Australian Natural Adventures

The Feeley's Australia Itinerary continues...

Day 17 - Ayers Rock / Cairns
After perhaps taking a short walk to a viewing area in the dunes near the resort to once again view sunrise on Uluru, then enjoying a relaxing morning or visiting the nearby Cultural Centre before returning to the airport for your flight to Cairns, in the tropical north. Cairns. On arrival you will be met and transferred to your hotel, Tradewinds Esplanade. You can walk out of the rear of the hotel to the Esplanade, which runs along the bayfront. It is a very short and pleasant walk through the new Esplanade Fogarty Park to the main downtown area, past cafes, shops and restaurants. Probably the best eating fish in Australia, and one of the best in the world, is Barramundi, and you should make sure this is a feature of one of your meals here. Start with an appetizer of Mud crab or Moreton Bay Bugs (both far better than they sound), followed by Barramundi done as simply as possible. A dry white Australian Sauvignon Blanc, perhaps from the Margaret River area of Western Australia, or a crisp Victorian white, will be a perfect accompaniment.             *B

Day 18 - Cairns / Fitzroy Island.
A complete change of pace today from your previous Australian experiences where the dry forests and deserts have predominated. You are picked up from your accommoation for a catamaran ride out to Fitzroy Island, where you'll enjoy three hours of great sea kayaking. Included in your tropical day is a tropical lunch on private beach, a guided walk to the island lighthouse, snorkelling equipment, in addition to the guided sea kayaking around the island and its coral reefs. Return to cairns tonight about 6pm.           L

Day 19 - Cairns / Atherton Tablelands / Cairns
This morning is free to look around Cairns. A suggestion, if you did not get a chance to look at opals in Sydney, is a visit to the Outback Opal Mine, where as well as buying opals you can learn from a educational film and display how and where they are mined. A call to this interesting store and museum will have them coming to collect you, and drop you off later, at no obligation.

Early this afternoon you will be picked up for an afternoon/evening tour to the rainforest of the Atherton Tablelands. These World Heritage listed rainforests, at an elevation of about 2,500 ft, are home to some of Australia’s rarest and most unusual animals, including four kinds of very restricted possums, gliders, and the definitely weird tree kangaroo, a kangaroo which has adapted to a life in the trees, rather than on the ground. Your guide will take you to a small stream to wait for platypus, the egg-laying mammal unique to Australia, all the time describing the plants and dynamics of the surrounding rainforest. A variety of rainforest birds and other animals, perhaps including the leaf-tailed gecko - eight inches long and colored and shaped like a piece of bark - will be found and seen. After dinner out, a couple of hours will be spent spotlighting for nocturnal animals, always a highlight of the day. The return to Cairns will be late, around midnight, but the long day will remain in your memory for years to come.  

Day 20 - Cairns
As your return from the tablelands is late - around midnight - today is free to look around Cairns, or take one of the optional activities. (we may fill this day in for you by May)

Day 21 - Cairns /Goldfield Track / Cairns
This morning you are picked up for a hike in the rainforest. The 12 mile Goldfield Trackl follows country that ranges in hiking difficulty from easy flat land to undulating country. The World Heritage Listed Wooroonooran National Park is located in a valley between the two tallest mountains of Queensland, Mt. Bartle Frere (1622m) and Mt. Bellenden Ker (1592m), and is a short drive south of Cairns. Aborigines used the trail for thousands of years, as later did gold prospectors. This rainforest contains refuge areas where some species of wildlife and plant life exist unchanged for millions of years. You will experience spectacular scenery every step of the way. After lunch on some large rocks in the middle of the East Mulgrave River, you can revitalize yourself in the crystal-clear freshwater swimming holes. The marvellous rainforest locations visited are remote and we seldom meet other hikers. Frequently encountered animals include colourful parrots, butterflies, kingfishers, wild pigs and occasionally, the king of the rainforest, the Cassowary. L

Day 22 - Daintree
We continue to explore the rainforest today, but from a very different perspective. This morning you transfer to Port Douglas by boat where you are met by your Aboriginal guide for the day. Your itinerary takes you north to Cape Tribulation. Your guide will describe area and flora and fauna from an Aboriginal perspective, as well as a more modern one. A member of the local Gugu Yulandji tribe, your guide was born and raised here, and today will give you special insight into the connection of the Australian Aboriginal people with their land and dreaming stories. (L)

Day 23 - Great Barrier Reef
For your last full day in Australia a fitting end - the outer Great Barrier Reef. Today you are introduced to one of the natural wonders of the world—Australia’s 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 Tusa, a smaller dedicated snorkel and dive boat, which will take you to at least two separate places on the outer reef. You are picked up from your hotel at 7.25am 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, to pick up those last needed souvenirs.

Day 24 - Cairns / Sydney / Los Angeles / Virginia
An early start this morning as you begin your return home. Due to the International Dateline, you arrive in Los Angeles early this morning of the same day, in plenty of time for your final flight to Virginia. *L,*D,*B

<<<< return to the start of your itinerary