- • Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide • 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House • Centrally located premium hotels • Arrival and departure private airport transfers
Australian Highlights
Trip Type: Guided Holiday
Australia
|
13 Days
NZD 11,847.00 /Person
Picture Australia: the Coral Sea’s turquoise, the intense rainforest green, powdery white sand, the Red Centre’s ochre soil. These are your palette...
Australian Highlights
Picture Australia: the Coral Sea’s turquoise, the intense rainforest green, powdery white sand, the Red Centre’s ochre soil. These are your palette on this Melbourne to Sydney tour, spanning glittering cities and the outback, World Heritage Sites – Uluru-Kata Tjuta and the Great Barrier Reef. Whether Melbourne’s cafes or a barbecue, food is a focus, because this is Australia; eating well is in our DNA.
Welcome to Melbourne
Settle into your hotel on the banks of the Yarra River and meet your Travel Director for a welcome reception and dinner at the South Wharf riverside pub, The General Assembly restaurant. It's a great opportunity to get to know everyone in a unique setting.
Accommodation:
Crowne Plaza Hotel Melbourne
Locations Visited:
- Melbourne
Melbourne Sightseeing and Free Time
Join your Travel Director for a city sights tour that includes a private walk through Melbourne's famous hidden laneways. You'll discover the city's eclectic little lanes, arcades, café society and fascinating street art. There's time afterwards to explore the city on your own, enjoy an optional experience to the Penguin Parade (own expense) or simply relax and watch the world go by.
Accommodation:
Crowne Plaza Hotel Melbourne
Locations Visited:
- Melbourne
Melbourne Free Time
If you’re still getting your Melbourne bearings, linger in town to explore boutiques, galleries, and eclectic suburbs. Or, perhaps exploring the city on foot with a History and Donuts Walking Tour is more your thing. But if it’s time to venture further afield, you might want to sign up to discover the Great Ocean Road, a stretch of coastline that deserves its reputation as one of the most scenic touring routes in the world.
Accommodation:
Crowne Plaza Hotel Melbourne
Locations Visited:
- Melbourne
Melbourne - Alice Springs
Some parts of Australia are so remote that the only way kids can get an education is remotely via the School of the Air. Your next stop is the birthplace of the Alice Springs township, the historic Telegraph Station. Being this far flung also means there’s no light pollution from cars or skyscrapers. The result? Unrivalled stargazing (and a BBQ feast) with the Falzon family at their eco-oriented Earth Sanctuary World Nature Centre.
Accommodation:
Mercure Alice Springs Resort
Locations Visited:
- Melbourne
Alice Springs - Uluru
Spiritual, sacred and spectacular, the world's largest rock monolith will give you goosebumps. In Australia's Red Centre, Uluru has been home to the Anangu for millennia. Their connection is palpable, as you'll discover when you arrive at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, at sunset watching the shifting colours transform the desert with every last ray (sparkling wine essential).
Accommodation:
Desert Gardens
Locations Visited:
- Alice Springs
Uluru and Kata Tjuta
If there’s one thing worth getting out of bed early for, it’s sunrise over Uluru. Incredibly, the Rock’s base caves are home to First Nations art that dates back tens of thousands of years. What an honour to glimpse it. The ochres and silvery greens of the NT outback follow you to Kata Tjuta, where Walpa Gorge humbles with its soaring cliffs. Wander through the tallest domes before yet another sparkling sunset (and sparkling wine).
Accommodation:
Desert Gardens
Uluru - Cairns
Ok, so the other reason to get up early is to view artist Bruce Munro’s installation Field of Light at dawn – 50,000 glowing spindles of light blanketing the desert. Clamber to the top of a sand dune to marvel in the morning unfolding over this very special part of the world. Later an Anangu artist will explain just what makes it so spiritual over an introduction to Western Desert art, introducing totems and symbols important to the region and represented in paintings and installations. Head to your next stop in tropical Cairns.
Accommodation:
Hilton Hotel Cairns
Locations Visited:
- Uluru
Cairns Free Time
If you’re in the habit of getting up early now, you may wish to begin your day with an optional horizon-bending hot-air-balloon ride over the Atherton Tablelands. Prefer to stay grounded? Sign up for a guided walk through the Daintree Rainforest, or surround yourself with nature riding the Scenic Railway to Kuranda returning on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway – perhaps with a side visit to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures for wetlands cruise? Tonight, celebrate the end of an incredible day at dinner on Cairns’ waterfront at Salt House for regional seafood plucked straight from the ocean, highlighting fresh, local ingredients, and prepared on their custom-built Argentinian wood fired grill.
