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Australia - Desert Centre / Tropical Wilderness
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| Tour of Australia 's Desert Centre and Coastal Tropical Wilderness | | |
| Country | Australia | | Duration | 12 days/11 nights | | Best Time to Visit | April to October | Accommodation | Comfortable Sheep & Cattle Station accommodation, boutique home-stays, beach hotels and Island lodges. | | Activities | Walking, mustering, farm tours, cultural, geological and historical tours. Trips to Uluru (Ayers Rock) | | Places Visited | Desert Centre, Daintree Rainforest, Atherton Tablelands, Great Barrier Reef . | | Guide Price | From £3947.00 per person sharing |
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Arriving at Alice Springs in the heart of Australia’s desert centre, you are met on arrival by Jan Hayes, who will drive you back to her family property amidst the craggy sandstone outcrops of the MacDonnell Ranges. When the overland telegraph line was built from Adelaide to Darwin, Bill Hayes’ great grandfather was with the team. With their station encompassing half a million acres of stunningly beautiful country in central Australia, the 6th generation of the Hayes family now live at Ooraminna. This is where you will be staying for 2 nights as guests of Bill and Jan. Join in the daily activities of a working outback cattle station – learning how cattle are managed in such a harsh environment. At times of the year you may also have the chance to see them being mustered, one of the few places in the world where this is done by helicopter. The property is fabulous for walking, following creek beds, climbing the rocky outcrops, or exploring by 4 wheel drive vehicle. If you would like to go into Alice Springs, the Royal Flying Doctor School and the School of the Air are fascinating insights into how outback Australia copes with the problems of medical treatment and children’s education in distant outposts around the country. 
Tropical Rain Forest, Queensland
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MacDonnell Ranges
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In the evenings, join Bill and Jan for dinner in the homestead, before retiring to the privacy of your own bush cabin, a torch lit walk away, beneath the stars that stretch from one horizon to the other with a clarity that you will find nowhere else in the world. A day of extremes today as you fly eastwards from the dry heart of the country to the humid climes to the tropical north Queensland coast. Here you will be spending 2 nights at Thala Beach Lodge, set amongst 145 acres of natural bush vegetation and with access to 2 kms of secluded beach where the rainforest meets the sea and the fringing coral outcrops of the Great Barrier Reef. You will have the opportunity to explore the area in the company of a local who has made the costal forest and wildlife conservation his life’s passion. Spend time with him in his private rainforest sanctuary learning of the animals and birds that make up the world’s oldest tropical rainforest; enjoy a gourmet picnic beside a forest stream on the slopes of Mt Lewis and afternoon tea under the Melaleuca trees on the banks of the Mitchell River. From the coastal tropics to the north Queensland hinterland your safari takes you into drier savannah country, a region that is for the most part cattle country but which, like other parts of Australia, was also exploited for its mineral wealth. In the 1870s, settlers streamed into this region to find their fortunes, and the visual reminders of their presence remain to this day. You will be staying for 2 nights as guests of Andrew Bell and Cate Harley at Tyrconnell Mine, a unique Australian heritage site. Established in 1876, on the Hodgkinson goldfield, just 150km west of Cairns, the mine was among the richest in the area and still boasts much of its original machinery and several buildings. The owners have renovated the mine manager’s old cottage for their home, and constructed new accommodation very much in tune with the mine’s heritage. Their innovative use of wood and corrugated iron, with polished timber floors and antique items on display, make your stay an unexpected delight. The rooms are en suite (with claw-foot baths) and attractive verandas looking out across the surrounding bush country. The natural phenomenon that is the Great Barrier Reef is the world’s greatest marine nature extravaganza – a two hour private charter flight takes you over the deserted coastline of the Cape York peninsula to the most northerly retreat on the reef. Closer to Papua New Guinea than Cairns. Haggerstone Island is a unique wilderness site, of unparallelled remoteness and exclusivity. Roy and Anna Turner have made it their home since 1985, when Roy abandoned his days of crocodile hunting in Papua New Guinea and they have created a paradise of their own. 
As guests of Roy and Anna Turner at Haggerstone Island for 4 nights, your experience is more akin to Robinson Crusoe than a luxury lodge. Swim amongst pristine coral reefs, fish for your lunch and picnic on freshly caught lobster on uninhabited sand cays. This coastline is not without its adventure – the river estuaries and their mangroves contain huge estuarine crocodiles; sharks patrol the deeper channels between the reefs; majestic sea eagles scour the skies for their prey. A series of day trips will be organised by Roy, in line with your wishes, which will include visits to nearby reefs for snorkelling and catching lobsters, trips to the outer reef where the coral formations finally drop into the deep blue abyss of the Pacific ocean, journeys up the coastal rivers to see rainforest and the land-based wildlife, visits to the magnificent silica dunes of Cape Grenville, or just trips out to catch your meals, with catches of anything from sharks to delicious coral trout. Return to Cairns for your international connections.
This is a suggested itinerary only and is entirely flexible. Arrangements can be tailored to your exact requirements. Request a Quote/More Information | 
