Australia Luxury Wine & Wildlife

Welcome to Adelaide! Your private guide meets you at the airport for a relaxed 4-hour introduction to the city and some of its less-visited corners. Your tour is flexible; opt to head up to a lookout to learn about Adelaide's foundations, stop at a suburban cafe for a flat white, visit a local gallery, or duck into the Central Market. Let your guide know your interests, and they'll shape the afternoon around them.

From there, ride up into the Adelaide Hills, about 20 minutes from the city, to your adults-only lodge on the side of Mount Lofty, high above the Piccadilly Valley.

Your room is pre-registered, so it's ready for early check-in when you arrive. The lodge's included experiences change daily and seasonally, and may include Dreamtime stories, sessions with artisan winemakers, sunrise yoga, or a guided nature walk through the Mount Lofty Botanic Garden. You can also unwind in the spring-fed hot pools overlooking the valley or the heated plunge pool. Your suite has a sunken lounge with a stone-clad gas fireplace and an east-facing balcony with a daybed.

Spend the day tasting the cool-climate wines of the Adelaide Hills on a private tour, finishing in the Barossa Valley. Start with a flight of premium sparkling wines from one of the region's leading sparkling producers, then move on to a winery known for its award-winning Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Lunch is at one of the Hills' best-known gastropubs, followed by time to explore Hahndorf, Australia's oldest surviving German settlement, founded in 1839.

Your last stop is another small-batch winery or distillery before you continue to your luxury Barossa lodge, The Louise.
Your suite has a private courtyard and French doors opening onto vineyard views. Each evening includes pre-dinner drinks and snacks, followed by dinner with matched wines at the lodge's restaurant, known for food that tells the story of the Barossa's produce and people. The in-suite bar is stocked with local treats and drinks, and includes a cellar list credit.

Explore both sides of the Barossa Valley on a 6-hour private wine tour. Begin at one of the region's historic wineries to taste the traditional styles the Barossa is known for. Next, visit a winery at the forefront of new varieties, unusual blends, and uncommon techniques. A seasonally inspired multi-course lunch breaks up the day before a final tasting at one of the Barossa's top Shiraz producers.

Return to your lodge for drinks and dinner, paired with specially selected local wines.

Start early with a shared outing to a nearby conservation park, about a 20-minute drive from the lodge. An easy 15-minute bushwalk leads to a clearing where families of kangaroos are feeding, and a gourmet breakfast is laid out for you on a picnic blanket. The rest of the day is yours to explore, shop, or add an optional wine tour. Choices include a private day of barrel-making and rare tawny tasting, a Shiraz masterclass among old vines, or VIP access to some of Australia's most celebrated vineyards.

Your private driver takes you to Adelaide Airport for your flight to Kingscote on Kangaroo Island, where a shared courtesy transfer brings you to your next luxury lodge experience. Covering almost 4,500 sq km (1,737 sq miles), Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island, and more than a third of it is protected as a conservation area or national park. Look for New Zealand fur seals, koalas, kangaroos, Australian sea lions, ospreys, and echidnas. Your lodge sits at Hanson Bay on the southwest coast, next to Flinders Chase and Cape Bouguer/Kelly Hill National Parks.

Suites run along the limestone cliffs with open views of the Southern Ocean, and each has a lounge opening onto a terrace, a rain shower and bathtub, and heated floors. All meals and drinks are included, including selected premium wines and spirits, along with a lodge credit to use at the spa, on the cellar list, or in the boutique.

Spend two full days exploring Kangaroo Island with the lodge's guides on small shared outings at scheduled times. Head west into Flinders Chase National Park to see Cape Du Couedic Lighthouse, Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch, a fur seal colony, and Cape Barren Geese. At Seal Bay, home to Australia's third-largest colony of Australian sea lions, follow a boardwalk through the dunes into the colony and learn about the sea lions' breeding cycle and the research programs that study them. Walk the limestone clifftops of Hanson Bay from the lodge's doorstep, learning about the coastal heath and local wildlife, then join an interpretive presentation on the island's natural history.

At nearby Hanson Bay Sanctuary, look for koalas sleeping in the eucalyptus trees, then enjoy South Australian drinks and snacks as the kangaroos come out to graze. Explore the sinkholes and caverns of Kelly Hill Caves, formed more than 2 million years ago, on a guided public tour with a light show over the stalactites and helictites.

Each evening, you can join a guided tasting in the cellar exploring a different South Australian wine region, from the Barossa and McLaren Vale to the Clare and Coonawarra. Self-guided trails also lead from the lodge across clifftops, bushland, and beaches.

Take the shared courtesy transfer to Kangaroo Island Airport for your flight back to Adelaide, where your journey ends.