Australian Highlights

Is there such a thing as too much time in Melbourne? Arrive early before meeting your fellow adventure-seekers over a beverage or two.

Melbourne is known for its cool cafés – we recommend grabbing a coffee to fuel you through a walking tour exploring the city’s most eye-popping laneways. This afternoon, you decide. Perhaps a nature-based sojourn to Phillip Island to see penguins waddle from the ocean to the sand? We wouldn’t blame you for lingering and taking a deep dive into Melbourne’s culinary offerings. Ask us for tips on the hottest spots to drink and dine.

If you’re still getting your Melbourne bearings, linger in town to explore boutiques, galleries, and eclectic suburbs. But if it’s time to venture further afield, you might want to sign up to discover the Great Ocean Road, a stretch of coastline that deserves its reputation as one of the most scenic touring routes in the world. Wherever you wander, be sure to take in a show at one of the city’s glorious theatres. We can assist with tickets.

Spiritual, sacred and spectacular, the world’s largest rock monolith will give you goosebumps. In Australia’s Red Centre, Uluru has been home to the Anangu people for millennia. Their connection is palpable, as you’ll discover when you arrive at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, at sunset watching the shifting colours transform the desert with every last ray (sparkling wine essential).

If there’s one thing worth getting out of bed early for, it’s sunrise over Uluru. Incredibly, the Rock’s base caves are home to First Nations art that dates back tens of thousands of years. What an honour to glimpse it. The ochres and silvery greens of the NT outback follow you to Kata Tjuta, where Walpa Gorge humbles with its soaring cliffs. Wander through the tallest domes before yet another sparkling sunset (and sparkling wine).

Ok, so the other reason to get up early is to view artist Bruce Munro’s installation Field of Light at dawn – 50,000 glowing spindles of light blanketing the desert. Clamber to the top of a sand dune to marvel in the morning unfolding over this very special part of the world. An Anangu artist will explain just what makes it so spiritual over an introduction to Western Desert art, introducing totems and symbols important to the region and represented in paintings and installations. Head to your next stop in sunny Cairns.

If you’re in the habit of getting up early now, you may wish to begin your day with an optional horizon-bending hot-air-balloon ride over the Atherton Tablelands. Prefer to stay grounded? Sign up for a guided walk through the Daintree Rainforest, or surround yourself with nature riding the Scenic Railway to Kuranda returning on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway – perhaps with a side visit to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures for a wetlands cruise?

The world’s largest living organism, the Great Barrier Reef, never fails to dazzle. Set out on a catamaran to explore a kaleidoscope of colour: over 1,500 species of fish, 215 different birds, 3,000 molluscs, six of the world’s seven marine turtle species, and 30 species of dolphins and whales are residents. Strap on a snorkel or visit an underwater observatory and semi-submersible craft to take in the menagerie without getting your hair wet. Tonight, celebrate the end of an incredible day at dinner on Cairns’ waterfront at Salt House for regional seafood plucked straight from the ocean, highlighting fresh, local ingredients, and prepared on their custom-built Argentinian wood fired grill.

Touch down in Australia’s largest city, with a harbour you could gaze at all day long. And all night. Freshen up and do just that when you join your Travel Director and travel mates on a Highlight Dinner cruise around Sydney Harbour against the backdrop of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

Bring your stamina: today is one of innumerable highlights. Go behind the scenes at the Sydney Opera House, discovering its architectural and performance secrets. If these sails could talk. One icon to another: The world’s most famous beach beckons this morning, with your chance to pad along the sand at Bondi with Sydney’s beautiful people. From Worked up an appetite? A local Surf Life Saver will take you into the members-only Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club. Learn about this historic club and gain an understanding of the important work that is done here saving lives on this famous beach. Next, a Be My Guest lunch with views overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The hardest decision you have to make today: explore more of Sydney, or head to the Blue Mountains, 11,400 square kilometres of World Heritage listed wilderness, a place where sandstone escarpments appear to cleave off the edge of the Earth and waterfall-cooled valleys of rainforest slip dreamily from the pages of a fairytale.

Now you’ve found your bearings in Sydney, why not linger around the harbour – perhaps it’s time to glimpse it from above on a Sydney BridgeClimb? This bird’s-eye view certainly puts things in perspective. Back at ground level, you’re in the heart of the Rocks, the city’s original colonial settlement and a place of cobbled alleys and private galleries. This evening, celebrate your holiday at a Farewell Dinner at Portside Restaurant at the Sydney Opera House. Talk about ending on a high.

What an epic journey, with so many destinations explored in less than two weeks. Now you just have to sort through the photos…