| DAY
1 DEPARTURE FROM NORTH AMERICA
Enjoy full meal service on your scheduled wide-bodied flight
to Australia.
DAY
2 INTERNATIONAL TIME ZONE
You will lose a day as you cross the International Time Zone,
but you gain it back on the return flight.
DAY
3 ARRIVE SYDNEY (2 NIGHTS)
On your arrival in Sydney you will be transferred
to your hotel accompanied by your tour guide. We will go on
a sightseeing City Tour en-route to the hotel.
After dropping off the luggage at your hotel and having lunch,
we will travel down to The Rocks area. This
will give you an insight into the history of Australia as
it was the first settled place in Australia when Captain Arthur
Phillips was commissioned by the British Government to bring
12 boatloads of convicts from Britain. You will see an early
barracks and learn about the area from your guide. This evening
we will goon a Boat Cruise around the Harbor
for a different view of Sydney, the Bridge,
the Opera House and other points
of interest.
DAY
4 SYDNEY
Following breakfast we will take the local bus
public transport to the Monorail, which takes us to Darling
Harbor. Here we visit the Powerhouse Museum,
which was originally a power station and has been dramatically
renovated. The collection that we see was started more than
a hundred years ago, and has been housed in the museum since
1988. It provides an overview of the cultural, social, technological
and scientific efforts and achievements of Australia, and
in some instances of other parts of the world. We will see
trams, airplanes and steam trains exhibited, along with plenty
of interactive, film and sound displays. After the morning
visit you will be free to take lunch and enjoy the city before
our first performance.There will be the opportunity to visit
the Aquarium, the Chinese Gardens or the Imax Theater and
there are many areas where street performers can be seen and
you can enjoy the lively activities.
• Your first concert will be today
DAY
5 SYDNEY - BLUE MOUNTAINS AREA (1 NIGHT)
After an early start we will travel up to the Blue
Mountains. These mountains were named like that because
the whole area is heavily timbered with eucalyptus that constantly
disperses the droplets of oil into the atmosphere. These droplets
cause the blue light-rays of the sun to be scattered more
effectively, thus intensifying the usual light refraction
phenomenon (known as Rayleigh Scattering) which causes distant
objects to appear blue. We will stop on the way to look at
kangaroos in the wild, view the 3 Sisters Craggy Outcrop
from Echo Point and then walk along the bush
track with your guide who will tell you the Aboriginal story
of the 3 sisters. We will also visit the National
Parks Center and then continue on to Megalong
Valley heritage Farm. Our afternoon will be spend
at leisure, you may wish to include the following in your
events riding, sheep shearing and mustering, stockman display,
billy tea and damper. We will spend the night in Megalong.
DAY
6 MEGALONG – HARTLEY - SYDNEY (1
NIGHT)
After free time at the Megalong Heritage Center
this morning we make our way back to Sydney for an evening
concert. We will stop en-route at the historic village of
Hartley one of the first rural settlements
west of the Blue Mountains, with the interesting features
such as convict built court-house, opened in 1837, designed
by colonial architect Mortimer Lewis. We will also view the
Royal Hotel from the early 1840s,
the Old Trahlee Cottage and the
Post Office from the same time
period. Later we make our way back to Sydney.
• Your second concert will be today
DAY
7 SYDNEY – CANBERRA (1 NIGHT)
We will have an early morning departure to Canberra in the
Australian Capital Territory. Canberra is the capital of Australia
and also the city from which the Federal Government runs the
country. Each of the states also has its own government with
a Premier in charge and the two Territories have an administrator.
We begin with a City Tour followed by a visit
to Parliament House home to exhibitions from
the National Museum and the Australian Archives, National
Portrait Gallery and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, next we
will visit Telstra Tower which rises 640
ft above the summit of Black Mountain, has both open-air and
enclosed viewing galleries that provide magnificent 360-degree
views over Canberra.
DAY
8 CANBERRA - MELBOURNE (4 NIGHTS)
We will leave Australian Capital and travel down south to
Melbourne.
DAY
9 MELBOURNE
We will start with a City Tour of Melbourne
by coach and visit the most important city spots, such as
the Old Melbourne Gaol and Captain
Cook’s Cottage (Cook was the navigator
who found Australia for the British, although he was not the
first, a good number of Dutch, German and French navigators
had taken a look since 1600’s but decided it was too
wild and of no interest to their governments) area and then
return to the hotel to prepare for the concert this evening.
• Your third concert performance will be
today
DAY
10 DAY TRIP TO DANDENONG - MELBOURNE
Our day begins in the Dandenong Ranges
National Park, one of the state's oldest, set aside
in 1882 to protect its Mountain Ash forests and lush tree-fern
gullies. Upon our arrival we will board the Puffing
Billy Railway, which for just about a century has
been chugging over an 8-mile track from Belgrave to Emerald
Lake. The trip features open carriages and we will be treated
to lovely views as the train passes through forests and fern
gullies and over a National Trust-classified wooden trestle
bridge. Upon our arrival at Emerald Lake, we will enjoy a
Picnic Lunch and a guided Bush Walk
before returning to Melbourne.
DAY
11 MELBOURNE
This morning we visit Phillip Island,
where we will visit the Koala Conservation Park.
In this park koalas still live in their natural environment.
Upon returning to Melbourne we will have an early dinner in
a restaurant on the ocean front. We will then go on an evening
cruise for the Fairy Penguin Colony, where
a set-up has been made so one can see the Fairy Penguins as
they come into their burrows at night. These are the smallest
of penguins and come in at about one to two thousand at a
time. Take time to read and study in the complex before setting
off again for Melbourne and your hotel, arriving there shortly
before midnight.
DAY
12 DEPARTURE FROM MELBOURNE
Your enjoyable and rewarding tour will come to
an end as your guide accompanies you to the airport for the
return flight home. Arrive back in the U.S. on the same day.
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