Australian Natural Adventures

 

Custom Itinerary - Australia including Tasmania

 

 

Day 1: Wednesday, November 1: Home City/ Lost In Space
Begin your South Pacific journey by flying from your home city to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles you will arrive into the Alaska terminal. Exit and turn to the left, then walk to the Tom Bradley Terminal, the next one to yourleft (LAX terminals). Check in early for your Qantas to Melbourne, Australia, which begins the moment you step aboard your Qantas plane. The Australian style is apparent—easy going, casually efficient and very friendly. Qantas is known for its excellent food and in flight service, so sit back and enjoy the hospitality, meal and a movie. 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.         (*D)

Day 2: Thursday, November 2: Lost In Space
Today is lost to the International Date Line, but you regain it on the return journey.

Day 3: Friday, November 3: Lost In Space / Melbourne / Adelaide
Arrive in Melbourne this morning, pass through Customs and Immigration, and walk across to the domestic terminal. Fly to Adelaide at 12.20pm, arriving at 12.35pm. You are met and transferred to your hotel, Directors Studios on Gouger St. The rest of the day is free to relax and explore Adelaide.      (*B)

Day 4 – Saturday, November 4: Adelaide
Explore the delightful city of Adelaide this weekend at your own pace. The National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Tandanya, near the hotel, is worth visiting for an insight into the local Aboriginal people. You can also take Adelaide’s only tram service down to the beachside suburb of Glenelg, with numerous cafes, restaurants, and boutiques – and a nice beach. The Zoo is also worth seeing for its native animal collection, and you may wish to visit Cleland Wildlife Park, a little outside Adelaide. You will need to hire a car to get here, although there are several buses each day as well. A similar conservation park, but privately run and aimed at breeding endangered native wildlife is Warrawong. In addition to the daytime activities, Warrawong operates nocturnal tours in the grounds each night.

Day 5 – Sunday, November 5: Adelaide
Continue to look around Adelaide. You can probably find a cricket match in one of the parks that surround the downtown area this afternoon, and enjoy, at least for a while, a classic Sunday afternoon watching the cricket with a glass or two of South Australia white wine.

Day 6 – Monday, November 6: Adelaide / Clare
Pick up your rental car and head northeast to Nurioopta/Angaston, about one and a half hours away. Spend a few hours here, especially at the Saltram cellars. Continue north to Clare, a further 65 miles away. As sunset isn’t until nearly 7pm you’ll be driving in the daylight. Overnight at Noorioopta Vine Court Motel.

 

Day 7 – Tuesday, November 7: Clare / Hawker
Spend the morning in exploring the Clare Valley, then head north about lunchtime towards Wilpena Pound, about 4 hours away. Overnight at the Hawker Hotel, a 100 year old traditional Aussie pub in the old town of Hawker (however you stay in the more modern motel section). You are now about 25 miles from the Flinders Ranges, and will get good sunset views of them from the lookout 4 miles out of town.

Day 8 – Wednesday, November 8: Hawker / Wilpena Pound
Drive into Wilpena Pound this morning, and begin your exploration of the area. Overnight at Wilpena Lodge in an Aroona unit for the next two nights. One of the best ways to find the Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies (the most colorful and attractive of all Australia’s 50 or so species of kangaroos and wallabies) is to scan the top of the sandstone cliff faces late in the afternoon, when the day has cooled and the wallabies sit out for some sun.

Day 9 – Thursday, November 9: Wilpena Pound
Spend the day exploring the Pound and nearby areas. The Lodge can advise on places to see.

Day 10 – Friday, November 10: Wilpena Pound / Penneshaw
A long drive today, as you head south to Cape Jervis. Here you take the 6pm ferry to Penneshaw, a 45 minute journey. Stay overnight here at the YHA in a private double room. The YHA is on Hog Bay, and after you can walk across to the beach (or even look around the YHA grounds) to see the Fairy Penguins as they waddle ashore after a day at sea.