Accommodation:
Hilton Hotel Cairns
Locations Visited:
- Cairns
Great Barrier Reef
The world’s largest living organism, the Great Barrier Reef, never fails to dazzle. Set out on a catamaran to explore this natural wonder of over 1,500 species of fish, 215 different birds, 3,000 molluscs, six of the world’s seven marine turtle species, and 30 species of dolphins and whales are residents. Strap on a snorkel or visit an underwater observatory and semi-submersible craft to take in the menagerie without getting your hair wet. A tropical buffet lunch is served on board before returning to Cairns.
Accommodation:
Hilton Hotel Cairns
Locations Visited:
- Great Barrier Reef
Cairns - Sydney
Touch down in Australia’s largest city, and spend time at leisure in the buzzing metropolis of Sydney. Take a stroll along the iconic harbour, visit one of the city’s many bars, pubs, or restaurants, or simply while away the day at the beach. You decide how best to enjoy this bustling city of delights.
Accommodation:
InterContinental Hotel Sydney
Locations Visited:
- Cairns
Sydney
Bring your stamina: today is one of innumerable highlights. Go on a tour of the Sydney Opera House, discovering its architectural and performance secrets. If these sails could talk. Then see the city from the water on a Sydney Harbour Highlight Lunch Cruise enjoying a menu focusing on local food and wine. One icon to another: The world’s most famous beach beckons this afternoon, with your chance to pad along the sand at Bondi with Sydney’s beautiful people.
Accommodation:
InterContinental Hotel Sydney
Locations Visited:
- Sydney
Sydney Free Time
The hardest decision you have to make today: explore more of Sydney, or head to the Blue Mountains, 11,400 square kilometres of World Heritage listed wilderness. Or why not linger around the harbour – perhaps it’s time to glimpse it from above on a Sydney BridgeClimb? Back at ground level, you’re in the heart of the Rocks, the city’s original colonial settlement and a place of cobbled alleys and private galleries. This evening, farewell Sydney at Dinner at Midden restaurant at the Sydney Opera House.
Accommodation:
InterContinental Hotel Sydney
Locations Visited:
- Sydney
Farewell from Sydney
What an epic journey, with so many destinations explored in less than two weeks. Now you just have to sort through the photos…
Locations Visited:
- Sydney
- Whether you’re exploring vibrant city streets (think, Melbourne’s art-filled alleys) or remote reaches of the Northern Territory under a blaze of stars, you’ll be wowed by local knowledge.
- The Sydney Opera House is the stuff of postcards. You get to tour with an expert who not only reveals architectural highlights, but also performance secrets.
- Learn about Aboriginal culture of Central Australia and hear stories of the Anangu.
- The only living organism you can see from outer space, the Great Barrier Reef is among the world’s most important, and biodiverse, ecosystems. Dive under the surface and see for yourself.
- Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House Centrally located premium hotels Arrival and departure private airport transfers
- Warm layers in cooler months Camera Comfortable walking shoes Sunglasses, sunscreen and hat Water bottle
- Day 1 – flights to arrive prior to 12 noon into Melbourne Airport Day 13 – flights to depart anytime from Sydney Airport Internal-holiday flights: Please note that prices include land and internal-holiday airfares, which AAT Kings will book in order to fulfil the holiday itinerary: Day 4 – Melbourne to Alice Springs Day 7 – Ayers Rock to Cairns Day 10 – Cairns to Sydney Return airfares from your home port are not included in the price above. Return airport to hotel transfers are included in the price above.
- Day 1 – flights to arrive prior to 12 noon into Melbourne Airport Day 13 – flights to depart anytime from Sydney Airport Internal-holiday flights: Please note that prices include land and internal-holiday airfares, which AAT Kings will book in order to fulfil the holiday itinerary: Day 4 – Melbourne to Ayers Rock Day 6 – Ayers Rock to Cairns Day 9 – Cairns to Sydney Return airfares from your home port are not included in the price above. Return airport to hotel transfers are included in the holiday price.
- Low level of fitness required
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Destination Details
Australia
|
13 Days
Trip Location
Trip Starts:
Melbourne (VIC), Australia
Melbourne (VIC), Australia
Trip Finishes:
Sydney, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Countries Visited:
Australia
Australia
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