Initially named Blumberg by the German settlers who farmed the area in the late 1840s, Birdwood is the major town in the eastern Adelaide Hills. Its most popular attraction is the National Motor Museum. The town has a traditional Australian pub and gallery that displays work by local artists, and there are some good bushwalking and cycling trails in the area, including the Mawson Trail.

Birdwood is also the home of Christine Morris Real Estate, the town has a Primary School as well as a High School, medical facilities and a shopping precinct with all the conveniences needed to ensure you don't have to travel far to find what you need.

The town was named in honour of its founder, Alexander Forrest (not to be confused with the Western Australian explorer and surveyor of the same name). Forreston is curious in that, being only 3 km from Gumeracha, it did so well. Alexander Forrest, a blacksmith by trade, arrived in South Australia in 1848, settling in the Forreston area in 1850 and laying out the village in 1858. The Gumeracha North School opened in 1860 and closed in 1967. At one stage, it had a post office, store, wine shop, wheelwright, blacksmith, butcher, school and more. In 1884, gold was found at nearby Watts Gully, yielding nuggets as large as 14 ounces, and the town peaked. However, the town is no more, with only reminders in its historical buildings, including Forrest's original home, of its vibrant commercial past.

The region relies heavily on grazing, dairying and market gardening. Forreston is located 3 km northeast of Gumeracha on the road to Williamstown. Forreston is served by facilities in Gumeracha.

The settlement itself was created by William Carman, a blacksmith working at a copper mine near Williamstown, who took advantage of the area's location on the busy road to the Barossa Valley to build a blacksmith shop and wheelwright in 1851. By 1858, some settlers had arrived and Carman gave some of his land to build a town. His preferred choice of name was Maidstone after his home town in Kent, but in 1917 the town was renamed to the locals' preferred choice of Kersbrook. It became a notable agricultural area, especially for fruit.

Kersbrook is today a fairly quiet rural town, where most of the old buildings still stand.Kersbrook is located between Chain of Ponds and Williamstown along the Little Para Road, and southeast of One Tree Hill along a separate road. There is a primary school (opened 1961), general store, medical clinic and other small stores in the town of Kersbrook. Nearby Humbug Scrub and Mount Gawler are used for orienteering and mountain biking in quite steep terrain.

Sheep, cattle, horses, goats, alpacas ... if they've got four legs and eat grass they thrive on the gum-studded hills surrounding the town of Mount Pleasant.

Mount Pleasant is a bustling Barossa country town servicing a grazing and cropping region. It's home to one of South Australia's largest annual agricultural shows - the Mount Pleasant Show. It's complete with stock judging, sideshows and local produce.

A little more horse-power comes to town each August, as Mount Pleasant oval becomes the service park for the Toyota Rally SA motor event. The base for the team service crews, you'll see engines changed in the blink of an eye, and have a chance to get up close and personal with the cars and their drivers.

If you're just out for a quiet meander, however, you can't beat a wander through the fascinating antique shops in Mount Pleasant's leafy main street.

Mount Torrens is a town in the eastern Adelaide Hills region of South Australia, 46 kilometres east-north-east of  Adelaide and 8 km east of Lobethal along the Onkaparinga River. The town was named after Colonel Robert Torrens, one of South Australia's founding fathers, and was developed by the Dunn family in the early 1840s. The town, then known as Barton Springs, incorporated a farmhouse, smithy, stables and the Cornish Arms Inn. The town proper was laid out in 1853, and it served the Murray River trade at Mannum as well as a nearby copper mine. A small gold deposit was discovered in 1870, but by World War I, the town's importance had diminished, and the town that stands today is virtually unchanged since that time.

Mount Torrens has a football club, hotel and general store, as well as several historical buildings.

Palmer is a town just east of the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia along the Adelaide-Mannum Road, 70 kilometres east-north-east of Adelaide and 15 km west-north-west of Mannum. The town was named after Colonel George Palmer, a South Australian Colonisation Commissioner. It was settled in the 1860s as a mining and agricultural settlement.

Palmer has a primary school, a general store, hotel and a Lutheran Church. There are some well known nearby rock formations.

A sleepy hamlet in the hills east of the Barossa Ranges, Springton is renowned for two very different beverages - milk and wine. The high rainfall produces lush green pastures and dairy farming has been the backbone of the region's economy since the 1850s. Herds of Holstein-Fresian cows are still run on the land today.

The rich soil - said to be similar to that on the Rhine - and elevated position is also excellent for viticulture, with white varieties, in particular, gaining an outstanding reputation. Modern vignerons in the region are among the Barossa's most adventurous, and are keenly experimenting with Viognier and other lesser-known varietals.

Intersperse your exploration of local wines with visits to the Herbig Family Tree, a huge old hollow gum tree which was the first home of the Herbig family, and historic Friedensberg Church with its fascinating pioneer cemetery.

Tungkillo is located approximately 5 km south of Mount Pleasant. It sits on Adelaide-Mannum Road, 60 km north-east of Adelaide and 25 km north-west of Mannum.

Tungkillo was originally the name of a mine located south of Palmer, which opened in 1847. In 1848, a town was surveyed at the mine, The present-day town was settled by Samuel Patten in 1861, who called it South Petherton (after the Somerset town of North Petherton from which his family originated). The name of South Petherton was officially altered on January 24, 1906 to Tungkillo, although the two names were used interchangeably as late as 1936.