I have spent all my working life in travel and customer service and 37 years in Sydney. Mix all these together with a love for showing people around Sydney and you have the recipe for a great holiday. Maybe you are based in Sydney and have corporate clients, staff or friends coming to town. I can ensure that their stay is a memorable one and you can concentrate on what you do best.
SYDNEY is more than just the Opera House, the Harbor Bridge and Sydney Harbor - a visit to Sydney could include:
THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AND FARM TOUR - From the bustling Sydney Fish Market to lunch on a private farm in the Blue Mountains, experience this unique tour in the comfort of a luxury small vehicle with me along to ensure you have a wonderful day.
Choose your fish for lunch at the Sydney Fish Market. How about some Barramundi, Swordfish or John Dory?
Have morning tea with a mob of wild kangaroos. Wild they may be, but you can get up close and personal for those great holiday snaps and also meet some of our feathered friends - cockatoos, kookaburras and magpies. We visit Blackheath where we enjoy our first stupendous mountain views, looking over one of the world's oldest mountain ranges.
Lunch on a private working horse farm, where you will enjoy the delicious fish you have chosen (or meat if you prefer) next to the shed where the horses hang out. If you like, you can go horse riding (optional extra) or just sit back with a glass of Australian wine as I prepare a wonderful Aussie barbecue.
We visit Scenic World, an abandoned coal mine that has been converted into the most popular tourist destination outside Sydney. Enjoy a thrilling ride on the old miners' railway, the steepest railway in the world, to an ancient rainforest where the hanging vines elicit visions of Tarzan swinging through the trees!
Our mountain visit is coming to an end, but not before we visit picturesque Leura, the center of "Yulefest" where homesick Europeans make believe it's Christmas in July, with a roast meal and Santa Claus in front of a roaring fire!
On the way home we stop in at Sydney Olympic Park where you can experience the home of "the best Olympics ever" and watch an audiovisual display of the highlights. Then it's back to your hotel with a bagful of memories of a wonderful day.
THE HAWKESBURY RIVER - Sydney's hidden gem - After your hotel pickup we head through Sydney's leafy north shore to the Australian Reptile and Wildlife Park, where you can not only see some of the most venomous snakes in the world (we are home to the 10 most dangerous!), but also get up close and personal with warm and fuzzy koalas, kangaroos and wombats and then you can see some of the world's most poisonous spiders being milked for their venom!
After morning tea we head down to the Hawkesbury River, the setting for "Oyster Farmer", this year's most successful Australian movie. See where it was filmed and where the inspiration for the film came from as we cruise the spectacular waters of the Hawkesbury. We stop at a secluded spot for a delicious lunch of barbecued Australian fish, enjoying the tranquility of this magical domain.
Maybe you'd like the ultimate indulgence - to be massaged as we float down the river with the Hawkesbury's stunning scenery gliding by? (optional extra). After lunch the fabled Northern Beaches of Sydney await us - also known as Millionaires' Playground - and see if you can bump into a celebrity (Billy Connolly LOVES the place!) then we'll stop for a stroll along Sydney's famous Manly beach on the way back to town.
Returning to your hotel we'll pause underneath the Harbor Bridge for one of Sydney's best views, across to the city and the Opera House - the photo you'll want to frame when you get home!
THE HUNTER VALLEY - Sydney's wine-growing area - Home to some of the best wines in the world, the Hunter Valley is only two hours drive north of Sydney and a world away from the hustle and bustle of the city. And it's not only the wines it is famous for - there are fine restaurants, arts and crafts, festivals of music or maybe ambling along on a horse-drawn cart is more your scene.
Suggested Itinerary:
- Stroke a koala at the Australian Reptile Park and Wildlife Sanctuary on our way north
- Morning tea in the historic village of Wollombi
- Free wine tasting at three of the finest vineyards in the Valley
- Lunch at a restaurant looking out over the vines.
THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS (waterfalls, hills and valleys with rustic charm aplenty) – The Southern Highlands of NSW, only two hours from Sydney, has become a home away from home for many Sydneysiders.
The cooler summer climate, the mountains, the historic townships, the arts and crafts, the antiques, the great restaurants, the magnificent gardens, the Tulip Festival in Bowral, Minamurra Falls, the Kiama Blowhole, Fitzroy Falls and Kangaroo Valley all go to making up a cool change from Sydney's hectic lifestyle. We start our tour in Berrima, reminiscent of a little English village, by having breakfast at a 170-year-old heritage restaurant.
Notes:
THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AND FARM TOUR tour is done as a group tour - exclusive use of the vehicle for two people will cost US$600 for the day, including morning tea, lunch, entry to Scenic World and pickup and drop off at your hotel.
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