Australian Natural Adventures

CUSTOM ITINERARY PREPARED FOR

JEFF, SUSNAM SETH & TY GRABOVICH

AUSTRALIA
June 1 to June 20, 2007

Day 1 – Friday, June 1: Huntsville/ Los Angeles / In Flight
Depart Huntsville at 3.05pm on Continental flight CO2483 for Houston, arriving at 5.03pm. Change planes to Continental flight CO1795, departing at 5.50pm and arriving at LAX at 7.33pm. Make your way to the Tom Bradley Terminal, at the top of the LAX horseshoe, where you check in for your 11.20pmQantas flight QF176 to Brisbane. Australia begins the moment you step aboard your Qantas plane - the Australian style is easy going, casually efficient and very friendly. Qantas is known for its decent food and in flight service, so sit back and enjoy the hospitality, meals and a movie or two. There is an extensive in-flight entertainment system to while away the 14-hour flight, if you can’t sleep. However, we recommend forgoing the airline food, getting something at one of the many restaurants in the terminal, and asking for a Do Not Disturb sticker as soon as you board. Curl up, and try to sleep.       (*D)

Day 2 – Saturday, June 2: Lost In Space
Lose today due to the International Dateline, but regain it on your return journey.

Day 3 – Sunday, June 3: LIS / Brisbane
Arrive this morning at 6.05am in Brisbane. Pass through customs and immigration, and be met by your friends in the arrivals hall. It will take about 45 to 60 minutes to unload and get through customs, so your friends can arrive about 7am. They might also want to check with Qantas after the planes departure (about 6pm on in Brisbane should be OK) to see if the plane left on time, to avoid waiting around if it was delayed. Go across to the car rental area and pick up your rental car to follow your friends. Your hotel for the next four nights is only a few minutes from the airport, and you could detour that way to locate it for later.      (*B)

Day 4 – Monday, June 4: Brisbane
Free in Brisbane to spend with your friends

Day 5 – Tuesday, June 5: Brisbane / Sunshine Coast
Head off this morning to Australia Zoo, about 60km north, at Beerwah. There’s an activity schedule in your packet to guide you about timing for today. On the way to the Zoo you’ll pass through a major agricultural area, including sugar cane and pineapples. You’ll also see the Glasshouse Mountains, a series of old volcanic plugs.

Days 6 – Wednesday, June 6: Brisbane
Another free day today, and suggested is another trip north to spend the day swimming, surfing, and exploring the beaches of the Caloundra – Maroochydore – Noosa area. Your friends may also have some alternative suggestions.

Day 7 – Thursday, June 7: Brisbane / Darwin
Today say goodbye to Brisbane and fly to Darwin at 9am on Qantas flight QF824, arriving at 12.35pm. Pick up your 4WD rental car at the airport and head a little way into town and your accommodation. Spend the afternoon looking around Darwin, Australia’s most northerly city. Darwin was virtually completely destroyed (70% of all buildings were completely flattened) by a cyclone on Christmas Eve, 1974, and the entire population was evacuated. Although official maximum wind speed recorded was 135mph, it was far higher, given the damage and the fact that the official wind gauge (that recorded this official speed) blew away early on. Sunset over Fannie Bay is a great sight, and not to be missed. Get some fish and chips, and go sit on the Esplanade to enjoy a true Aussie evening.    (*B)

Day 8 – Friday, June 8: Darwin / Kakadu National Park
Head south and west this morning to the Adelaide River. Here you can join a small boat cruise to see the Jumping Crocodiles, where huge saltwater crocodiles leap almost completely out of the water next to the boat to get bait held out - an amazing sight. Before reaching Adelaide River stop in at Fogg Dam, a wetland area full of birds, and Windows on Wetlands, with its panoramic views across the plains and informative interpretive material. Continue on to Kakadu National Park, and your cabin at Jabiru township. Visit the Cultural Centre and ranger station to collect material and maps for your visit. Plan out your time, remembering that you will be heading south along the Kakadu Highway on Sunday, to get to Batchelor via Pine Creek and Adelaide River. This means that Waterfall Creek should be visited that day, as it is in the southwest of the Park. Nourlangie is best done early morning, before the crowds arrive, and when there is a reasonable chance of seeing Black Wallaroo here. This afternoon visit Ubirr Rock to see the superb Aboriginal artwork, and enjoy the sunset from the overlook area. Make sure you go to the very edge of the overlook, and look down – there are usually rock wallabies to be seen if you look for long enough. Return to your cabin this evening.


Day 9 - Saturday, June 9: Kakadu National Park
Explore the lagoons, escarpments, wildlife and Aboriginal culture of Kakadu National Park. You’ll see Crocodile Dundee’s country, Gunlom Falls, and Nourlangie, with their spectacular Aboriginal rock art, and much else. Take a boat ride at Yellow Waters – the second boat of the day will be better at this time of the year - to see wildlife, including crocodiles behaving a little more stealthily, and visit the Aboriginal people on the border of restricted Arnhem Land, on the East Alligator River.

Day 10 – Sunday, June 10: Kakadu National Park
Continue to explore Kakadu National Park. Fishing is allowed, with a permit, in the park, and you may want to bring a folding rod and pick up a couple of lures in Darwin while you are there. This afternoon visit Waterfall creek, of Crocodile Dundee fame, then continue south along the Kakadu Highway through Pine Creek to the Stuart Highway. Swing north and head to Batchelor for your overnight stay.

Day 11 – Monday, June 11: Batchelor / Darwin
Drive a little west to Litchfield National Park, which is very scenic, and has some of the territory’s best swimming holes, complete with small waterfalls, and walking tracks. At the end of the day head back to your hotel in Darwin, conveniently located near the airport for tomorrow morning’s early flight.

Day 12 – Tuesday, June 12: Darwin / Cairns
Drive to the airport early this morning, drop off your car (the office won’t be open, but you can leave the car in the parking lot) and fly east to Cairns at 6.15am this morning on Qantas flight QF801, arriving at 12.35pm. Take a taxi to your apartment-style hotel, just a couple of blocks from Cairns’ famous Esplanade. The rest of the day is free to look around this small tropical city. It is a very pleasant walk through Esplanade Fogarty Park to the main downtown area, past cafes, shops and restaurants. Looking out from the Esplanade boardwalk is one of the best places in Australia to see shorebirds, which dot the flats as the tide recedes.     (*B)

Day 13– Wednesday, June 13: Great Barrier Reef
Today you are introduced to one of the natural wonders of the world—Australia’s outer Great Barrier Reef, a series of reefs extending for about 1,250 miles along the coast of Queensland, nearly to Papua New Guinea. Your boat today is Passions of Paradise, a snorkel and dive catamaran, which will take you to at least two separate places on the reef, including Michaelmas cay, home to tens of thousands of swirling – and confiding - seabirds. You are picked up from your hotel at 7.20am to begin your day. Don't forget your towel (the hotel has special reef towels available), hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. Most of the Great Barrier Reef, including the parts visited today, are multiple-use Marine Park. Brilliantly colored fish, giant clams, beche de mer and coral outcrops can all be seen. Easy swimming in brings you over coral “bombies,” heads of coral with their assortment of fishes, and hard and soft corals. Parrot fish glean algae from the coral, and small and medium predators search for food. Schools of fish twist and flash between the outcrops. An occasional sea turtle may be seen. Lunch is a tropical smorgasbord aboard. There is time after your return this evening to visit Cairns downtown, for souvenirs and perhaps a meal at Red Ochre Grill, specializing in native Australian foods.     (L)

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