Settle into your hotel on the banks of the Yarra River and meet your Travel Director for a welcome reception and dinner at the South Wharf riverside pub, The General Assembly restaurant. It’s a great opportunity to get to know everyone in a unique setting.

Crowne Plaza Hotel Melbourne

Dinner with Wine

Join your Travel Director for a city sights tour that includes a private walk through Melbourne’s famous hidden laneways. You’ll discover the city’s eclectic little lanes, arcades, café society and fascinating street art. There’s time afterwards to explore the city on your own, enjoy an optional experience to the Penguin Parade (own expense) or simply relax and watch the world go by.

Crowne Plaza Hotel Melbourne

Breakfast

If you’re still getting your Melbourne bearings, linger in town to explore boutiques, galleries, and eclectic suburbs. Or, perhaps exploring the city on foot with a History and Donuts Walking Tour is more your thing. 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.

Crowne Plaza Hotel Melbourne

Breakfast

The rusty red landscapes of Uluru beckon as you leave Melbourne for Ayers Rock Resort, your backdrop this afternoon is the world’s largest rock monolith. Follow your guide to the perfect perch to capture Uluru as the last of the day disappears, glass of bubbles in hand (of course).

Desert Gardens

Breakfast

The only reason to get out of bed before dawn? For a magical Uluru sunrise. It’s a spiritual place, with stories of the Anangu, caretakers of this remote arid landscape revealed while you tour the base. The red desert follows you to Kata Tjuta, where nature humbles as you walk through the towering domes of this ancient rock formation. Cheers to the end of another amazing day.

Desert Gardens

Breakfast

The only reason to get up before dawn on your last day in Uluru is to glimpse the kaleidoscopic Field of Light art installation of artist Bruce Munro on an Optional Experience. 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. Later, 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 tropical Cairns.

Hilton Hotel Cairns

Breakfast

Cruising with crocs, a scenic railway ride into World Heritage listed rainforest, a wander along the Cairns Esplanade? Today the choice is yours. 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.

Hilton Hotel Cairns

Breakfast, Dinner with Wine

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. Strap on a snorkel or visit an underwater observatory and semi-submersible craft to take in the menagerie without getting your hair wet. A tropical buffet lunch is served onboard before you return to Cairns.

Hilton Hotel Cairns

Breakfast, Lunch

Touch down in Australia’s largest city, and spend time at leisure in the buzzing metropolis of Sydney. Take a stroll along the iconic harbour, visit one of the city’s many bars, pubs, or restaurants, or simply while away the day at the beach. You decide how best to enjoy this bustling city of delights.

InterContinental Hotel Sydney

Breakfast

Bring your stamina: today is one of innumerable highlights. Go on a tour of the Sydney Opera House, discovering its architectural and performance secrets. If these sails could talk. Then see the city from the water on a Sydney Harbour Lunch Cruise, enjoying a menu focusing on local food and wine. One icon to another: The world’s most famous beach beckons this afternoon, with your chance to pad along the sand at Bondi with Sydney’s beautiful people.

InterContinental Hotel Sydney

Breakfast, Lunch

The hardest decision you have to make today: explore more of Sydney, or head to the Blue Mountains World Heritage listed wilderness on a tour (additional cost). The choice is yours.

InterContinental Hotel Sydney

Breakfast

You could spend weeks exploring Sydney. Months even. But you have today, so get set for a wild ride. Your agenda is completely up to you, but we have more than a few ideas. And ideally a stroll through the Royal Botanic Garden, which offers so many lookouts for sparkling harbour views. This evening, celebrate your tour at a Highlight Dinner at Midden restaurant at the Sydney Opera House. Talk about ending on a high.

InterContinental Hotel Sydney

Breakfast, Farewell Dinner

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

Breakfast