TOUR HIGHLIGHTS….... DAY 1…………… Welcome to Sydney ! • Welcome gathering at the Wentworth Travelodge. DAY 2…… SYDNEY HARBOUR • View the sights of Sydney Harbour via ferry, including the iconic Fort Denison, Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Luna Park, Garden Island Naval Base & Rose Bay Sea-plane Base. • Visit the Australian National Maritime Museum, located in vibrant Darling Harbour. • Lunch at Doyle’s Waterfront Seafood Restaurant located at Sydney’s South Head. • Short walk to ‘The Gap’ overlooking the ocean which has been the scene of many tragic events over the years including Sydney’s worst peacetime maritime disaster. • Join John Brock on a walk around Circular Quay to the World Heritage Listed Opera House as he points out the original shoreline location & shows images of the Opera House survey & highlights its major features. • For those of you who wish to explore further Government House & the Botanic Gardens are nearby. DAY 3…………… SOUTH COAST • Travel, by coach, to the South Coast of Sydney along the Grand Pacific Drive, which takes in 140km of spectacular coastal scenery. • Visit Bald Hill for delightful views over the Illawarra coastline & if the wind is right, see hang-gliders taking off. • Over morning tea hear how Lawrence Hargrave, an Australian pioneer of flight made a successful flight from the beach below in November 1894. • Cross the 665m out-over-the-ocean Sea Cliff Bridge & being April keep a lookout for whales migrating along the east coast of Australia on what is known as the ‘Humpback Highway’. • Visit & Lunch at the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum which houses an impressive collection of marine & survey instruments in the Surveyor’s Gallery. • Climb aboard the former Sydney Harbour Lady Denman Ferry located inside the museum & view footage of how ferries were a vital transport link before the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. • Before departing on our return journey to Sydney, you will have the opportunity of experiencing an Aboriginal Cultural show (to be confirmed). DAY 4…………… SYDNEY CITY • The best way to experience Sydney up close is by train & foot. • Visit Sydney Observatory (1856). • Presentations by John Brock on ‘The Transit of Venus’ & ‘Surveying the Sydney Harbour Bridge’. • Lunch venue (to be confirmed). • Visit Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon Museum which houses the Surveyor’s Stained-Glass Window. View historic footage of the building of the bridge plus enjoy captivating views of Sydney Harbour from the top-of- the-pylon lookout. • Visit the Sydney Harbour Bridge Discovery Centre, which has on show the uniquely designed large theodolite, made specifically for the Harbour Bridge survey plus other displays of interest. • View the statue of Captain Bligh, 4th Governor of NSW, & famous for the ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ & Sydney’s oldest remaining building, Cadman’s Cottage (1816). • Dinner at the Crown Hotel (close to the Travelodge). DAY 5…………… BATHURST / HILL END • Travel, by coach, to Bathurst, Australia’s first inland settlement & town, set on the banks of the Macquarie River & owes its existence to explorer & surveyor George Evans, the first European to cross the Great Dividing Range. • Morning tea at Bathurst Visitor’s Centre where you can gaze upon an early form of transport, a historic Cobb & Co. coach, specially designed for travel into the Australian outback. • Visit the old gold-mining town of Hill End which was active in the 1850s & 1870s. Today it is like entering a ‘time warp’ & home to numerous Eastern Grey kangaroos. • Lunch at Hill End Lodge with presentation by John Brock on ‘Historic Hill End & its Early Surveyors’. • View the ‘Footsteps-in-Time’ monument, one of numerous markers commemorating the first survey of the road across the mountains by George Evans, Pillars of Bathurst & short walk ‘Surveyors of Bathurst’. • Light dinner on our return journey to Sydney. DAY 6…………… SYDNEY CITY • A leisurely walk, through Hyde Park, Australia’s oldest public parkland, which holds many delights including the Anzac Memorial & Pool of Reflection, Statue of explorer Captain James Cook, Sandringham Gardens and the impressive Archibald Fountain adorned with Greek mythical themes. • Visit St. James Church, Sydney’s oldest existing church, built 1819-24 by convict labour. Of special interest is two plaques dedicated to early New South Wales surveyors, Kennedy & Dumaresq. • Passing a significant row of colonial buildings, Hyde Park Barracks, The Mint, Sydney Hospital & Parliament House we arrive at the Mitchell Library to view the Tasman Map & Surveyor’s Doors. • Lunch at The Conservatorium of Music, a castle-like structure, that was once the servant’s quarters & horse stables for Government House. • View the former Lands Department building adorned with a wealth of statues of many early explorers & surveyors, the Governor Macquarie Obelisk, & scale model of Sydney at Customs House. • Dinner venue (to be confirmed). DAY 7…………… LA PEROUSE / KURNELL • A later start this morning. • Travel by coach to La Perouse situated on the northern shores