DAY 1
Sydney To Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie, at the mouth of the Hastings River, is one of the most important fishing ports on Australia’s East Coast. It attracts more tourists and retired people than almost any other destination in New South Wales.
Overnight: Historic Well, Port Macquarie
DAY 2
Port Macquarie to Southport
Surfers Paradise at the Gold Coast is the busiest, most glittering segment of Australian coastal life. Located just past the New South Wales border into the sunny state of Queensland, Surfers Paradise offers an endless amount of fun and sun for people of all age groups. It is by far the most famous and most popular spot on the Queensland coast.
Overnight: Park Regis Hotel, Southport
DAY 3
Southport to Caloundra
The most common meaning attributed to the name Caloundra is "beautiful place". However, it is also said to mean "place of beech trees". This seaside resort marks the beginning of the Sunshine Coast which stretches north to Noosa Heads. Caloundra is usually described using superlatives i.e. the most perfect weather, the safest beaches, the most spectacular surf or the most beautiful national parks. On our way to Caloundra we travel via the Glasshouse Mountain-Flaxton at Nambour.
Overnight: Kawana International Motel, Caloundra
DAY 4
Caloundra to Rockhampton
Modern Rockhampton shows a pleasing mixture of colonial and latest trend architecture. The Quay Street historical precinct preserves a large number of very impressive buildings, among them the city’s second customs house, a sandstone edifice with a striking copper dome. There is also the former headquarters of the historic Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company, the former Queensland National Bank Building, the former Union Bank of Australia Building and the Criterion Hotel. One block to the south are the majestic post office and supreme court buildings.
Overnight: Golden Fountain, Rockhampton
DAY 5
Rockhampton to Townsville
Townsville is an international port and Australia’s largest tropical city. It is also the commercial, industrial and cultural club of northern Queensland. Air and sea routes transport sugar, mineral, beef, fresh tropical fruit, vegetables and seafood interstate and overseas. Limestone quarried from the nearby and aptly named Calcium feeds the local cement works. Townsville lies wholly within the tropical zone and receives three quarters of its rainfall in the wet season between October and March.
Overnight: Cluden Park Motor Inn, Townsville
DAY 6
Magnetic Island, off Townsville
Magnetic Island, one of the largest Islands on the Great Barrier Reef, is only twenty minutes from the city centre of Townsville by fast catamaran. Travel past the Great Barrier Reef on one of two passenger ferries and/or a vehicular ferry that operate daily. A helicopter service is also available to this friendly and unpretentious tropical hideaway.
Overnight: Cluden Park Motor Inn, Townsville
DAY 7
Townsville to Cairns
Cairns city, a growing haven of tourism and industry for the north, has a delightful blend of colonial architecture featured throughout the grand public and commercial buildings and the rambling country style pubs. Rich in history, character and charm this small but buzzing coastal city offers an amazing array of great weather, fun activities and convenient access to the stunning Great Barrier Reef. An international port, Cairns is within close distance to many magical hideaways such as Port Douglas, Green Island, Fitzroy Island, Cape Tribulation and the north Queensland sugar mill towns of Tully and Innisfail.
Overnight: Bay Village Resort, Cairns
DAY 8
Green Island, off Cairns
Most of the coral cay and surrounding reef on this gorgeous island is considered national park. Featuring a tourist resort, the star attractions of this island, only a short distance from Cairns by ferry, are two of the largest saltwater crocodiles in captivity, Oscar and Cassius. A half-hour walking track around the Island allows you to experience the stunning rainforest and open woodland.
Overnight: Green Island
DAY 9
Edward River Crocodile Farm
Edward River Crocodile Farm is Australia’s original and largest saltwater crocodile farm. Owned by the Pormpuraaw Aboriginal Community on Cape York, the farm was established in 1973 as a research project to conserve the then unprotected saltwater crocodile.
Other attractions around this area include the Mooroobool Lookout and the Undersea World Aquarium where you can watch divers hand feed the sharks and fishes.
DAY 10
Kuranda Rainforest
The tour highlights of this 19 day adventure are found right here in the Kuranda Rainforest which features one of the best train journeys in the world from Cairns to Kuranda. Spectacular vistas of the coastline, locomotive skirts around the coast and zigzags up the steep eastern slopes of the Lam Range are all part of this amazing journey. Features of the Kuranda Rainforest area include the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary offering a fascinating and rare experience opportunity to observe thousands of tropical butterflies in their natural rainforest habitat. There is also Birdworld where a walk along tree-lined pathways will have you greeted at each turn by brilliantly coloured birds from every corner of the world.
