Australian Natural Adventures

Custom Itinerary for
Shay lawson & Debbi Drewes

continues.......

Day 7 - Thursday, December 30: Sydney / Gold Coast / Surfers Paradise
This morning return to the airport by taxi and fly to the Gold Coast on Virgin Blue flight DJ507 at 9.05am from Terminal 2, arriving at the Gold Coast at 9.25am. Meet your driver at the baggage carousel – he will have a sign with your names - for the 30 minute drive to your hotel at Surfers Paradise, the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort. As it will be early, you may not have access to your room, but will be able to leave your luggage safely, and use the hotel facilities. The beach is a just a short walk away, or the hotel pool or lagoon may beckon.

Day 8 - Friday, December 31: Surfers Paradise
Continue your stay at Surfers Paradise. If you are feeling energetic there is a nice horse-riding outfitter in the hills behind the Gold Coast - Numinbah Valley Adventure Trails at Nerang. Tonight is New Year’s Eve, so enjoy the festivities. As with other activities, your hotel can assist with deciding just what to do.

Day 9 - Saturday, January 1: Surfers Paradise
New Year's Day, meant for recovering, perhaps including a session at one of the area's spas, or an easy time at the hotel pool. If you still have plenty of energy, you might like to take a surfboard lesson at the beach, or continue your practice if you tried surfing at Bondi. Although it is a holiday, this is a holiday place, and the many shops, boutiques and other attractions of nearby Cavill Avenue, the heart of Surfers Paradise, will be open and busy.

Day 10 - Sunday, January 2: Surfers Paradise / Melbourne / Geelong
After a final dip in the pool or wander along the beach return to the Gold Coast Airport by private transfer, departing at 12.15pm, for your mid afternoon Virgin Blue flight DJ992 departing 2pm arriving Melbourne 5.10pm. Pick up your rental car and drive south to the Mercure Hotel, Geelong, about an hour away. There’s not a lot to do at Geelong other than the nearby waterfront precinct, which does have some decent restaurants, but you will be ready for a much quicker start in the morning. The rental car office will supply you with a map and directions. You won’t need to purchase a CityLink pass, as you don’t need to use the toll roads. However, do get directions for getting to your hotel once you return to Melbourne tomorrow night, rather than find your own way then. It’s a short and simple run from the freeway to your Southbank hotel, the Crown Promenade, but you don’t want to take the turn to the tollway off Kingsgate. The rental people can tell you what to do.

Day 11 - Monday, January 3: Melbourne / Great Ocean Road / Melbourne
Today explore the southern Victorian coastline and the Great Ocean Road. The direct drive from Geelong to the end takes about 3 hours, but you will make plenty of stops along the way, so an early start is recommended. Your first leg will be to Torquay, about 20 miles away, then just follow the coast. Make sure you visit the golf course at Anglesea, where some of the hazards are grey kangaroos lazing on the fairways. No need to go further than Peterborough, as this is where the road leaves the coast. If you wish, on your return you can take the road from Lavers Hill through Gellibrand to Colac and on to Geelong and Melbourne. This is not as scenic, but will save about 35 miles but more importantly you’ll be on a much faster road, probably getting to Colac where you reach a major highway that leads all the way into Melbourne, in the same time it takes to get to the next town, Apollo Bay, if you stay on the Great Ocean Road. As the rental company will be closed by the time you get back to Melbourne, you will need to park the car at your hotel tonight, the Crown Promenade. To make things easiest for you we have arranged for Echidna Walkabouts to pick you up from the car rental office tomorrow, which will save you having to get back to your hotel after dropping the car off.

Day 12 - Tuesday, January 4: Melbourne / Brisbane Ranges / Melbourne
This morning you are picked up at 9.15am by Echidna Walkabout at the Europcar rental office for a day out in the Australian Bush, looking at and learning about Australian wildlife. It’s a full day, with lunch included – and a chance to sample billy tea. You’ll see parrots in the wild, koala and kangaroos, emus and many others. Part of the day will be spent at Serendip, a combination free-range zoo, research station, and target for wild animals to find a place to rest and get a free feed from time to time. After your busy and city-based days of the last week and a half, today will be a nice break from the hustle and bustle. You will be returned to your hotel about 6pm. L

