Great Barrier Reef Uluru/Ayers Rock AMAZING AUSTRALIA Activity Level: 2 February 12, 2021 – 21 Days 35 Meals Included: Breathtaking natural landscape, vibrant cities, 17 breakfasts, 9 lunches, 9 dinners and friendly locals are only some of the reasons Fares: why you should travel to Australia. We start our $13,440 pp double/twin, $17,035 pp single Please add 0.2% GST. tour in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest This tour is limited to 25 people. Early booking city, where we spend four days touring the recommended! highlights in Melbourne. A full day is devoted Early Bookers: to the Yarra Valley. Next, we head west for a $200 discount on first 8 seats; $100 on next 4 day exploring the incredible scenery along the Experience Points: Great Ocean Road. We fly to Adelaide, South Earn 221 points from this tour Australia’s cosmopolitan coastal capital for two Redeem 221 points if you book by November 5 nights. Then, get ready for an awesome You could add another photo here journey on the legendary Ghan Train. Highlights in this area are the incredible monolith of Ayers Rock and the spectacle of the sunrise in the vast Australian Outback. We fly to Cairns for a three night stay and board a catamaran for an hour-long trip out to the amazing Great Barrier Reef. Our last four nights are in Sydney. Highlights include the historic Rocks district, Darling Harbour, the Parliament House, Hyde Park, Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, Bondi Beach, and the renowned Sydney Opera House. ITINERARY Day 1: Friday, February 12 and Nature Park, home to koalas, seals, and Transportation is provided to Victoria Airport, shearwaters. When dusk arrives, we have then we take an afternoon flight to Vancouver. admission to the premium viewing area to Get acquainted with your fellow travellers witness the Penguin Parade on floodlit during dinner at Globe @ YVR in the Fairmont Summerland Beach. The Visitor's Centre has Hotel. Our flight to Melbourne, Australia, leaves excellent exhibits about the life of the Little tonight. Penguin. Meals included: Dinner Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner Accommodation: Overnight flight Accommodation: Sofitel Hotel Day 5: Tuesday, February 16 Day 2: Saturday, February 13 The day is devoted to the Mornington We cross the International Date Line and lose Peninsula, an hour south of Melbourne. First, we one day. visit the intriguing Sculpture Park at Point Leo Day 3: Sunday, February 14 Estate, a visual feast of pieces built from wood, Our flight arrives in Melbourne this morning. We metal and ceramics. The extensive vineyard meet our guide and driver and enjoy an overlooks Western Port Bay and Phillip Island, orientation tour. Australia’s second largest city and a tour of the winery with tasting is included. has a wonderful blend of architectural heritage, Lunch is at St. Andrews Beach Brewery with a modern skyscrapers, and contemporary designs. glass of local craft beer. This afternoon, we ride We see the Bourke Street Mall, the tree-lined the Arthurs Seat Eagle, a cablecar that glides up beauty of Collins Street, the splendour of St. the mountain to a panoramic view of the Paul's Cathedral, the ornate Princess Theatre, Mornington Peninsula and ocean. and Federation Square. We stay four nights at Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch the Sofitel Hotel on prestigious Collins Street Accommodation: Sofitel Hotel and the rest of the afternoon is free time. Our Day 6: Wednesday, February 17 Welcome to Australia Dinner is at the Berth We head west from Melbourne for a day Waterfront Restaurant on the docklands exploring the incredible scenery along the Great promenade, followed by a ride on the Ocean Road. Along the 200 km of awesome Melbourne Star, a giant 120-metre tall ferris coastal vistas, we enjoy the sandy beaches of wheel. the Surf Coast, the rainforests of Otway National Meals included: Lunch, Dinner Park, quaint villages such as Lorne and Apollo Accommodation: Sofitel Hotel Bay, and the renowned Twelve Apostles in Port Day 4: Monday, February 15 Campbell National Park. Our guide leads a walking tour of Melbourne, Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch featuring its famous lanes. Robert Hoddle Accommodation: Sofitel Hotel designed the city’s street map in 1836 but Day 7: Thursday, February 18 refused to include lanes because he saw them We fly to Adelaide, South Australia’s as detrimental to the respectable establishment. cosmopolitan coastal capital. Its ring of parkland Melbourne’s little laneways evolved to create on the River Torrens is home to well-known access to buildings and are fascinating to museums such as the Art Gallery of South explore today. This afternoon, we drive to Australia with amazing displays of Indigenous Phillip Island and visit the Koala Conservatory art, and South Australian Museum, devoted to Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch