MODULAR OPTIONS
AUSTRALIA
These short regional excursions can be combined with any itinerary, or incorporated into a custom designed itinerary. Each excursion is flexible, and can be extended or reduced in number of days. Other experiences can be added - ask us for ideas!
Itineraries below for:
DARWIN and KAKADU
ADELAIDE, KANGAROO ISLAND and BAROSSA WINE VALLEY
ALICE SPRINGS AND AYERS ROCK ECO TOUR - camping (all ages)
AYERS ROCK 2-days / 2 nights experience
TASMANIA - 7 or 10 days
Destinations Downunder, Specialists in travel to Australia and New Zealand
3712 N. Broadway, PMB #251 Chicago, Il. 60618 USA
Ph:(773)832 1699 Fax: (773) 832 1698 email: travel@koalakiwi.com
Web: www.koalakiwi.com
Creating memories to the South Pacific for over 24 years...
5 DAYS DARWIN AND KAKADU
Operates daily
DAY 1 ARRIVE DARWIN
Arrive into Darwin where you are transferred to your hotel. Relax by the pool or take a stroll into town.
Tropical Darwin boasts a relaxing lifestyle - a modern capital city of 105,730 people, sitting on one of Australia's prettiest harbours. Darwin is the gateway to Litchfield National Park and Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park, as well as the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park.
In December 1974 a cyclone struck with devastating fury, and this sleepy little tropical outpost of about 43,000 people, in effect ceased to exist. More than 30,000 people were evacuated in the largest airlift in Australian history. Darwin was rebuilt from scratch. It is therefore the youngest and most modern capital city in the nation.
Since Cyclone Tracy, Darwin has been remodeled as the ideal tropical capital, with wide tree-lined streets, inviting public buildings and hectares of landscaped parkland. It cultivates a relaxed outdoor lifestyle and has a youthful population of around 80,000 people.
This evening choose the (1) Coral Reef by Night Tour option and escape to another world, discovering the wonders of the reef at night when you witness the magical beauty of the fluorescing corals by torchlight. A seafood dinner is included. Tour begins at 7.30pm at Indo Pacific Marine.
(2) Alternatively, glide across the water in a modern hovercraft around Darwin Harbour. Experience the magical sensation only a hovercraft can provide as you are entertained, informed and amused as Darwin's history unfolds before you. Travel to the harbour's rugged cliffs, mangrove forests and beautiful beaches. Departs Frances Bay at 5.15pm.
DAY 2 TO KAKADU (L)
DAY 1: Follows Stuart and Arnhem Highways. We pass the Marrakai Plains, Adelaide, Mary and Wildman River areas into Kakadu National Park. Cross the South Alligator River and explore the World Heritage Area of Ubirr Rock where we climb up through the ancient Aboriginal rock art galleries to the lookout for a view over surrounding wetlands. Visit the Bowali Centre with informative displays, then continue to Cooinda to join Kakadu's fabled Yellow Waters Wetland Cruise. Overnight at Cooinda (LUNCH)
DAY 3 KAKADU (L)
The morning is spent in the Nourlangie Rock region and Anbangbang Billabong which includes spectacular Arnhemland Escarpment views, ancient Aboriginal occupation sites and pristine freshwater environs. After lunch venture off the beaten track to Barramundi Gorge, where a 2km return walk through monsoon forest leads to a small waterfall and clear plunge pool. Late afternoon we make our way to Jabiru where you will be staying overnight. (L)
DAY 4 KAKADU (L)
Today we depart from Jabiru and visit remote, mysterious and restricted areas of Kakadu and Arnhemland. Cruise by boat on an Arnhemland Billabong from the base of soaring escarpments. Drive beside brimming billabongs where towering sandstone outliers shelter ancient rock art. Places where rust coloured figures of the Mimi Spirit dance across the smooth walls of Kakadu and Arnhemland. Return to Jabiru late afternoon where you will be met by guide for transfer to Darwin, stopping briefly at the Bark Hut Inn for a meal stop (own cost) arrive Darwin at approximately 9.30pm. (L)
(In the event seasonal conditions prevent access to Ubirr Rock or Barramundi Gorge the group will visit other attractions such as Gubara Pools, Nanguluwur or Nawulandja.)
DAY 5 Depart Darwin. Or, add on two days to include a trip to Bathurst Island.
OPTIONAL BATHURST ISLAND, Tiwi Aborigines - a cultural experience
Bathurst Island, home of the Tiwi Aborigines (it is now an Aboriginal Reserve), is 80km north of Darwin across the Beagle Gulf. The island was uninhabited except for the Tiwis until arrival of missionaries in 1910. In 1978, Bathurst was returned to the Tiwi people and is governed by the Tiwi Land Council. The Tiwi people, living still virtually isolated, are quite different in their culture and personality to mainland Aborigines and are famous for their art and silk screening.
