Australian Natural Adventures

Custom Australia Itinerary for Dennis and Christina continues....

Day 11 - Monday, September 26: Darwin / Ubirr / Cooinda
Today begins your adventure in one of Australia's prime natural destinations, Kakadu National Park and the surrounding lands and Parks. Drive south of Darwin, then turn east on the Arnhem Land Highway. Along the way (you'll receive maps of the drive, and area) stop in at Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve (preferably early in the morning), and enjoy the walk along the entry road. Fogg Dam is about 40 miles from Darwin. A few miles further on is Windows on the Wetlands Visitors Centre, which has additional displays about thee wetlands, but also expansive views across the floodplains. Kakadu itself is a further 50 miles on, and the Bowari Visitor Centre 50 miles past that. At the visitor centre pick up brochures and guides to the Park, and enjoy the educational displays. Rangers lead walks at both Ubirr and Nourlangie, and at times in other parts of the park. Make sure you ask about these, and sign up if necessary. Try to fit them in with the suggested times for attractions in this itinerary. The Kakadu National Park website also has maps that you can download prior to your visit, as well as additional information. Cooinda, your accommodation for the night, is about 30 miles south of the visitor center. Ubirr Art Site is about 22 miles north of the visitor centre, and you should arrive there about an hour before sunset, or perhaps a little earlier. Plan to be there until sunset (as do many others, as you will see), as the view from the escarpment over the plains at that time is one of the most beautiful views in the park. If you go all the way to the cliff edge, which means going down just a little, and look over, patient searching should reveal rock wallabies lower down. The walking tracks around the art site are somewhat rough, but should present no problems. the walk up the track to the lookout area involves some flat rock crossing, but once again is easy enough. Drive back to Cooinda for the night.

Day 12 - Tuesday, September 27: Cooinda / Mary River
Wake early this morning and drive a mile or so to the Yellow Waters departure jetty. Here you will enjoy an 1 1/2 hour naturalist-led cruise on the extensive lagoons, which are covered in water lilies, lotus lilies and many birds, from tiny kingfishers to noisy magpie geese. Yellow waters is also home to many saltwater crocodiles, and your guide is an expert at finding these. Return to the Lodge for breakfast, check out, and retrace your steps back towards Jabiru. Turn off the road after about 13 miles to Nourlangie Rock. By arriving as early as possible you may see black wallaroos along the track, especially in the lusher area at the start. It's a 2 mile easy loop through the art sites, some of the most impressive in the park. Again, there are ranger-led walks several times each day, and you should arrange your timing to take advantage of the first of these. Expect to spend about 2 hours at Nourlangie. After this head back out of the park the same way you came in, heading for Mary River. Take the turn to the Mary River Park, a private area and home to a wealth of wildlife. On arrival check in, and you will be taken care of for the next two days. You'll spend the time being taken to various areas nearby, looking at the extensive wildlife and flora of the area, including two species of crocodiles, wallabies and buffaloes. One evening you'll enjoy a sunset cruise and stargazing outing.             D

Day 13 - Wednesday, September 28: Mary River
Continue to explore the Mary River area with your guides. The Bamboo Walk, estuary area, and many other nearby places will be visited, leaving you with a much better understanding of the rich but ephemeral nature of the vast wilderness of Australia's Top End.               B,L,D

Day 14 - Thursday, September 29: Mary River /Darwin
After your final morning activities at Mary River return to Darwin. This is an easy 1 1/2 hour drive, and there are several worthwhile stops along the way, including Howard Springs. The path at the far end is one of the best places to find Rainbow Pitta, and you should check with Mary River for precise directions. In Darwin return once again to Saville Suites.        B,L

Day 15 - Friday, September 30: Darwin / Alice Springs
The morning is free to look around Darwin. If you didn’t get to Howard Springs, or if you missed the Pitta, you could return there first thing this morning as it’s only 30km from Darwin. Return to the airport, drop off your car and take your Qantas flight QF725 departing at 1.45pm south to Australia's Red Centre, Alice Springs, taxi to and check into your hotel, the Alice Springs Resort. You arrive at 3.45pm, and the late afternoon is free to explore. The Resort is on the banks of the usually dry Todd River, and will give you the opportunity to look for honeyeaters, pigeons and possibly parrots in the trees and shrubs.

