Australian Natural Adventures

Custom Itinerary for Ronie and John Lundgren

Australia
July 21 to August 10 2005

Day 1 - Thursday, July 21: Los Angeles / Lost In Space
Check in for your Qantas flight QF108 departing 11.50pm to Australia in the Tom Bradley Terminal, which is at the head of the horseshoe of LAX terminals. Australia begins the moment you step aboard your Qantas plane. The Aussie style is apparent—easy going, casually efficient and very friendly. Qantas isknown for their  excellent food and inflight service, so sit back and enjoy the hospitality, meal and a movie or three. I would, however, recommend having dinner at the airport – there are a wide range of options upstairs, at the end of the ticket counters – then just relaxing on the plane.    *M          

Day 2 - Friday, July 22: Lost In Space
Lose today due to the International Dateline, but regain it on your return journey.               

Day 3 - Saturday, July 23: LIS / Sydney
You arrive in Sydney at 7.25am this morning, pass through customs and immigration then transfer to your hotel , the Harbour Rocks, located in the Rocks, the historical heart of Sydney. As well as a good range of interesting shops, some of Sydney's oldest and most colorful pubs, and best restaurants, are found within a ten minute stroll. Australia has developed its own cuisine, a far cry from the stodgy English-based fare of earlier years. Restaurants featuring a fusion of Asian, European and even native Australian food abound, often featuring the superbly fresh fish abundantly available from Australia's long coastline. Due to your early arrival your hotel room may not be available, however you can leave your bags there, and freshen up. Lunch can be taken on a cruise on the harbor, with views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, as well as the boats and ferries of what is often called the most beautiful city harbor in the world. While there are tours that utilize the ferries, usually with lunch or morning tea, the cheapest way to do this is to simply buy a return ticket to one of the up-harbour places such as Homebush (where the Olympics were held). You’ll see a map of all the places they go at Circular Quay. The ferries have a snack/meal bar, and you can just get an easy lunch or snack there, sit back, and enjoy the ride. The ferry to Manly goes in the other direction, and as it passes the Entrance, where the harbor enters the Pacific, can get interestingly rough at times. This ferry will pass the Opera House and various other landmarks, and is also a good run. Return to your hotel for a well-deserved night's rest, but make sure you are not tempted to lie down before about 8pm. You need to stay awake all today, then sleep on Sydney's time, to best adjust to the new time zone.                   *B

Day 4 - Sunday, July 24: Sydney
Discover Sydney today, a wonderfully cosmopolitan city. Just a short walk from your hotel (the desk can give you directions) is the office of The Rocks Walking Tours, from where you will start your 11.30am easy 90-minute walking tour of this historic and vibrant area. Many of the buildings date from the very first years of the settlement, and are convict-built. You will get a good insight to the history of Sydney, and Australia. The rest of the day is free to explore this vibrant and friendly city. In addition to great shops to buy the needed souvenirs and gifts, just a short walk is the Botanic Gardens and the Domain, which has good views of the harbour, an abundant bird life, and a colony of huge grey fruit-bats, whose wingspans are approximately three feet. The Rocks Markets are in full swing today (and yesterday), and are a good place to find a wide range of Australian arts and crafts, ranging from high quality art and Aboriginal artifacts to the usual tacky trash.

Many people think of opals when they think of Australia, and we can recommend a visit to the National Opal Collection downtown. It has a mining and information display about opals in association with The Australian Museum, and offers tax-free buying; we’ve included brochure which also entitle you to a discount and a free gift. You should take your passport and airline ticket to buy tax-free.      B     

Day 5 - Monday, July 25: Sydney
Today is free to continue your exploration of Sydney. The Australian Museum, with its impressive collection of Aboriginal artifacts and art, is also close by.It is also a very good natural history museum, naturally featuring Australian wildlife, geography and geology. The Taronga Zoo is a ferry ride across the harbour, and a lunch or dinner cruise is a good way to truly appreciate this water-side city. During today or tomorrow you may wish to take a guided tour of the Opera House; tours leave on the half hour from 9.30am until 4.45pm. This can be followed by dinner and a show, or just a show, in one of the Opera House theatres, depending on your tastes. A calendar of events can be found here. Everything is within walking distance of your hotel, although the Museum is a little far and you may wish to take the bus or a train - Sydney is extremely well-serviced by buses and the underground.   On the other side of Hyde Park are the Hyde Park Barracks, home to over 15,000 convicts in Australia’s formative years. Other areas of interest in Sydney are Darling Harbour, with its world-class Aquarium, and a little further out the once-notorious area called Kings Cross. The inner suburbs of Wooloomooloo and Paddington are now home to restaurants, boutique shops, and other less touristy and more local-flavored shopping and dining opportunities. Your hotel desk can help you visit any of these areas.            B

Day 6 - Tuesday, July 26: Sydney
Continue to discover Sydney. Your hotel desk can help with suggestions for other activities. If the weather is fine you may wish to visit the Blue Mountains. If so, this can be arranged the day before through your hotel. We recommend two tour companies, Mount 'N Beach Safaris and Oztrails. Oztrails is more casual, and less expensive than Mount N Beach, but still gives a very good experience. Mount 'N Beach visits a zoo on the way, so if you don't want to do this - you'll be seeing most of what they have in the wild during your trip - the Oztrails may be the best choice. Either way, your itinerary will be similar to the Oztrails itinerary below.

"You are picked up this morning for a full day out to the Blue Mountains just west of Sydney, following a route that travels the same way as the early explorers who sought a way across the mountains to the fertile grazing land beyond. The views from the lookouts, including the Three Sisters, are quite spectacular. Enjoy short bushwalks, look for kangaroos, experience the tall Eucalyptus forest - and try some billy tea while there - enjoy some typically Australian food in an country pub, or homestead for lunch, and see early Australian non-urban architecture. The incline railroad and scenicsender are unique ways to experience the edge of the mountains. Your guide will tell you much abut the wildlife, history and geology and of the areas visited. Return to your hotel about 6pm."                         B,(L if tour taken)

Day 7 - Wednesday, July 27: Sydney / Cairns
This morning taxi back to the airport for your Qantas flight QF924 9.40am flight to Cairns. On arrival at 12.40pm 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.  We suggest checking the tide times once you get to your hotel, as the period from about 15 minutes after the high tide through the next hour is the best for the shorebirds on the Esplanade, and the best place for them is right behind your hotel.          B

Day 8 - Thursday, July 28: 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, or you may wish to relax poolside at the hotel.                        L

Day 9 - Friday, July 29: 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 to 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.

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