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Australia
Dusk Till Dawn
TTG Australia and New Zealand supplement
Australia evokes images of sun-baked red earth and endless beaches
but some of its most special experiences can be had by night.
You can find romance in the twinkling lights of Sydney harbour
or the stars over the Outback or get spooked on a ghost tour
of a convict heritage site. Discover Australia's natural nocturnal
wonders by torchlight on land and underwater and be introduced
to amazing Aboriginal cultural tales around a campfire.
Not only are night time experiences atmospheric, if you're visiting
in the heat of summer, flopping by day and exploring after sundown
can have practical benefits.
Only
in Oz experiences
Watching the sunset at Uluru
No visit to the Red Centre would be complete without watching
the sunset at Uluru when the colour of the rock changes through
shades of red and orange.
Backpackers and luxury travellers alike traditionally toast
the sundown with a glass of bubbly at their various vantage
points. But for the full sense of occasion nothing beats the
Sounds of Silence dinner at Ayers Rock Resort
with tables set with candles and white linen arranged in the
red earth. Unsentimental types can tuck into indigenous animals
like kangaroo and emu as part of the barbecue buffet and, of
course, there's fine Aussie wine to wash it down.
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Sample:
Travel 2's Essential Uluru tour incorporates the Sounds
of Silence dinner and guided tours of the Olga Gorge and
Uluru. Prices start from £267 including two nights
accommodation at the Voyages Outback Pioneer and return
airport transfers.
0800 0224 302 www.travel2.com |
Aboriginal campfire experience
Nobody should visit Australia without learning something about
Aboriginal culture and perhaps the most atmospheric way is around
a campfire. There are several places you can have such an experience
across Australia, some more accessible than others.
Many tours of Queensland incorporate the popular Tjapukai
Cultural Park at Cairns. Tjapukai By Night is the centre's
outdoor dinner show with dancing and fire-making demonstrations
and Dreamtime stories brought to life with special effects.
At Western Australia's famous Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort
a Didgeridoo Dreaming evening led by an Aboriginal guide takes
place around a campfire in the sand dunes.
For a truly naturalistic experience you can visit Aboriginal
communities in remote environments. In Northern Territory, one
of the local operators taking this approach is Gunya Tourism
which offers deluxe camping stays with the Titjikala
community 120 km south of Alice Springs. Guests can
learn about bush tucker, art or other specific interests and,
at night, sit around the campfire listening to Dreamtime stories
from community elders.
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Sample:
Jetset can offer an overnight Aboriginal cultural
tour from Broome to the Kimberley outback. The personally
escorted tour with aboriginal guide includes genuine
under-the-stars living and dining. This combines well
with a seven night stay at the four star Rendezvous
Sanctuary Resort in Broome. Prices start at £2,299
per person, room only, twin share with return Qantas
flights to Broome.
0845 02 52 777 www.jetsetflights.co.uk
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Night diving on the Great Barrier Reef
Experienced divers can enjoy the eerie thrill of the Great
Barrier Reef by night. Torchlight picks out the intense
colours of the coral, crustaceans creeping across the ocean
floor and the shadowy shapes and glinting eyes of predators
coming out to hunt.
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Sample:
Dive Worldwide offers three day/three night liveaboard
trips on the Spirit of Freedom, an air-conditioned vessel,
with twelve spacious, en-suite cabins, large dive deck
and bar. Tours depart from Cairns on Mondays and cost
from £630 per person including arrival transfer,
low level scenic flight from Lizard Island to Cairns,
liveaboard accommodation, all meals on board and 11 dives
(including at least one night dive) with tanks and weights.
Four and seven day options are also available.
0845 130 6980 www.diveworldwide.com |
Adventurous experiences
Nocturnal wildlife encounters
It was its blood curdling yells that earned the Tasmanian Devil
its name. Early settlers lived in fear of the creature behind
the sounds which turned out to be a small but ferocious-looking
carnivorous marsupial. You can listen out for the cry on a night
tour in Cradle Mountain National Park as tour
guides use spotlights mounted on jeeps to pick out shy nocturnal
animals including, hopefully, devils in the bush.
At Cape Tribulation, Queensland, where Daintree
National Park meets the Great Barrier Reef, you can take torchlit
tours of the 135 million year-old rainforest. You might see
fireflies and glow-in-the-dark fungi and follow the trail of
bigger creatures like bandicoots and Cassowaries.
Perhaps the most reliable evening animal encounter is the famous
Penguin Parade at Phillip Island which is featured
by many operators. Every dusk at this point, about 85 miles
south of Melbourne, hundreds of 'fairy' or 'little' penguins
waddle out of the sea to their nests in the hills, seemingly
oblivious to the terrace of watching tourists.
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Sample:
Qantas Holidays offers a multi-centre holiday
which includes the nocturnal wildlife spotlight tour
at Cradle Mountain. The package incorporates two nights
in four star accommodation in Melbourne, seven nights
on an APT Gourmet Wanderer Tour of Tasmania incorporating
Launceston, Freycinet, Hobart, Strahan and Cradle Mountain,
and three nights' four star accommodation in Sydney.