Day 16 - Saturday, October 1: Alice Springs / McDonnell Ranges / Alice Springs
Departing at 6.30am, the MacDonnell's are full of enchanting gorges, leafy rivers, Spinifex slopes and rare fauna. These desert mountains are the wettest parts of the central Australian deserts, harbouring oases of animals and plants alike. We will visit Gosse Bluff (Tnorala) a 130 million year old comet crater and a complex sacred site to the Arrente people, Ormiston Gorge and Ellery Creek with their stunning display of geological history and the Ochre pits where a rare rainbow of coloured ochre is exposed in a small creek bed. Return late this afternoon to the Resort.             L

Day 17 - Sunday, October 2: Alice Springs / Kings Canyon
Your day today begins after your hotel pickup with a visit Hermannsburg Historical Precinct – the first Aboriginal Mission in the Northern Territory, established by the Lutheran Church. Stop at Hermannsburg’s well known art display, to view and hear how Albert Namatjira went from handyman to world famous watercolourist. We make our way on 4WD tracks to beautiful Palm Valley in Finke Gorge National Park. We will wonder through sands of the graceful, relict palm Livistona mariae which occurs nowhere else in the world. We journey onwards towards the George Gill Range and Watarrka National Park, featuring the spectacular Kings Canyon. With over 600 species of plant, Kings Canyon is botanically the richest region in all of arid Australia. (note: our ability to visit Palm Valley is dependant on weather and road conditions. The itinerary may be changed at short notice when access is not possible). Overnight at Kings Canyon.           L

Day 18 - Monday, October 3: Kings Canyon / Uluru
At sunrise, undertake the Rim Walk through the beehive like domes and oases of vegetation to explore the many unusual features of the Watarrka National Park. Departing mid morning, head for Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park and an afternoon tour to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). After exploring these remote rounded tors, enjoy sunset at Uluru to witness the spectacular color change, with complimentary champagne and canapés. Dinner is then served on the dunes, with expert-led stargazing afterwards before returning to your accommodation at Ayers Rock Resort.              B,L

Day 19 - Tuesday, October 4: Uluru
This morning you will walk one of the oldest walking tracks on earth as you follow the Tjukurpa of the ancestral beings around the base of Uluru on the famous Uluru Walk. After the sunrise transforms Uluru into a shimmering red, relax at the base of this majestic monolith with your picnic breakfast and absorb the solitude. As you follow the Ancestral stories of the creation stories of Uluru, you will also experience the incredible ecology that this rock hosts. Combine this with a 900 million year geological origin and you start to learn why this National Park is World Heritage listed. Return to the hotel to relax and enjoy lunch (not included). At 2.20pm you are transferred to the airport to fly south to Adelaide, via Sydney, on QF729 connecting with QF743. Arrival into Adelaide is at 8pm, and you are met and transferred to your hotel, the Rendezvous Allegra.           (*D)

Day 20 - Wednesday, October 5: Adelaide / Kangaroo Island
This morning return to the airport for your 9.25am Rex 4753 20-minute flight to Kangaroo Island. You’ll first visit the redgum forest along the Cygnet River valley to seek out koalas sleeping in the forks of the trees, then travel through some of the best wool-producing areas on the island to a conservation park on the north coast. Here we walk through the habitat of Kangaroo Island Kangaroos, Tammar Wallabies and the endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo. For lunch enjoy a delicious seafood barbeque served with fine South Australian wines before heading to a colony of Australian Sealions. At Seal Bay Conservation Park a walk among Sealions on a beautiful sandy beach may reveal watching pups nursing or playing in the surf. Old bulls bear the scars of territorial disputes, as your guide explains when he tells us about their unique breeding biology. In the afternoon we visit Cape Gantheaume Conservation Park including D'Estrees Bay - where ospreys nest, and kangaroos come out late in the day to feed. After this you are dropped off at your accommodation, Correa Corner. This evening take a shorter trip with your hosts to look for the tiny Fairy Penguins which return to their burrows each evening from foraging in the sea. (L,D)

Day 21 - Thursday, October 6: Kangaroo Island / Adelaide / Melbourne
Flinders Chase National Park is a 74,000 hectare (190,000 acre) wilderness which covers the entire west end of the Island. We’ll visit Rocky River Homestead - originally a small farm and now the Park headquarters. This area is home to kangaroos, wallabies, possums, goannas, echidnas, koalas, platypus and many birds including the rare Cape Barren Goose. At Cape du Couedic on the south-west tip is a New Zealand furseal colony which is rapidly expanding. These animals can be observed at rest on the rocks or frolicking in the surf under Admirals Arch - a spectacular coastal grotto. On the headland above is Cape du Couedic Lighthouse which plays an important role in navigation. Further down the coast are the Remarkable Rocks, huge natural granite sculptures on the cliff top. Lunch today is a picnic in the bush before exploring more of the Island. Depending upon the day you might take a walk to a secluded cove, or watch for a platypus by a quiet pool. You return to your accommodation at the eastern end of the island via Vivonne Bay, one of the few protected bays on the south coast.At the end of your exciting day you will be taken to the airport, for your 6.35pm Rex flight 4772 back to Adelaide, arriving at 7.05pm, and change to your Virgin Blue flight DJ554 departing at 8pm and arriving in Melbourne at 9.45pm. You overnight at the Holiday Inn Airport hotel, 400 yards from the terminal, and with terminal transfers. Breakfast is included here. If you don’t wish to walk the short distance to the hotel, you can call them on 9933 5111 and they will send their shuttle.

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