Adelaide Festival & Surrounds

Day 1 | Wednesday 10 March
Arrive Adelaide
The tour begins in our Adelaide hotel this evening, where we meet in the bar for introductions over a welcome drink, followed by dinner together in the hotel’s elegant Koomo Restaurant with Japanese-inspired food and panoramic views across the city. Overnight Adelaide (D)

Day 2 | Thursday 11 March
Botanic Gardens & Art Gallery of South Australia
| DIPTYCH
Established in 1857, the Adelaide Botanic Garden is one of the city’s principal historic landscapes, combining Victorian garden design with botanical collections from around the world. We begin our day with a guided walk through the gardens, taking in the historic Palm House, Bicentennial Conservatory and collections of native and exotic plants. After a break for lunch, we continue to the Art Gallery of South Australia, established in 1881 and home to one of the country’s most significant collections of Australian, European and Asian art. Here we explore the permanent collection with our tour leader – former Director of the Gallery, whose knowledge offers particular insight into the gallery and its artworks. In the evening, we attend our first Festival performance, DIPTYCH: The Missing Door and The Lost Room at the Dunstan Playhouse, presented by Belgian dance-theatre company Peeping Tom. Combining two of the company’s acclaimed works, the production follows two couples trapped within unsettling, dreamlike interiors. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Day 3 | Friday 12 March
Art, Collectors & Country Estates
| Oedipus
The remarkable collection of Adelaide philanthropist David Roche reflects a lifelong passion for European decorative arts. Our morning begins at Fermoy House in North Adelaide, where a guided tour introduces us to Roche’s former residence and adjoining galleries, housing an extensive collection of paintings, porcelain, furniture and objets d’art. We then travel to Carrick Hill, the former home of Sir Edward and Lady Hayward, whose collection of European art and antiques remains displayed within the historic residence. Following a guided house tour, we enjoy lunch at Rozelle’s cafe overlooking the grounds, with time afterwards to wander through the estate’s formal gardens. This evening, we attend our second Festival performance – Oedipus at the Festival Theatre, directed by Robert Icke. Reimagining Sophocles’ ancient tragedy as a contemporary political thriller unfolding on election night, the production stars Richard Roxburgh as Oedipus and Heather Mitchell as his wife, Jocasta, in a gripping exploration of family, power and long-buried secrets. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Day 4 | Saturday 13 March
Kangaroo Island
Separated from the South Australian mainland by Backstairs Passage, Kangaroo Island is renowned for its rugged coastal landscapes, distinctive wildlife and important conservation areas. Known to Aboriginal peoples as Karta, the island was later explored by Matthew Flinders in 1802 and became the site of South Australia’s first official European settlement in 1836. Departing Adelaide early, we travel south to Cape Jervis before taking the ferry across to the island for a full-day guided tour. Our first stop is Clifford’s Honey Farm, where we learn about the island’s protected population of Ligurian honeybees and sample locally produced honey. We then continue to Seal Bay Conservation Park for a guided beach walk among a colony of endangered Australian sea lions, before enjoying lunch at Vivonne Bay Bistro. In the afternoon, we explore Flinders Chase National Park, where centuries of erosion have shaped the remarkable granite formations of Remarkable Rocks and the dramatic coastal archway of Admirals Arch. Returning to Penneshaw, we board the evening ferry back to the mainland, with an opportunity to purchase a light dinner during the crossing. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Day 5 | Sunday 14 March
The Adelaide Hills
| Angela Hewitt at UKARIA
The Adelaide Hills have long attracted artists inspired by the region’s rolling landscapes, native forests and distinctive light. We begin today with a visit to Mount Lofty for panoramic views across Adelaide before continuing to The Cedars, the former home of celebrated landscape painter Sir Hans Heysen and his family. Purchased in 1912, the property was also where his daughter Nora Heysen, the first woman to win the Archibald Prize, grew up and developed her artistic talents. A guided tour takes us through the family home, both artists’ studios and the newly opened Heysen Gallery which features their work. We then travel to the UKARIA Cultural Centre, set among the hills near Mount Barker, where we enjoy lunch before an afternoon recital by internationally acclaimed Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt brings our performances to a close. Renowned for her interpretations of Bach, Hewitt presents a program spanning three centuries of keyboard music, from the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti and Bach’s Partita No. 4 to Chopin’s mazurkas, Fantasy in F minor and Scherzo No. 2. Following the concert, we return to Adelaide for an evening at leisure. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Day 6 | Monday 15 March
The Beautiful Barossa
Established by German and English settlers in the 1840s, the Barossa Valley has developed into one of Australia’s most important wine regions. This morning we travel north to Seppeltsfield, founded in 1851 by Joseph Seppelt and closely associated with the development of fortified wines in Australia. A guided heritage tour introduces us to the estate’s palm-lined avenues, historic buildings and generations of Seppelt family winemaking, followed by a private tasting. Lunch is enjoyed at FINO, the estate’s acclaimed restaurant, where a four-course menu showcases seasonal South Australian produce and regional flavours. On our return to Adelaide, we pause at Langmeil Church in Tanunda, founded in 1843 by Lutheran settlers from Prussia who fled religious persecution. The church stands as a testament to the German-speaking communities who helped shape the region. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Day 7 | Tuesday 16 March
Aboriginal Cultures & Japanese Art
The South Australian Museum holds one of the world’s most significant collections of Australian Aboriginal cultural material. We begin our morning with a guided tour of its Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery, where an Indigenous specialist introduces the collection. We then visit the nearby State Library of South Australia to admire the magnificent Mortlock Wing – a 19th-century reading room distinguished by its wrought-iron galleries and glass-domed roof. We then return to the Art Gallery of South Australia for a guided tour of Floating Worlds: Prints from Osaka & Kyoto. Featuring Japanese woodblock prints from the Edo period, alongside paintings, kimonos and samurai armour, the exhibition reveals the vibrant world of Japan’s Kamigata region. In the evening, we enjoy a farewell dinner at Jolley’s Boathouse, overlooking the River Torrens. Overnight Adelaide (B, D)

Day 8 | Wednesday 17 March
Depart Adelaide
The tour concludes after breakfast this morning. (B)