The cost, from £2,618 per person, includes Qantas
flights and is based on twin share.
020 8222 9128 www.qantas.co.uk/holidays |
Night tours of former jails
Infamous outlaw Ned Kelly was among 136 prisoners hanged at
Melbourne Gaol between 1842 and 1929. You can
take a spooky candlelit night tour of what is claimed to be
Australia's most haunted building, guided by an 'executioner'.
In the cells you'll come face to face with the former inmates,
or at least with their plaster death masks. These model heads
were made in the belief that studying the contours of offenders'
scalps could help the authorities recognise the lumps and bumps
that indicated criminal tendencies. Other highlights are the
scaffold on which Kelly met his death and a suit of the famous
Kelly Gang armour which was fashioned from a melted plough.
Night tours are also available at the decommissioned Fremantle
Prison in Perth.
Another unsettling experience is offered at Port Arthur in Tasmania,
once an infamous penal colony where thousands of convicts worked
shipbuilding, timber cutting and brick-making during the 19th
century. Nightly lantern-lit tours of the Port Arthur
Historic Site tell of the ghostly goings-on reported
there from the convicts' times to the present day.
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Sample:
Keith Prowse sells the See Melbourne & Beyond card
which offers free entry to over 60 attractions across
Melbourne and Victoria, including Old Melbourne Gaol and
the Penguin Parade (above). A one day card costs £30.
08701 232425 www.keithprowse.com/agents
The Hangman's Night Tour at the Gaol must be pre-booked.
See www.oldmelbournegaol.com.au |
Romantic experiences
Stargazing in the Outback
The lack of light pollution makes the night sky amazing over
rural and Outback Australia. You can see the Southern Cross,
spot familiar constellations upside down from our UK viewpoint
and pick out the shape of the Aboriginals' emu spirit in the
Milky Way. Many outback tours and experiences, including the
Sounds Of Silence dinner (above), incorporate a spot of expert-led
star gazing. For a more detailed view visit the observatories
at Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in South
Australia's Flinders Ranges. The skies here are said to be among
the clearest in the Southern Hemisphere and you can look through
a giant telescope or try gazing from a reclining Star Chair
while astronomers tell you about the origins of the solar system.
Every January Arkaroola hosts the Star Party DownUnder (correct)
with several days of lecturers suitable for enthusiastic amateurs.
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Sample:
Qantas Holidays offers a fully-escorted four day tour
from Adelaide which includes a stay at Arkaroola. Prices
start from £751 per person inclusive of all park
entry fees and some meals. The tour also takes in the
Clare Valley wine region, Southern Flinders, Wilpena Pound,
Bunyeroo and Brachina Gorges and the old Ghan railway
line. The price is per person based on two adults sharing. |
City lights at night
Sydney is one of the world's most beautifully situated cities
and its iconic bridge and opera house look even more impressive
spotlit at night. Savour that harbour view over dinner or cocktails
at the Astral Bar at Star City entertainment
complex, the Opera Bar at Sydney Opera House,
Café Sydney on the rooftop of Customs
House at Circular Quay, or 360 Bar and Dining
at the top of Sydney Tower.
The Park Hyatt, Shangri-La,
Intercontinental and Four Seasons
are among hotels where you can book a room with a harbour view.
The famous BridgeClimb over Sydney Harbour
Bridge operates daily twilight and night experiences and, on
the first Saturday of each month, a dawn climb. It's a popular
spot for popping the question and the city lights at night add
to the sense of romance.
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Sample:
Travel 2's Sydney in Style package including a harbour
view room at the Park Hyatt costs from £661 per
person. The price covers three nights accommodation, limousine
transfers, guided Sydney sightseeing by car, yacht and
helicopter and a meal with wine at the famous Doyle's
fish restaurant. A BridgeClimb from £77 per person,
day or night, can be added to this or any other Sydney
package.
0800 0224 302 www.travel2.com |
Dawn Balloon flights
Australia's scenic wine country is particularly spectacular
when viewed from the air bathed in golden light. Climatic conditions
for hot air ballooning are generally good around dawn and flights
at this time are offered in the Barossa Valley
in South Australia, Hunter Valley in New South
Wales and the Yarra Valley in Victoria. There
are also ballooning possibilities over Australia's major cities.
For a bit of extra romance, some operators follow the return
to earth with a champagne breakfast.
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Sample:
Gold Medal can offer a six night holiday comprising three
nights room-only at the four star Cosmopolitan Hotel,
Melbourne and a four day Melbourne surrounds self- drive
package for a total £1,299. The price also includes
return flights and a one hour balloon flight over the
Yarra Valley, available at dawn. The price is valid for
departures between February 1 and February 20 2008, booked
by December 4.
0844 493 0077 www.goldmedal.co.uk |
Published in TTG Sell More Australia and New Zealand supplement
November 2007
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