Starting on Monday from Adelaide (the ‘City of Churches' with a population of just over 1 million people) the tour goes straight to the coast to look at coastal acid sulfate soils and issues associated with their management. We then head for the Barossa Valley (an iconic wine region of Australia) via a major vegetable production area and will hear about the use of waste water for vegetable and grape production and learn about the soil limitations associated with viticulture, including sodicity and salinity.  Lunch will be at a winery and will include wine tasting before we head to Nuriootpa Research station and discuss wine grape and soil research.  We stay overnight at Nuriootpa - a major service centre in the Barossa Valley.

On Tuesday we travel through the SA Riverland region associated with Australia's iconic Murray River.   A visit to the Murray River wetlands will introduce you to the salt interception scheme and the efforts being made by soil scientists to conserve these fragile ecosystems.  We have lunch at Banrock Station, a Riverland vineyard that is also involved in wetland conservation.  A soil pit is also visited in the afternoon before crossing into Victoria and staying overnight in Mildura -  an oasis in a 300 mm annual rainfall zone.  We will be dining at a nationally renowned restaurant that uses all local produce.

On Wednesday we move south away from the irrigation region into the cereal production and aeolian landscapes of Victoria's Mallee region (so named because of the distinctive ‘mallee' eucalypts that dominate the region).  We will visit a soil pit as well as stopping at the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park for a brief visit to see some of the local vegetation..We will then move towards Victoria's ‘Wimmera' region and look at how grain growers deal with numerous challenges to improving farm profitability and sustainability in the low to medium rainfall zone - including climate variability and subsoil constraints.  We stay overnight at Horsham - the major centre in the Wimmera region.  In Horsham we will visit the Department of Primary Industries research centre where current research on farming systems will be demonstrated - including soil water and nutrient dynamics and root zone constraints, remote sensing and the Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) facility. 

On Thursday we look at more cropping areas and major soil types (e.g. cracking clays) and then on to Grampians (‘Gariwerd') National Park where indigenous culture, flora and fauna are encountered as well as breath-taking landscapes. We stay overnight at Halls Gap.

Friday we travel south and enter the grazing and higher-rainfall cropping zone of Victoria.  We venture to the Dundas Tablelands to look at groundwater and salinity management issues.  We then head to Hamilton and look at pasture, livestock and grain production systems research on one of the largest volcanic plains in the world. The range of soils varies according to volcanic history, landform and climate.  We visit a DPI research centre and look at farming systems and climate change research being undertaken (including measurement of nitrous oxide emissions).

On Saturday we leave Hamilton and venture eastward across the volcanic plains. The tour group will see how farmers are adapting to sodic soils and climate change with various management options such as raised bed cropping and our day ends in the port city of Geelong on Corio Bay.

On Sunday we visit the Bellarine Peninsula and associated wineries on different soil types (taste any difference?) relax for lunch and then onto to Werribee (only 35 km to go) to view vegetable production on basaltic alluvium and recycled water use.

Finally onwards to Melbourne (over 3.5 million population), that capital city of Victoria, to recuperate or party. Melbourne has lots of attractions and is the home of Australian Rules Football, the Melbourne Cricket Ground and many fine cafes and restaurants. Come check out the variety of this trip!