Day 13 – Wednesday, January 5: Melbourne
Today is free to explore Melbourne. Although upper Collins St has long been the home for Australian fashion stores, much is of international nature, although some good New Zealand brands, and local product such as Coogi are also here (Lisa Ho, Collette and Charlie Brown are also aussie labels to look for). More home-produced designs can be found in Little Collins St, and in some of the boutiques scattered through the various small shopping arcades, a Melbourne specialty. In fact, there are few places in the city, including the pedestrian mall in the heart of Melbourne, that do not have several boutiques featuring local and often modern European and Asian design. Melbourne is also Australia’s leading food city, and St Kilda, Fitzroy and especially Carlton, with its Italian influence but now home to many quality Australian fusion restaurants, all house wonderful cafes, restaurants and wine bars. There are also a number of excellent wine shops in Melbourne, featuring many Australian and New Zealand wines never seen in the US. The Victorian Cellar is a good place to start; Jimmy Watson's wine bar & restaurant in Carlton has a wide range of local and other Australian wines by the glass or bottle, and a retail store in Balwyn. Walters Wine Bar & Restaurant is right in Southgate (where your hotel is) and has a good selection of Victorian and Australian wines by the glass, and bottle sales. However, there are a number of decent bottle shops in the downtown area, and Crittenden's in Toorak, a couple of miles from downtown has an extensive collection. Your concierge will be able to advise you on nearby merchants. Many Australian restaurants are termed BYO, which means you can bring a bottle or two of wine to eat with your meal – there will be a small corkage fee to open the bottle and supply glasses. You can’t take the opened bottle home with you, but this is a great way to try a wine you may wish to bring home.

Day 14 – Thursday, January 6: Melbourne
Continue your Melbourne stay. You may wish to rent a car (your hotel can arrange this) and travel south to Phillip Island, where among other things you can watch the penguins return to their nesting burrows just after sunset. You can see the penguins in one of three ways – with the crowds, in a smaller and closer area with a guide’s narration, or on the beach itself, away from everyone except a few others in your very small group, and with a guide. Once again, this is best arranged through the hotel if you wish to use the third option, which has restricted space. For the others, just turn up for a ticket at the Park. The penguins will start arriving from about 8.30pm on, and you can get your tickets any time during the day. It’s an easy drive of about 1 ½ hours direct, but you can also take the opportunity to visit a couple of wineries on the way, either in the Yarra Valley or the Mornington Peninsula. Suggested Mornington Peninsula wineries are Paringa with a Melbourne Show winner Pinot Noir, and available in the US. Tuck’s Ridge includes Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Callanan’s Road Shiraz among its lines. A consistent winery, with 89-91/100 James Halliday scores on these wines. The Buckle label includes a highly rated Pinot Noir (91/100) available cellar door only. The Callanan’s Road label is less expensive, but the Shiraz has a 90/100 rating. In the Yarra Valley Yering Station, St Huberts and Coldstream Hills (founded by Australian legendary wine expert James Halliday; chief winemaker is Andrew Fleming) are all international-class wineries, producing Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and whites, and all have won awards for their wines over the years. Yering Station also produces a very good Shiraz. However, the best Victorian, and some of the best Australian Shiraz is produced in central Victoria, in the Heathcote area about 50-60 miles north of Melbourne. Seppelt has for many years produced world-class Shiraz at its western Victorian wineries. Due to time limitations, rather than try to visit these wineries spending a few hours at a good wine shop will provide some excellent Victorian and Australian Shiraz, including labels not sold outside Australia. Generally it will cost about $AUD15-20 per bottle at case lots to ship to the US – this can easily be arranged at the bottle shop, but remember in Alabama you must ship to an ABC store for pick-up.

Day 15 – Friday, January 7: Melbourne / Los Angeles / Birmingham
Sadly, your last day in Australia. This morning make your final preparations before shuttling or taxiing to the airport for your Qantas flight QF93 departing at 12:20pm. Due to the International Dateline, you arrive in Los Angeles at 7.30am today. After passing through customs and immigration you have s little wait until your 11:00am Delta flight DL1746 arriving at Atlanta at 6:11. Here transfer to your Delta flight DL1813 departing at 7.25pm, finally arriving in Birmingham at 7.18pm. Despite the tiring journey back, the two weeks you have spent Down Under will stay with you on the flights home, reminding you of the new experiences you’ve had, and the new friends you’ve made. *L,*D,*B

B:Breakfast, L: Lunch, D: Dinner, M: Meal. *In-flight meal

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