This week our Travel Guides are off to the Flinders Ranges for a high-octane outback holiday, but will this part of South Australia float their boats? Or will our Guides run out of steam?
Starting in Renmark, the houseboat mecca of the mighty Murray, our Guides pick up their houseboats and discover that driving a boat as big as a house is just as hard as it sounds. After a brush with neighbouring boats, a waterfront restaurant and a tree, our Guides manage to find a mooring and relax into all that life on water has to offer, including on board jacuzzis.
The Murray River is the home of high-octane water sports, so our Guides try getting towed behind a ski-boat on a sea-biscuit. For even more revs, they have a go in a Dinghy Derby boat, a death-defying dash around the river bends.
Back on dry land, this trip kicks into 6th gear at the Loveday 4×4 Adventure Park where our Guides get into battle mode. On the largest gel blasting field in the country, they’re unleashed on the locals with semi-automatic gel blasters.
Leaving the Riverland and the Murray River behind, our Guides swap the river for the road, driving north to the magnificent Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound. It’s all about outback luxury here as they stay in eco-friendly villas at Rawnsley Park Station, a huge sheep property with a pool voted one of the most Instagrammable in the world. Our Guides are put to work with the sheep but some need to get the flock out.
A short drive from Rawnsley Park, our Guides take their appetites to the tiny town of
Parachilna and the famous Prairie Pub. The signature dish is the Feral Mixed grill, a cornucopia of emu, kangaroo and camel, which some of our Guides love and others struggle to swallow.
To really appreciate the beauty of the Flinders Ranges, our Guides chopper over the enormous Wilpena Pound, landing on a remote landing pad, unreachable by land. But it’s the wild ride back to base that has some of our Guides wondering if they’ll ever go in a helicopter again.
Our Guides finish off their trip in the historical town of Quorn, where a ride on the Pichi Richi Railway, a 100-year-old diesel train, gives them time to decide what they will rate their Flinders Ranges Outback holiday out of five stars.
All our favourite travel critics are back: the loveable Fren family, twin cowgirls Stack and Mel, posh retirees Kevin and Janetta, best mates Kev, Dorian and Teng, and travel addicts and longtime couple Matt and Brett.
In each episode of Travel Guides, our five groups of critics visit the same location for the same week-long holiday, reviewing the cuisine, accommodation, activities, and tourist sights.
Opinions always differ, leading to brutally honest and often outrageous reviews as our Guides tell it exactly how they see it and rate each holiday out of five stars.
Narrated by popular Aussie comedian Denise Scott, Travel Guides is produced by Nine.
