Broken Hill to Barossa Valley

Today is mostly about driving; you'll break the back of the trip in one hit and travel all the way from the NSW outback into the heart of the South Australian Riverland region.

Dating back to 1887, Renmark is the largest town in the Riverland and is known for its wide, elegant streets and lush riverside parkland. With plenty of wine tasting to come, you can start with something a little different here. Woolshed Brewery is a craft brewery set inside a historic shearing shed in Wilkadene, about 20km north of town. Then it’s on to Twenty Third Street Distillery, housed in a century-old cellar door, making gin, vodka, whisky, brandy and rum in the original copper stills. There's also a restaurant on site, offering fresh Riverland produce, local indigenous ingredients and wood-oven pizza.

After all that driving, you deserve a little indulgence. Check in to The Frames, a set of three luxurious retreats built on a clifftop overlooking the Murray River. We recommend Montage, which has an outdoor heated pool, hydrotherapy pool and infra-red sauna.

You might not be familiar with it, but the Riverland is actually the largest winegrowing and producing region in Australia. The warm climate, with long summers and mild winters, makes for excellent cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay and shiraz, plus plenty of alternative varieties. There are around a dozen cellar doors to choose from: start at Mallee Estate, just on the outskirts of Renmark; then loop round to 919 Wines, Salena Estate and Whistling Kite Biodynamic Wines; before finishing up at Banrock Station, one of the region’s best-known labels.

Sleep by the river again tonight at The Riverview Shouse – part shed, part house with two bedrooms. Pour yourselves a glass by the fire pit and toast a successful day.

Get an early start to be in the Barossa Valley in time for breakfast. Red Door Espresso is in Tanunda, the main town of the Barossa, and has great coffee plus a menu that features plenty of local produce.

There are more than 150 wineries in the Barossa and around 80 cellar doors to visit, so you could easily spend a week (or more) sipping your way through the region. This is the place to try bold shiraz and crisp, fruity riesling. Visit the enormous Seppeltsfield, where you can tour the vines on a Segway; make your own blend in the laboratory at Penfolds; and play croquet on the lawns at Chateau Tanunda. Other big names to be found here include Yalumba, Jacob’s Creek, Wolf Blass, St Hallett, Henschke and Peter Lehman.

The Novotel Barossa Valley is a sprawling resort surrounded by vineyards where you can work off all those tastings in the swimming pool, or on the golf course and tennis courts, then indulge yourself with a luxe endota spa experience.