportunity to glimpse the unparalleled musical partnership of these renowned artists together in two different yet sublime forms. Overnight Adelaide (B, AT)

Performance III
Venue: UKARIA Cultural Centre, Mount Barker
Performance: Swan Songs, Trifonov & Goerne

After an early departure from our hotel we will head to Cape Jervis before ferrying across to unspoilt Kangaroo Island. On our guided tour we will explore the best the island has to offer from its unique geological features, such as the aptly named Remarkable Rocks, to its wildlife conservation parks. We will also get a taste of some of Kangaroo Island’s famous local produce over an unhurried lunch. After a full day of exploration, we will return on the early evening ferry, where you can purchase a light dinner on board. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Our day starts at the South Australian Museum for a tour through the Australian Aboriginal Cultures’ Gallery. This collection of over 3,000 artefacts from Central Australia and the Top End is considered among the best in the world and will be shown to us by an Indigenous guide. After a coffee break, we head to the nearby State Library of South Australia to visit the beautiful Mortlock Wing, admiring its wrought iron balustrades, masonry columns and elegant glass-domed roof. We then return to the Art Gallery of South Australia, where we have time to view the special Festival exhibition Reimagining the Renaissance. This major exhibition offers a fresh and captivating perspective on this iconic era, with over 140 significant works from the Renaissance, spanning various art forms like painting, sculpture, printmaking, and drawing. Tonight we enjoy a farewell dinner at the prestigious Adelaide Club, founded in 1863. A beautiful heritage building on North Terrace, the Adelaide Club was built for some of South Australia’s most influential political, rural and business men. Overnight Adelaide (B, D)

The tour concludes after breakfast this morning. (B)