You are transferred to the airport early this morning. After a wonderful scenic flight you arrive at Bathurst Island and are met by a Tiwi Guide to be taken on a journey through the progressive community of Nguiu. You visit the museum and Early Mission Precinct with its unique Tiwi style Catholic Church. Visit the successful arts and crafts centres and see the artists work, with the opportunity to purchase Tiwi arts and crafts and screen-printed fabric.
Spend some time with some Tiwi Ladies enjoying billy tea and damper while they work on their weaving and painting, and join us as they show you their totem dances. We set out for a scenic drive through the wilderness of Bathurst Island. Visit a picturesque lookout, which is also the setting of a Tiwi burial site, and learn some of the complex rituals associated with the Pukamani Poles (burial poles). Enjoy lunch and visit a local waterhole for a swim (bring swimsuit and towel). Learn about traditional bush tucker, bush medicine and natural fibres and dyes on your return to the community for your return flight to Darwin for overnight.
DAY 6 DEPART DARWIN.
Cost: (click here)
Bookings and information:
Destinations Downunder, Specialists in travel to Australia and New Zealand
3712 N. Broadway, PMB #251 Chicago, Il. 60618 USA
Ph:(773)832 1699 Fax: (773) 832 1698 email: travel@koalakiwi.com
Web: www.koalakiwi.com
3- DAYS AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK
Ayers Rock
Operates daily
DAY 1 ARRIVE AYERS ROCK
Arrive into Ayers Rock early afternoon. You are transferred to your hotel.
Mid afternoon, you are collected from your hotel for an excursion to the famous Olgas. Experience the great sand dune formations that are the hallmark of the Australian deserts and discover the secrets of plant and animal survival in the desert. In the late afternoon, as the sun begins to set, stroll up the great Olgas Gorge and discover why Aboriginal people found this place to be so important. Finally, experience the magic of sunset in this special place. Return to hotel at dusk.
Experience the great sand dune formations that are the hallmark of the Australian deserts and discover the secrets of plant and animal survival in the desert. In the late afternoon, as the sun begins to set, stroll up the great Olgas Gorge and discover why Aboriginal people found this place to be so important. Finally, experience the magic of sunset in this special place. Return to hotel at dusk.
DAY 2 AYERS ROCK, Aborigine morning tour and dinner at The Rock (B/D)
Come share in the wonderful culture of the Aborigine.
This experience includes sunrise at Ayers Rock and a base tour, with breakfast overlooking Uluru, before joining your Aboriginal Guide.
Learn the real meaning and history of Uluru directly from local Aboriginal Guides. Retrace the path of the Liru Ancestors through unique bushland to Uluru. See the scars left on the rock during their battle with Kuniya thousands of years ago.
Learn to hold a spear and imagine you're on the hunt. Hear the tragic fate of Lungkata, the emu thief, whose body we see laying at the base of Uluru. See demonstrations of ancient bush skills such as making kiti (bush glue), starting a fire without matches and carving wooden tools with only a sharpened stone.
Return to your hotel late morning. The afternoon is a leisure for a swim, shopping, or independent sightseeing.
Tonight - you dine in the desert to the sounds of silence...
A brilliant outback sunset over KataTjuta (The Olgas), with Desert Oaks framing the view, the haunting sounds of the didgeridoo, the fresh tastes of outback cuisine, the sounds of silence and the Milky Way.
You will journey into the desert where a didgeridoo welcome awaits.
As the sun dips behind the many domes of KataTjuta, enjoy a selection of fine Australian beverages and sample delicious outback canapes. The sun has set, the horizon is glowing richly, and the BBQ sizzles as the desert silhouettes blend with the darkening sky.
Enjoy our special bush blend vegetable soup followed by tender choice cuts of kangaroo, emu, chicken and Northern Territory barramundi - all accompanied by a fresh selection of salads, vegetables and unique Territory chutneys and relishes.
This is followed by a selection of Australian desserts, with some old favorites including pavlova and our own macadamia nut pudding. By the time you finish dessert you become aware that the only sound and light is from the gas lanterns. Then the lanterns are dimmed and perhaps for the first time in your life you hear the sounds of the great outback.
Wind gently rustling through the Desert Oaks, the chipping of a bat, the haunting howls of dingoes in the distance or possibly just the 'sounds of silence'.
Looking up you become aware of Southern Skies - the Milky Way gleaming above amongst an array of planets, stars and constellations. You are now introduced to the heavens by an Astronomer followed by individual viewing through our on-site telescope.
Completely relaxed, you finish your evening around the camp fire with a brew of billy tea or coffee and a glass of port. You are transferred back to you hotel about three hours after sunset.
DAY 3 DEPART AYERS ROCK
A relaxing morning - perhaps to make the climb to the top of the rock.
Depart on your flight this afternoon.