Day 11 – Saturday, November 11: Kangaroo Island
This morning begin your two days of exploring the island, rich in wildlife and scenery. Visit the south coast, Seal Bay where a colony of Australian Sealions lives at Seal Bay Conservation Park. Here a walk among the sealions on a beautiful sandy beach may reveal pups nursing or playing in the surf. Continue on to Remarkable Rocks as you make your way over the day to the western of the island, and Flinders Chase National Park. Your accommodation tonight is the rustic lodge adjacent to the National Park, and where nocturnal wildlife can be found right outside your door. Flinders Chase National Park is a 74,000 hectare (190,000 acre) wilderness which covers the entire west end of the Island. Rocky River Homestead was originally a small farm and now the Park headquarters. This area is home to kangaroos, wallabies, possums, goannas, echidnas, koalas, platypus and many birds including the rare Cape Barren Goose. At Cape du Couedic on the south-west tip is a New Zealand furseal colony which is rapidly expanding. These animals can be observed at rest on the rocks or frolicking in the surf under Admirals Arch - a spectacular coastal grotto. On the headland above is Cape du Couedic Lighthouse which plays an important role in navigation. Further down the coast are the Remarkable Rocks, huge natural granite sculptures on the cliff top. This evening take a nocturnal wildlife walk at 8pm (weather permitting) operated by the Hanson Bay Sanctuary.

Day 12 - Sunday, November 12: Kangaroo Island / Victor Harbour
Along the Cygnet River valley visit the redgum forest to seek out koalas sleeping in the forks of the trees, then travel through some of the best wool-producing areas on the island to a conservation park on the north coast. Here we walk through the habitat of Kangaroo Island Kangaroos, Tammar Wallabies and the endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo. Head to At adjacent Cape Gantheaume Conservation Park you can find koalas in the redgum trees. Continue back to Penneshaw, and take the 7.30pm ferry across to the mainland. Drive a further 40 miles to Victor Harbour for your overnight stay at The Anchorage Seafront Hotel, a heritage listed hotel on the Esplanade, now freshly updated. Your upstairs room has views of the harbour.

Monday, November 13: Victor Harbour / Peterborough
Make your way around Lake Alexandrina, then take the extremely scenic Princess Highway along the edge of the Southern Ocean to Kingston, a wonderful 80 mile drive with just two tiny hamlets along the way. Kingston has its own sight to see, as you will discover. From Kingston you continue a little inland to Mt Gambier, and on to Victoria. About 170 miles further on is Peterborough, and your overnight stay. The drive will take all day, but there’s plenty to see and the pace will not be rushed. We have not booked you a place to stay tonight or tomorrow night, as there is a good selection of accommodation, and your itinerary is not exact. You may see just what you want, at the time you feel like stopping, and it will make for a more relaxing two days not to be locked in to arriving at a specific place each night.    (CB)

Day 14 – Tuesday, November 14: Peterborough / Melbourne
Begin your drive of the famous Great Ocean Road today, taking it easy along the scenic coastline. Stop for forest walks in Otways National Park, about half way along. A little further along is Anglesea, whose golf course has resident kangaroos as a well-known hazard. Overnight at the beach in Point Lonsdale, with its lighthouse, or nearby Queenscliff, a little over an hour from Melbourne. In Pt Lonsdale the Point Lonsdale Guest House is about 130 years old, and offers both traditional B&B guest house rooms, and more modern motel rooms (naturally less expensive). It’s very traditional (but refurbished and updated in 2001 to great benefit), and is directly across from the cliffs and beach at the far end of the main street, and a very short walk – 100 yards – to the lighthouse and lookouts. In Queenslciff there are several motels, and also several traditional Victorian hotels in the grand style. The lighthouse has everal cameras for shipping purposes, one of which points west along the beach. The images are publuished on the web, changing every minute. Tehre is a distinct rock on the beach about 100 yards from the light, and you can stand here and have your photo taken. You can also carve your name in the sand, and friends and family back home can log on - make sure you arrange the time right - and see you in real time, live, in Australia.

 

continue on   >>>