SOUTH AUSTRALIA (Australia)

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South Australia is bounded by other states on the west, east and north, and flanked in the south by the Southern Ocean. Most of its population of 1.5 million live in the fertile coastal area and the valley of the Murray River, which is the state's only navigable river and drains about one-seventh of Australia. The northern landscape consists largely of dry wasteland, with several low mountain ranges. The most impressive mountains are the Mt Lofty-Flinders ranges, extending about 500 miles (800km) from Cape Jervis to the northern end of Lake Torrens. The capital of South Australia is Adelaide, known as the City of Churches.

South Australia is famous mainly for its wine and opals. More than half of Australia's wine is produced here, the vineyards flourishing in its Mediterranean climate, and the State's three major opal fields, Coober Pedy, Mintabie and Andamooka, supply around 80 percent of the total world production of these sought-after gemstones.

By way of contrast it is also home to some of Australia's best known wines, fleets of paddlewheel steamers that cruise the last stages of the Murray River before it completes its journey at Lake Alexandrina, a naturalist haven at Kangaroo Island and excellent hiking and bush walking in the Flinders Ranges . The ocean off the southern coast provide excellent seafood and many of the coastal villages are home to an assortment of fishing fleets.

The majority of the population and business activity is located in the south east corner of the state on the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas which sit on either side of Spencer Gulf. There are several small mining centres in the more remote inland areas. South Australia boasts one of the few remaining classic train trips, being "The Ghan" which runs north-south between Adelaide and Darwin in the Northern Territory. The name was taken from the word Afghan in recognition of the original camel train drivers who established many of the inland routes in Australia.

While not the biggest of the states, South Australia is nevertheless still very big and a journey of a couple of hundred kilometres is considered a short trip. In terms of distance, the state is approximately 1350 kilometres (845 miles) north-south and 1200 kilometres (750 miles) east-west. Those are straight line map distances, actual road distances are considerably further.

The state experiences climate variations ranging from coastal mediterranean to desert extremes. Winter is June - August and temperatures along a narrow coastal strip range from around 6°C min. to 15°C max. Away from the coastal influence, the inland regions experience minimums around 4°C rising to 20°C maximums.

Summer is December - February and temperatures along a narrow coastal strip range from around 15°C min. to 27°C max. Temperatures in the central desert areas can be extreme with summer maximums typically upwards of 40-45°C.

The southern areas of the state experience winter rains. The further removed from the coast, the less the rainfall and that which does fall is not necessarily seasonal. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology provides detailed weather information.