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Great Southern Cruise
offered by supplier M18048 (view this supplier profile)
Key Information:
Tour Duration: 3
- 7
day(s)
Group Size: 20
people
Destination(s):
Australia
Specialty Categories:
Motorcycle Tours
Season: January - December
Airfare Included: No
Tour Customizable: Yes
Minimum Per Person Price: 3750 Australian Dollar (AUD)
Maximum Per Person Price: 10400 Australian Dollar (AUD)
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The Great Southern Cruise is one of the most spectacular rides you will ever take. It embraces awesome coastal views, rugged mountain ranges, rivers, sweeping plains and beautiful cities. Throughout the tour you will jostle to photograph this superb scenery as well as kangaroos, wombats, emus, penguins, dolphins, whales, and the most beautiful sunsets.
Apart from scheduled stopovers for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea we also will be stopping at historic places of interest and other tourist venues. You will be intrigued by the lyrical Aboriginal names of the towns we visit such as Echuca, Numurkah, Yarrawonga, Gundagai and Murrumbateman to name just a few.
Your Itinerary:
On arrival in Melbourne you will be taken to the magnificent Crown Towers Hotel by limousine and have free time to go for a walk, do some shopping or just relax. Later that afternoon you will be fitted to your Harley-Davidson motorcycle in readiness for the ride the following day.
There is a welcome reception in the evening at which you will meet our staff and everyone on the tour. You will receive your trip book that contains every detail of the tour and general information about Australian customs and culture. After briefing we head out of Melbourne for the Great Ocean Road that overlooks the Southern Ocean.
Built between 1918 and 1932 by returned Australian diggers from the First World War, the 400 km road is the biggest war memorial in the world. We ride to Bell’s Beach, famous for world surfing championships, then to the Anglesea Golf Club for morning tea where you will see kangaroos grazing on the fairways and greens. We travel through Lorne, Wye River, Kennett River, Skenes Creek to Apollo Bay for lunch.
After lunch we have a 98 km ride to Port Campbell for our first overnight stay. On the last leg into Port Campbell we ride along the historic Shipwreck Coast and you capture breathtaking views of weathered rock stacks of the 12 Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. From Port Campbell we continue along the Great Ocean Road for a few kilometers before we arrive at another seascape phenomenon, London Bridge. We ride on through Peterborough, Nirranda and on to Warrnambool and depending on the time of the year we catch whales frolicking in the Great Southern Ocean.
Just outside Warrnambool we visit Tower Hill where our indigenous hosts introduce us to some genuine bush tucker, teach us to throw a boomerang and show us how to get a note out of a didgeridoo. We then head off to Port Fairy where we stop for lunch. Leaving this picturesque town we find ourselves on less winding roads leading to the Grampians mountain range through sheep country and the townships of Broadwater, Macarthur, Penshurst and Dunkeld where we stop for afternoon tea.
Dunkeld is the gateway to the Grampians National Park and offers more spectacular scenery. You will be amazed at tall native gum trees with trunks and branches charred and blackened by bush fires eerily decorated with bright green leaf sprouts that indicates Mother Nature has restored life. You’ll see the MacKenzie Falls, The Piccaninny, Mt Abrupt, Mt William and emus roaming free.
The journey from Halls Gap to Echuca goes through the historic gold fields of Victoria where the Gold Rush of the 1880’s attracted people from all over the world to come and dig for their fortune. Early settlers were mostly Chinese but there were also a large number of Americans too. There are excellent restaurants to choose from and enjoy outstanding local wines.
The Port of Echuca opens up a new world again taking you back to the bygone era of horse-drawn carriages, paddle steamers and blacksmiths. Echuca is recognized as one of Australia’s finest heritage icons and is home to the largest riverboat fleet in the world. The Echuca – Moama area is renowned for its food, wine and jazz festivals and fishing competitions which is why it is one of our best tourist attractions.
From Echuca we ride to Numurkah, Katamatite and on to Yarrawonga where we pick up the Murray River once again. We follow the Murray through Corowa and Wahgunyah, Rutherglen and on to the border cities of Wodonga and Albury in New South Wales where we stop for lunch. From Albury we take the Hume Highway to Holbrook, Tarcutta and Gundagai for an afternoon tea break and also to see the monument of 'The Dog Sits on the Tucker Box'. From Gundagai we saddle up for the last leg to Canberra via Yass and arrive in the Australian Capital Territory late afternoon for our second last overnight stay at the Canberra Hyatt Hotel.
Before departing Canberra we visit the Canberra War Memorial and Parliament House and take a drive by Yarralumla, the residence of the Governor General and The Lodge where the Prime Minister resides. We leave Canberra via the Federal Highway and head for Goulburn and Moss Vale before arriving at Wollongong. The last leg from Wollongong into Sydney is along Grand Pacific Drive that encompasses some of New South Wales most spectacular scenery and coastline of the South Pacific Ocean.
We cross the impressive 665-meter Sea Cliff Bridge before arriving at the Royal National Park to commence the gentle ride into the bustle of Sydney’s commercial business district and down to Circular Quay. On arrival at Circular Quay we check into the Four Seasons Hotel in the historic Rocks precinct. The Four Seasons commands spectacular views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House – two of the world’s great icons. With nearly 2,000kms behind us it’s time to relax, do some shopping or take in more sightseeing!
The final day has arrived. The morning is free until 12 noon when we assemble in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel before strolling across to Circular Quay to board the Captain Cook for a farewell three-hour silver-service luncheon cruise around Sydney Harbour. On arrival back at Circular Quay our limousines will be there to take you to the airport to commence your journey home.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
All Prices shown are in Australian Dollars and subject to change. Payment Options available.
Also see tour packages in:
Australia and Oceania
Australia
Motorcycle Tours
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, ext: 18048
