Considered one of the regularly visited cities apart from Sydney and Melbourne, Adelaide is a beautiful tiny city located in South Australia.

At the time I was living in Melbourne, I always took the opportunity to visit as many cities as I can.Flying to Adelaide is easy. But, easy wasn’t going to cut it for me. Of course I was going to do the Melbourne to Adelaide drive. 12 hours? 4 people? Not a problem! Me and my bunch of friends did this crazy trip over a long weekend. A long road trip with friends is never easy (One can only imagine the amount of squabbles and disagreements along the way) But, all these are avoidable with a few rules:

1. Must have the RIGHT company
2. Road snacks
3. Good music
4. Excellent, non-boring road trip games

In my experience, with these 4 in check, you will most probably have the best road trip of your life. Probably an exaggeration but this Melbourne to Adelaide road trip made it to the top road trips I’ve ever had in my life. Australia is well-known for its beautiful landscapes. Doing a road trip wherever possible is something I cannot pass; especially when it involves coastal drives.

Doing the coastal drive from Melbourne to Adelaide gives you the opportunity to take the Great Ocean Road route. Here’s a neat trick; we did our trip over Australia Day and made a stop over at Torquay beach (along the Great Ocean Road) to do the Havaianas Australia Day Thong challenge. It was really fun to be part of this event and it made a great addition to our road trip. If you want to know more about this challenge, check it out here. Having only 12 hours to get to Adelaide, we couldn’t spend too much time in Torquay but it was definitely worth the stop, even if you don’t do the challenge. Take it as a break from driving too long. Get your feet in the sand and deep into blue waters.
Driving further, you will eventually reach Apollo Bay, an iconic stop in most Great Ocean Road driving tours. Here you will be able to see the 12 Apostles. There are a lot more stops you can make along the way, especially when you’re doing the coastal route. Take an opportunity to do so and don’t limit yourself, any stop (minor or major) would definitely add some level of excitement to your long drive.

We made plans to spend a night mid-way to Adelaide. Seeing we’re on a budget, we brought our camping gear. Most camp sites charges are in the range of $5 to $30 per site per night; depending on what is offered on the site (shower facility, toilets, electricity, etc). In my opinion, camping is always the way to go if you’re on a budget, or just for the heck of it. If you do end up on the coastal drive, you will be taking Princess Hwy B1 which drives through Coorong National Park. Along this highway, there are plenty of spots to set up camp. Just look out for the tent sign and you’ll need not to worry where to spend a night. Another neat driving trick is to plan your Melbourne to Adelaide trip so that you’ll be on the Princess Hwy B1 at around 5 to 7 pm where the sun is about to set and the moon about to rise. Driving on this highway at this time gives you the pleasure of catching both the sun and moon on exactly opposite sides to each other. It was truly quite an experience to watch the moon light onto my right and the sun slowly setting on my left. The night spent was a magical one; with clear skies looking up to the moon and stars. The skies are so clear sometimes I thought I was looking at the milky way and if you look long and hard enough, you’d be able to catch the shooting stars! I’ve been out camping in Australia and most of the time I’ve been lucky enough to have seen many shooting stars.

Adelaide city is similar to Melbourne that it is a grid. Small and easy to get around. You will probably take a whole day to cover everything there is to see about Adelaide’s city. Head towards Jetty road where you can find many restaurants and shops in a very relaxed beach-like atmosphere. You may also opt to visit the central market for some gourmet delights and fresh produce. There’s a lot more to do outside of Adelaide city center. I personally was so exhausted from the long drive that I couldn’t do more than just relax in the city. All in all, Adelaide, in my opinion is a place you come to relax, get close to nature and take in beautiful scenes both land and sea.

THINGS TO DO:

1. Visit the famous Barossa Valley, discover South Australian wine via a wine tour.
2. Dig in plenty of cheeses and wine whilst you’re in Barossa Valley
3. Explore Adelaide city centre – walk around, visit rundle mall
4. Visit Jetty road, have a picnic by the beach
5. Take a drive to Handorf Village; a small German town
6. Ride the tram; you’ll only get to this here in Australia besides Melbourne