Cost: (click here)
Bookings and information:
Destinations Downunder, Specialists in travel to Australia and New Zealand
3712 N. Broadway, PMB #251 Chicago, Il. 60618 USA
Ph:(773)832 1699 Fax: (773) 832 1698 email: travel@koalakiwi.com
Web: www.koalakiwi.com
OUTBACK CAMPING SAFARI - Open aged!
Operates Daily!
Pack a small bag for this three day safari - there is limited luggage space. Take t-shirts, jeans, shorts, sweat suit for sleeping, socks, good walking shoes, a flashlight, TOWEL, binoculars, and film as well as personal items. Sunhat is recommended - the sun is rather intense out here! You will leave bulk of luggage at your Alice Springs accommodation in the luggage room.
DAY 1 ALICE SPRINGS - depart (L/D)
You are picked up from your Alice Springs accommodation early morning and travel into the James and Waterhourse Ranges, stopping at a camel station for some riding (own expense). Heading west past Mt. Conner (Atila) and the saltpans you arrive at your safari camp at Ayers Rock for lunch.
In the afternoon, travel out to the huge Olgas (Kata Tjuta) and a hike through the Valley of the Winds. Return to Ayers Rock to watch sunset over this, the world's largest monolith, and a great Aussie dinner in camp. You can sleep in tents or out under the incredible starlit sky of the Australian Outback - more stars than sky - it is spectacular.
DAY 2 AYERS ROCK - KINGS CANYON (B/L/D)
Watch sunrise over Uluru (Ayers Rock) before tacking the challenge of The Climb - over 1,000 feet above the desert floor.
Later this morning, travel with guide around the base of the Rock, exploring the ancient Aboriginal caves and their historical paintings, eroded rock faces and unusual rock formations cn be seen. You return to the resort where an optional short flight over Ayers Rock/Olgas is available (own expense).
After lunch, depart to Kings Creek Station (a working cattle/camel station) for overnight camp. An excellent night to swap stories around the campfire with a hearty bush dinner.
DAY 3 ALICE SPRINGS (B/L)
An early rise to travel out to Kings Canyon nestled in the George Gill Ranges to explore this geological area - a hike to the top of the canyon. View the 'Amphitheatre', 'Lost City' and the spectacular 'Garden of Eden'.
Return to Kings Creek for lunch and then depart for Alice Springs travelling through sand dunes and majestic desert oak trees, arriving around 6:00pm and in time for dinner.
Don't forget to pack a pillow, towel and a flashlight for this memorable journey.
And PLENTY of film!
Cost: (click here)
Bookings and information:
Destinations Downunder, Specialists in travel to Australia and New Zealand
3712 N. Broadway, PMB #251 Chicago, Il. 60618 USA
Ph:(773)832 1699 Fax: (773) 832 1698 email: travel@koalakiwi.com
Web: www.koalakiwi.com
4-DAYS: ADELAIDE: KANGAROO ISLAND AND BAROSSA WINE VALLEY
Operates Daily!
DAY 1 ADELAIDE
Arrive into Adelaide where you are transferred to your hotel. At leisure to explore the city on your own. A great city to walk, make your way to the Botanical Gardens for a stroll. Or, have lunch and then join the Tram Tour of Adelaide at about 1.30pm.
DAY 2 BAROSSA WINE VALLEY (L)
One of Australia's finest growing areas and vineyard collection. Some of the countries most famous wines come from the Barossa Valley.
You are picked up from the hotel about 9AM by our special touring car, and travel via the winding road of the Chain of Ponds out to the historic German village of Lyndoch. A stop along the way at the Whispering Wall where voices travel over a quarter mile expanse by natural amplification. You will visit small family owned wineries such as Kies Estate, Grant Burge, Rockfords, Elderton or large well known wineries such as Yalumba, Penfolds, Orlando, Peter Lehmann, Richmond Grove,Seppelts and others.
A side trip to the keg factory to see keg and barrel building in the old coopering style.
An elegant lunch is on a beautiful country estate. Return to Adelaide and your hotel at 5.30PM.
DAY 3 KANGAROO ISLAND (L)
You are transferred to the airport for your short flight to Kangaroo Island.
Upon arrival on the Island, youčll be met and escorted via 4WD vehicle to various points of interest. Get an introduction to Island life - where things take time - where drivers wave as they go by - or even stop for a chat.
Take a walk down a country track through tall Eucalyptus trees where koalas snooze overhead, or more likely, try to sleep with raucous cockatoos screeching in the trees. See some of the 1.3 million sheep quietly grazing, growing some of the world's finest wool.
Walk quietly through the bush with your guide and look for wallabies, almost extinct on the mainland, and a kangaroo found only on this Island.
