Day 8 - Cairns / Atherton Tablelands / Cairns
This morning is free to look around Cairns. A suggestion 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. D
Day 9 - Cairns
Today learn about Aboriginal culture at the Tjapukai
Aboriginal Cultural Park, enjoy a scenic train ride up the range
behind Cairns, and brush the top of the rainforest trees by cablecar.
Although designed as a tourist venture, the 16 year old Tjapukai
concept began and remains today a means of
introducing non-aboriginal people to the world’s oldest living
culture, while at the same time showing by example to the Aboriginal
people themselves that their culture, often ignored and looked down
upon by its own people, is of great value and interest to others
throughout Australia and the world. Through dance and 
theatre,
and traditional activities including spear and boomerang throwing,
food and medicinal plants identification, and shelter construction,
there is much to learn here about Aboriginal life. Prior t
o
Tjapukai you will be picked up for the morning scenic
train ride to Kuranda,
then the Skyrail Cable
ride down, an interesting way to see the rainforest from the canopy.
Skyrail's terminus is adjacent to Tjapukai, and at the end of the
day you will be returned to your hotel. A suggestion for dinner
is the Red
Ochre Grill, where native Australian foods are cooked and presented
in gourmet style. This unique concept has introduced a whole new
range of tastes to the Australian palate.
Day 10 – Cairns / Ayers Rock
This morning taxi to the airport for your 9.15am Qantas flight to
Ayers Rock, arriving at 11.35am. This flight gives you a wonderful
look at the desert landscape from the air. Here you are transferred
to your accommodation, Yulara Resort, a few miles from the base
of Uluru, as Ayers Rock is known to the local Aboriginal people
(although there is a little controversy as to what Uluru really
is referring to, and by which group.) You will have a couple of
hours to relax, perhaps visiting the nearby cultural and display
center, then about one hour before sunset you will be picked up
and 
transferred
to a sand dune a little way from Uluru. Hear a didgeridoo’s
sounds greet you, and you watch the sun set on Uluru, one of the
most inspiring sights possible. As the colors change, you will be
sipping on canapés and champagne. Afterwards sit down, under
the southern stars, for a truly memorable dinner. Once dinner is
over you have the opportunity to observe the constellations and
stars through a telescope, while your guide explains which is which.
Don’t forget to ask how to find south, and tell the time,
by the stars.
D
Day 11 – Ayers Rock
This morning you are picked up at 7am to explore Uluru itself. After
witnessing sunrise on Uluru, and event not to be missed, and a picnic
breakfast, you will combine a drive and walk around the base, about
6 miles. Short walks will bring you to this wonderful and powerful
place, viewing rock 
art,
waterholes and appreciating the unique flora and fauna of Uluru.
A special feature is the appreciation of the exquisite as well as
the dramatic sculpturing of Uluru. There is time to amble, to absorb
images and to gain an insight into Uluru's remarkable presence,
while your guide will introduce you to the geology of Uluru and
describe how plants and wildlife have adapted and survived in such
a forbidding environment. The fascinating relationship of the Anangu
people to Uluru is also described. After lunch 
you
will explore another fascination and significant formation, Kata
Tjuta, or The Olgas. Kata Tjuta is a series of huge rounded rocks
hills, and once again an important Aboriginal area. Your guide will
show you the area, and describe stories of the Dreamtime relevant
to Kata Tjuta (not in full as the stories are only fully available
to tribal members), as well as geology and history. The day ends
with a sunset some say equal to that on Uluru itself. You return
to the resort in time for dinner.
Day 12 - Ayers Rock / Alice Springs / Adelaide
This morning, after perhaps taking a short walk to a viewing area
in the dunes near the resort to once again view sunrise on Uluru,
return to the airport for your flight to Alice
Springs, a short distance to the north. Here you have several
hours to look around this interesting small town - a visit to the
old telegraph station is recommended - before continuing on to Adelaide,
arriving about 7 pm. Transfer to your hotel.
Day 13– Adelaide / Portee Station
This morning You are picked up to begin your days in the
Outback. First enjoy a scenic and leisurely private drive northeast
to the Barossa Valley, Australia’s oldest and best known wine
producing area. The region is home to many wines available in the
US. Lunch is on the way at one of the wineries, then you will arrive
at Portee
Station (in Australia, a 
station
is a livestock ranch.) Portee is an environmentally sensitive, sustainable
use working sheep station which is also a haven for native wildlife.
As well a
s
being in the Outback, you’ll meet genuine, traditional Australians,
and experience the real bush. Once there you can take a canoe or
boat trip on the lagoon, see the endangered Hairy-nosed Wombat,
walk the river trail for wildlife, or perhaps spend a little time
on the shady verandah. Portee is a family operated, and
you will feel completely at home here. You may even get an opprotunity
to drive out for some daily tasks if you wish, or just take this
opportunity to experience the real Australia.
L,D
Day 14– Portee Station
This
morning rise to the sound of birds, sheep, and the outback. After
a hearty breakfast explore the billabong, look at the workings of
the farm, and yarn with the locals. There is as much, or as little,
to do here as you wish. Meals are taken where Margaret decides,
inside or out depending on the weather and how she and her guests
feel. Local produce is the order of the day, and meals are for relaxing,
not rushing. Arelaxing pace will be in 
order
for your entire stay. Perhaps a boat ride un
der
the gum trees, watching the parrots roost, or a lunchtime picnic
will take your fancy. As the sun sets this evening, the sounds and
views that surround you will remain with you for years to come.
Continue your stay in the Outback at Portee. Look for the canoe
tree, where you can see how the Aboriginal people carved their canoe
directly from the trunk of a living tree. B,L,D
Day 15– Portee Station / Adelaide
After a final morning at Portee this afternoon you again enjoy a
private drive back to Adelaide and your hotel.
B,L
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