Adelaide Hills - South Australia

The Adelaide Hills are part of the Mount Lofty Ranges, east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is unofficially centered around the largest town in the area, Mount Barker, which has a population of around nine and a half thousand people and which is also one of Australia""s fastest growing towns.

The Adelaide Hills were amongst the first areas of South Australia to be settled by European settlers. A number of towns in the Hills were started as German settlements; Hahndorf, and Lobethal are two widely known examples. The original town names and architecture still reflect this. Descendants of these first settlers and others of German origin still reside in the area. This explains the strong German cultural connection seen in the number of Lutheran churches, Lutheran schools which often have German on the curriculum, and the number of older residents who still speak German. Some customs have grown, such as the Lobethal Christmas lights which began in the 1950s.

The region is also a premier wine region within Australia and also one of the oldest. The veritable maze of valleys and sub-valleys, with slopes offering every conceivable aspect, means there is as much mesoclimatic variation as one can find anywhere in Australia, making generalisations of wine type very hazardous. The first vines were planted in the Hills in 1839, three years after South Australia was declared a province, a case of that wine was delivered to Queen Victoria in 1844. There are over 50 wineries (2005) within the Hills region which are open most days for tasting and cellar sales.

The Hills region also has many National Parks, including the Cleland Conservation Park with its free roaming kangaroos, wallabies and emus. The park also has enclosed areas for dingos, koalas, native birds & snakes. Many walking trails, including a portion of the Heysen Trail and bike trails, including the start of the Mawson Trail abound within the Hills.