Enjoy a delicious barbeque lunch served with fine South Australian wines before heading to a colony of Australian Sealions. At Seal Bay Conservation Park walk with your guide among sea lions on a beautiful sandy beach. Watch pups nursing, or playing in the surf, see old bulls bearing the scars of territorial disputes and learn of their unique breeding biology.
Continue on to DčEstrees Bay in the afternoon - where there are the remains of an old whaling station, ospreys nesting, kangaroos come out late in the day, and some spectacular coastline.
You are returned to the airport for your flight to Adelaide. On arrival, You are transferred to your hotel.
DAY 4 DEPART ADELAIDE
You are transferred to the airport for your exit flight.
Cost: (click here)
Bookings and information:
Destinations Downunder, Specialists in travel to Australia and New Zealand
3712 N. Broadway, PMB #251 Chicago, Il. 60618 USA
Ph:(773)832 1699 Fax: (773) 832 1698 email: travel@koalakiwi.com
Web: www.koalakiwi.com
TASMANIA - 4 days
Operates Daily!
DAY 1 ARRIVE LAUNCESTON (D)
Separated from mainland Australia by the 240 km stretch of Bass Strait, Tasmania is a land apart - a place of wild and beautiful landscapes; friendly, welcoming people; a pleasant, temperate climate; wonderful wine and food; a rich history and a relaxed island lifestyle.
Arrive Launceston, Tasmania's second largest city. Collect your rental car and commence your drive leisurely out into the countryside and down to the Freycinet Peninsula for two nights in a lovely wilderness lodge overlooking Oyster Bay.
This lodge so harmonizes with the forest in which it stands that you hardly know it's here. Your cottage is tucked into the trees, some looking out onto Great Oyster Bay from the balcony. Take a stroll along the beautiful beach or through the surrounding forests.
Dinner - included in your tariff - is something to look forward to at the lodge, with fresh veggies and seafood, roasts and soups, and fine Tasmanian wines (extra cost).
DAY 2 FREYCINET (B/D)
After a big buffet breakfast overlooking the bay, set off on any of the lodge's activities. There are guided walks of Richardson's Beach, a full day to Wineglass Bay and the Isthmus Track, a 'bush tucker' tour with a local guide to search for some of the plant species which were utilized by the local Aborigines.
There are also four-wheel-drive drips to mines, beaches and bays, a peninsula cruise, penguin tour tour of a working marine farm vessel, scenic flights, wine tours, bird watching and at night, spotlighting for forest residents such as wombat, native cats or owls. There is a tennis court, bike hire and sea kayaking also available from the lodge. (Note: some of these activities are not lodge based.)
DAY 3 HOBART (B)
Depart the lodge at your leisure for the 3 hour drive to Hobart.
Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, blends heritage and lifestyle, scenery and culture. It's a place of mellow sandstone, dockside fishmongers, al fresco coffee shops, art, craft, music and theatre. Graceful old trees shelter bright flowers in heritage parks and gardens.
Hobart is shaped by water. Take a river cruise, or drive to the summit of Mount Wellington. See how the suburbs hug the winding River Derwent and city buildings cluster around the docks. On the sparkling harbour, ships are busy - Antarctic supply vessels and sailing dinghies, wave-piercing catamarans and ocean racers, visiting ocean liners and even a square rigger or two.
Twenty-five kilometres away the historic town of Richmond, with its fine Georgian architecture, remembers days gone by. In Richmond Gaol dusty sunlight gleams on chiselled stone, and Tasmania's convict past seems just a clink of chains away. In yesterday's freestone cottages modern galleries hang glowing watercolours on their walls, and cafes are scented by fresh-baked scones.
DAY 4 PORT ARTHUR (B)
You join a coach tour to historic Port Arthur this morning.
Between 1830 and 1877 about 12,500 transported convicts were imprisoned at Port Arthur, on the shores of a beautiful bay and set against the tranquil hills and forest of the Tasman Peninsula. Many of the sandstone prison buildings remain and have been preserved. Archaeologists and historians have pieced together the history of the prison and the history is told in an excellent display in the visitor centre.
Join a guided tour of the historic site togiving you an impression of what life might have been like in the 1800s for the convicts, soldiers and civilians. One in seven convicts at Port Arthur died there - you can take a cruise to the Isle of the Dead, where convicts and civilians were buried.
Return to Hobart for overnight.
DAY 5 DEPART TASMANIA
Spend some of the day in Hobart before flying back to the mainland.
NOTE: you can extend your stay in Tasmania, adding the west coast of Queenstown, and the world heritage Cradle Mountain Lodge - please allow four - five extra days for these two experiences.
Cost: (click here)
Bookings and information:
Destinations Downunder, Specialists in travel to Australia and New Zealand
3712 N. Broadway, PMB #251 Chicago, Il. 60618 USA
Ph:(773)832 1699 Fax: (773) 832 1698 email: travel@koalakiwi.com
Web: www.koalakiwi.com