The Cultural Theatre offers a unique half hour cultural dance show incorporating the Aboriginal instrument the Digeridoo, native drums, five dance, Hula dance, Poi dance, the Haka, mosquito slap dancing, beautiful singing harmonies and the Mona Mona Aboriginal Dancers of Kuranda. In the Noctarium, a zoo is dedicated to the vast range of nocturnal and diurnal animals that depend on the conservation of rainforest areas for survival. Finally the the Kuranda Scenic Railway will take you up on a spectacular, unforgettable adventure.
DAY 11
Atherton Tablelands and Tjapukai Dinner & Show
150 kms in length, the Atherton Tablelands, actually comprising of two Tablelands, Atherton and Evelyn, is tucked away behind Cairns and Innisfail. The mountain range, which divides the tablelands from the coast, offers a cool, subtropical climate within the tropics. This evening we will enjoy a Tjapukai Dinner & Show. Offering a spectacular performance, the Tjapukai Dinner Theatre began in 1987 as a partnership between black and white. Initiated by theatre artists Don and Judy Freeman and their Aboriginal partner David Hudson and his wife Cindy, the theatre employs 40 people, three quarters of whom are of Aboriginal descent.
Overnight: Atherton Tablelands
DAY 12
Cairns to Bowen
Protected by a sheltering ring of Islands and hills, Bowen, on the shores of Port Denison, is a happy, tropical mixture of business. On our approach to this thriving town we will pass through tomato farms and mango orchards as well as a bougainvillea-lined the commercial centre. The spectacular waters of Port Denison boast a beach, harbour and deepwater jetty. Lunch today will be enjoyed at the Omnimax Theatre.
Overnight: Castle Motor Lodge, Bowen
DAY 13
Bowen to Gladstone
The town site of Gladstone was first surveyed in 1853 and by the 1960s and 70s, the construction of the alumina smelter refining plant made it one of the continent’s busiest ports. Boasting ten large wharves handling some thirty million tonnes of cargo annually, this town is known locally as the Harbour Town and many beautiful areas for tourists to admire and enjoy.
Overnight: Gladstone Reef Motel, Gladstone
DAY 14
Gladstone to Maryborough
In 1842, the Brisbane official, Andrew Petrie and his party of two escaped convicts explored the Wide Bay of Maryborogh discovering areas of good grazing land. Pastoralists followed as soon as Moreton Bay was declared open to free settlement and from 1843 onwards Maryborough developed as the official service run port for the Mary River. It received further notoriety after gold was discovered at nearby Gympie in 1867.
Overnight: Arkana Motel, Maryborough
DAY 15
Fraser Island, off the Sunshine Coast
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. In the 1970s, a major battle between sand miners and conservationists, led by John Sinclair, resulted in a Federal Government ban on the mining of its sand. As this is one of the few places in the world where extensive rainforests grow on pure sand, there is also a strong crusade to ban logging as well.
Offering the excitement of 4 wheel drive adventures and the peacefulness and history of the famous Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island was the first site to be listed on the register of Australia’s National Estate. Only an hours drive from the popular tourist area of Noosa Heads, it has fast become one of Australia’s most popular family holiday camping spots.
DAY 16
Maryborough to Southport
We arrive back in the spotlight as we return to the stunning Gold Coast where Warner Brothers Movie World offers a day of excitement. The movies will come alive and you will be the star of the day when we take a tour of this world of glamour, excitement and action.
Overnight: Park Regis Hotel, Southport
DAY 17
Surfers Paradise to Kempsey
As we depart the glamour of Surfers Paradise we head towards the less bustling town of Kempsey which features the Macleay River. Running around and through Kempsey in a horseshoe shape, the river is dissected by the town’s main street which divides the area into distinct East, West, Central and South areas.
Overnight: All Nations Hall Mark Inn, Kempsey
DAY 18
Kempsey to Forster
According to Captain Cook’s log of 11 May, 1770 he sighted and named Cape Hawke, the headland south of Forster after Baron Hawke, a British naval hero. For hundreds of years after this sighting, the district around Forster remains the undisturbed home of the Worimi and Birpai Aboriginal tribes. Today the twin towns of Forster-Tuncurry offer exellent beach and fishing areas and are highly popular with families.
Overnight: Islander Palms Motor Inn, Forster
DAY 19
Forster to Sydney
Inclusions: 18 nts twin share accommodation as per itinerary, morning tea daily, admissions as per Itinerary.
19 DAY CAIRNS & NORTH QUEENSLAND TOUR
