Australian Natural Adventures

 

Australia

 

Australia is a big place....

So travel to Australia has to start with someone who's been there, often. Even better, a travel company that started in Australia providing custom tours to see the wildlife, nature, people and places. All the things that make Australia, Australia. A company whose personnel have been form top to bottom, side to side, and in the middle. That's us.

Imagine a whole continent for just one country. This means it’s about as far from Sydney to Perth as it is from New York to Los Angeles, and Melbourne to Darwin is nearly as far. California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona — and even Texas — would fit into just one State, Western Australia. But it’s also empty — more people live in New York State than in all of Australia, and by some estimates on any weekday Manhattan Island has about two thirds as many people crowding its offices, houses and streets as Australia has in total.

More significantly, Australia’s population is very concentrated, along the eastern and southern coast. In fact, if you carved off a small 20-mile wide strip of coastal land from Brisbane to Adelaide, you’d remove about three quarters of the population, leaving as many people as live in Atlanta to occupy all of Australia. So if you don’t spend much time in Melbourne or Sydney — these two cities account for about 40% of the total population — you’ll have room to stretch out.

Of course, with lots of land, and not many people, infrastructure is not always what we’re used to in the US. In the Northern Territory, there’s a road going north from Alice Springs, NT’s second largest city (in fact, just “other city”) to Darwin, NT‘s capital. A road. There’s a right turn a couple of hundred miles north of the Alice that takes you to Mt Isa and the east coast. Don’t miss it; the next one’s another two hundred miles north of that, and will take you to — well, pretty much nowhere. But you aren’t likely to miss it — they are just about the only paved roads around.

 

What all this means to most travelers thinking about an Australia tour is that you are not going to see it all at once. Just as you wouldn’t try to cover all of Europe — or the US — in one two week trip, don’t try to fit it all in, thinking that you won’t return. You probably will, as it’s a lot shorter journey than most people imagine. You can board your plane late in the evening in Los Angeles, and wake up in Sydney in time for breakfast; from New York you can have an early dinner before you leave, and still enjoy that Sydney breakfast to begin your Australia tour.

But Australia is not only big, it a different world. Yes, the people speak English (really!), and you can buy a McDonalds, but that’s about where the similarities end. It’s one of those places that tend to sneak up on you. You’re playing golf in Melbourne, when suddenly the distant tree stump moves — by hopping away. The local backyard feeder birds include two sorts of parrots and a cockatoo. Trees drop their branches, not their leaves. The further north you go, the warmer it gets. And Christmas is celebrated in shorts and shirtsleeves, and maybe a swim at the beach.

So when you are ready to experience a whole new world, with completely different animals, plants, and scenery at every turn — give us a call, or email, and we’ll help. We're the specialists for Australia tours and travel.

 

 

Use the arrows top left and right of this screen to see just a little of what Australia has to offer.

 

 

 

 

Australia in Parts – a brief tour

 

 

 

 

 

You can find some sample itineraries here to get you started

 

 

If you're a birder click here for Australian Birding

 

 

We have pages of useful information here about travel to Australia, including temperatures, distances, recommended reading, electricity, how to choose opals, driving and lots more - even a dictionary to help you translate the aussie lingo.

 

We are distributing DVDs of the 1955 adventure and wildlife film Northern Safari by Keith Adams, a true Aussie bushman and pioneer of Australian outback film-making. Click here for more information.

 

We also organize more general Australian travel - after all, we are Australians -so give us a call for all Australia, New Zealand and Pacific travel.

You can also follow these links for some of our trusted partners.

 

 

Air Cruising with Bill Peach Journeys

 

 Cruising In Australia

 

 

 Coach Tours