of Botany Bay overlooking Bare Island & the idyllic bay where the First Fleet arrived in Australia from England in January 1788. • Visit the La Perouse Museum which has an extensive display on the French explorers of New South Wales & the history of the area. • Presentation by John Brock on the French explorers who visited Australia. • Lunch at The Boatshed Cafe, overlooking Frenchman’s Beach & views across the bay of planes landing & taking-off from Sydney Airport. • Travel by coach to the southern shores of Botany Bay to visit the Kurnell Visitors Centre situated in Kamay Botany Bay National Park. • View the Captain Cook Monument commemorating the landing of James Cook in Botany Bay in April 1770 & the first meeting between the British & indigenous Australians. • Dinner at the 360° revolving Sydney Tower Restaurant with delightful views over Sydney as the city transforms into a fairyland of lights. DAY 8…………… PARRAMATTA • Relaxing 1½ hour Rivercat cruise along the iconic Parramatta River to Parramatta, for a tour, by coach, of Australia’s second oldest mainland European settlement & the only place in Australia with buildings dating from the 1790s which today are dotted among the high-rise of Sydney’s second largest CBD. • Tour highlights include Australia’s oldest remaining building Elizabeth Farm (1793), Lancer Barracks (1818), Australia’s longest continuously operating military facility & The Tudor Gatehouse (1886). • Visit World Heritage Listed Parramatta Park. • Lunch in Lachlan’s Restaurant with tour of adjoining Old Government House (1799), Australia’s oldest remaining public building. • Visit the grave of Australia’s first Surveyor-General, Augustus Alt & drink a toast to his memory. • Tour of Sydney Olympic Park, home to the 2000 Olympic Games. John Brock will relate how he surveyed & set out the Olympic Track. • Dinner Venue (to be confirmed). DAY 9…………… BLUE MOUNTAINS • Day tour, by coach, to the breathtaking Blue Mountains , located in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Listed Area. • Visit Featherdale Wildlife Park where you can see up- close a variety of native Australian wildlife including koalas, wombats, emus, echidnas, dingoes, & Tasmanian devil, with the opportunity to pat & feed kangaroos & wallabies. • Visiting various ‘Footsteps-In-Time’ monuments which follow the line of George Evans’s historic traverse. • High-Tea Lunch at the grand Hydro-Majestic Hotel, overlooking the Megalong Valley. This majestic hotel during World War Two was requisitioned as a base for the U.S. Army’s 118th General Hospital. In recent years it has undergone a $30+ million refurbishment. • Visit the Govetts Leap Visitors Centre & breath-taking lookout over the Grose Valley. The Leap is named after assistant surveyor, William Romaine Govett. • A must see is the unusual rock formation, The Three Sisters, overlooking the Jamison Valley & regarded as the Blue Mountains most spectacular landmark. DAY 10…………… CANBERRA • Depart Sydney, by coach, & head south to Australia’s capital city, Canberra, located in the Australia Capital Territory (ACT), which was designed by American Walter Burley & his wife Marion Griffin. • En route visit Meridian Park at Marulan, the only town in the world situated on the 150° meridian. • Visit the Big Merino, a 15.2m (50ft) tall concrete merino ram, nicknamed ‘Rambo’. Time to visit the gift shop & view the history of wool display. • Following lunch, a visit to Namadgi National Park Visitors Centre to view the display surrounding the relocated Mouat’s reference tree. ‘Happy’ Harry Mouat was one of three Commonwealth surveyors who with his team surveyed part of the NSW/ACT boundary. • Visit to Telstra Tower, rising 195.2m above the summit of Black Mountain, with panoramic views over Canberra. View a DVD showing the surveying & construction of the tower plus historic artefacts, then head to the viewing platforms for 360° views. • Dinner at your motel. • Overnight - Motel accommodation plus full hot breakfast. DAY 11…………… CANBERRA • Depart motel, by coach, & travel to the top of Mt. Ainslie for a panoramic view over Canberra. • Visit the National Canberra Exhibition Centre which tells the story of how Canberra became our capital city. • Morning Tea at the Captain Cook Memorial overlooking man-made Lake Burley Griffin. • Visit the Old Bus Depot Markets & The Glassworks. • Visit the National Library of Australia to view maps & artefacts owned by Captain James Cook & sextant used by Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell. • Private tour of New Parliament House. • Visit Scrivener’s Hut in Surveyor’s Park which is the last remaining part of the original Federal Capital survey camp. Named after Charles Robert Scrivener, the first director of Commonwealth lands & surveys. • Tour of the Embassies & High Commission districts. • Dinner at Surveyor’s Hill Winery with presentation by John Brock titled ‘Surveyors of Canberry’. • Overnight - Motel accommodation plus full hot breakfast. DAY 12…………… CANBERRA • Depart motel, by coach. • Visit the Australian National University to view a rare copy of William ’Strata’ Smith’s 1815 ‘Map that changed the World’.