natural history. Our driver-guide provides an Accommodation: Intercontinental Hotel orientation to the city with Victoria Square, the Day 10: Sunday, February 21 grand boulevard of King William Street, and Get ready for an awesome journey on the Trinity Church. We stay three nights at the legendary Ghan Train. It pulls out of Adelaide at Intercontinental Hotel. noon for the 25-hour journey to Alice Springs. A Meals included: Breakfast gourmet lunch is served soon after. You are Accommodation: Intercontinental Hotel travelling in Gold Class which offers a private Day 8: Friday, February 19 lounge and restaurant. Beverages (alcoholic and We ride the 9 am ferry to Kangaroo Island, non-alcoholic) are complimentary throughout South Australia’s premier nature-based tourism the trip. Your private compartment has seating destination. Take a guided walk on the beach for the daytime which converts to upper and among a colony of rare and wild Australian sea lower bunks for the night, and a private lions with a National Park Ranger. Stroll the bathroom. During the afternoon, we pass the Admirals Arch boardwalk watching the long- Flinders Ranges which contain some of the nosed fur seals. Head to the Hanson Bay oldest rock formations on the planet. Perhaps Wildlife Sanctuary to see koalas relaxing in the indulge in a pre-dinner drink, followed by a trees. We spend the afternoon at Flinders Chase superb meal and conversations with fellow National Park, renowned as a sanctuary for diners. Note: Bring a carry-on bag with your native Australian animals including kangaroos, overnight needs, as your suitcase is checked wallabies, koalas, and echidnas. We take the through to Alice Springs. evening ferry back to the mainland and return to Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Adelaide. Accommodation: Ghan Train Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch Day 11: Monday, February 22 Accommodation: Intercontinental Hotel Nothing quite prepares you for the spectacle of Day 9: Saturday, February 20 sunrise in the vast Australian Outback. Rising The Barossa Valley is a renowned wine- early, we alight the train for 1½ hours to a producing region near Adelaide. The stone viewing area with benches, and a breakfast cottages and Lutheran churches throughout the snack is served. You have never truly region are testament to a 19th-century wave of experienced a sunrise until you have seen this German settlers. From tasting the official best one, and as you look out to the horizon and wine in the world, to sipping a local drop that's admire its dramatic, gorgeous colours, you as old as you, the Barossa is Australia’s wine realize that the earth at your feet is equally vivid capital, featuring more than 80 cellars. The and deep red. Brunch is served on the train and Mediterranean climate (cool summers and rainy soon we cross the state border into the winters) is perfectly suited for red wine Northern Territory. Then we glide through the production, particularly Shiraz and a richly- MacDonnell Ranges and arrive at Alice Springs flavoured Cabernet. We go first to Jacob’s in early afternoon. The town began its modern Creek, founded in 1847, for lunch with wine history as a telegraph station on the Adelaide to pairings, followed by a private tour and tastings Darwin line, and the end of the Ghan railway. at Seppeltsfield Winery, sometimes called the Alice Springs was initially the name given to the showplace of Australia. This afternoon, we visit waterhole that was discovered by a surveyor in the quaint town of Hahndorf which was settled 1871 during construction of the Overland by Lutheran immigrants in 1838. Telegraph Line, referring to Alice Todd, wife of the Superintendent of Telegraphs. Our that calls Uluru home. Listen as the birdsong driver/guide meets us at the train station. Our welcomes the new day and experience the first stop is the Telegraph Station which tranquility of nature. We visit the base of Uluru, presents the story of the connection of Australia the Mutitjulu waterhole, home of a wanampi to the rest of the world in 1871. The actual which is an ancestral watersnake, and the Uluru- spring or waterhole is nearby. Then we enjoy Kata Tjuta Cultural Center. The afternoon is the panoramic view from Anzac Hill which is also leisure time at the hotel, but a dot painting the site of the War Memorial. Next, we visit the workshop is offered by a local Anangu artist. School of the Air. Since 1951, it has provided an Learn about traditional art, symbols and tools, educational resource for isolated school and create your own art treasure. As darkness children, servicing an area of over 1.3 million sq falls and Uluru becomes a silhouette, the km. We stay overnight at the Crowne Plaza acclaimed Field of Lights illuminates. As far as Hotel. the eye can see gentle rhythms of colour light Meals included: Brunch, Dinner up the desert.