Adelaide has come up with its own solution to the declining religious commitment. The cosy city known as the "City of Churches" has a surprising high number of churches, but some do not serve the Almighty anymore. These have been taken over by a lovely diverse range of enterprises. You can find anything from a chemist over lingerie shop to night clubs in these nice grand old buildings. The stained glass with Christen motifs are often still in place which only makes shopping for cough medicine a bit more colourful.

A crazy landscape of thousands of limestone pillars that rise abrupt from the yellow sand. Some are only a few centimetres tall while other have grown into several meters high towers. The strange pinnacles are part of process where they get build up in the sand and then get exposed, for then many years later getting covered again by moving sand dunes. Apparently the best time to visit is from August to October, when the desert vegetation bursts into bloom.

Off the South Australian coast lays Kangaroo Island. The isolation from the mainland has left it with a diverse wildlife due to the absent of dingos, rabbits and foxes. A quarter of the island is declared some kind of Conservation Park and about half of the island has never been cleared of vegetation. The varied coastline offers beaches, sea lion colony, and picturesque white light houses above towering cliffs. In the South-West corner stands the twisted weather-shaped granite boulders famous as the Remarkable Rocks. It's pure rough beauty.

Sand between your toes is not something you normally experience in big cities, even less gorgeous beaches, but locals and tourists are spoiled in Sydney. They can choose from 37 beaches where Bondi, Tamarama and Manly are some of the most popular ones. Bondi is the definitely the most famous with great people watching, while Tamarama is the glamour one, and Manly has the easiest going local vibe. Remember to check out the cove at Shelly Beach a short walk east of Manly Beach. If it's surf you are after then Bronte Beach, a couple of hundred meters further south of Tamarama, is your place. See, it is possible to have everything.

These are the less-known sisters to Uluru (Ayers Rock). A collection of monoliths, like Uluru, shaped by the wind and water into smooth domes. The tallest is Mt. Olga that stands 546m above the plain, more than 200m higher than Uluru. Tracks wind through the ravines and gorges and make a fantastic hike into the maze of red cliffs. You might even think they are more impressive than Uluru, due to the serenity of place and lack of everything except natural beauty.

Why would anyone live in the desert? In Coober Pedy, 850km north of Adelaide and 680km south of Alice Springs, the answer is opal, a colourful little gemstone. Since the first findings in the beginning of last century people have despised the harsh environment and settled down here in the middle of the outback. The surface is hot, burned and dusty so most residents have searched for cooler temperatures underground. Dugout homes, shops, bars and churches have been refurnished from old mines and you can even spend the night in one of the cave hotels. If you haven't seen enough weird things, you can visit the Great Barrier Fence, the dingo fence running the whole stretch from coast to coast adding up to about 5400km, just a bit out of town.