Australia
Australia
is a big place....
....so travel to Australia has to
start with someone who's been there, often. Even better, a travel
company that started in Australia providing custom tours to see
the wildlife, nature, people and places. All the things that make
Australia Australia. A company whose personnel have been from top
to bottom, side to side, and in the middle. That's us.
Imagine a whole continent for just
one country. This means it’s about as far from Sydney to Perth
as it is from New York t
o
Los Angeles, and Melbourne to Darwin is nearly as far. California,
Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona — and even Texas
— would fit into just one State, Western Australia. But it’s
also empty — more people live in New York State than in all
of Australia, and by some estimates on any weekday Manhattan Island
has about two thirds as many people crowding its offices, houses
and streets as Australia has in total.
More significantly, Australia’s
population is very concentrated, along the eastern and southern
coast. In fact, if you carved off a small 30-mile wide strip of
coastal land from just north of Brisbane to Adelaide, you’d
remove about three quarters of the population, leaving less people
than live in Atlanta, or just twice the population of Brooklyn,
to occupy all of Australia. So if you don’t spend much time
in Melbourne or Sydney — these two cities account for about
40% of the total population — you’ll have room to stretch
out.
Of course, with lots of land, and
not many people, infrastructure is not always what we’re used
to in the US. In the Northern Territory, there’s a road going
north from Alice Springs, NT’s second largest city (in fact,
just “other city”) to Darwin, NT‘s capital. A
road. There’s a right turn a couple of hundred miles north
of the Alice that takes you to Mt Isa and the east coast. Don’t
miss it; the next one’s another two hundred miles north of
that, and will take you to — well, pretty much nowhere. But
you aren’t likely to miss it — they are just about the
only paved roads around.
What all this means to most travelers
thinking about an Australia tour is that you are not going to see
it all at once. Just as you wouldn’t try to cover all of Europe
— or the US — in one two week trip, don’t try
to fit it all in, thinking that you won’t return. You probably
will, as it’s a lot shorter journey than most people imagine.
You can board your plane late in the evening in Los Angeles, and
wake up in Sydney in time for breakfast; from New York you can have
an early dinner before you leave, and still enjoy that Sydney breakfast
to begin your Australia tour.
But
Australia is not only big, it a different world. Yes, the people
speak English (really!), and you can buy a McDonalds, but that’s
about where the similarities end. It’s one of those places
that tend to sneak up on you. You’re playing golf in Melbourne,
when suddenly the distant tree stump moves — by hopping away.
The local backyard feeder birds include two sorts of parrots and
a cockatoo. Trees drop their branches, not their leaves. The further
north you go, the warmer it gets. And Christmas is celebrated in
shorts and a t-shirt, and maybe a swim at the beach.
So when you are
ready to experience a whole new world, with completely different
animals, plants, and scenery at every turn — give us a call,
or email, and we’ll help. We're
the specialists for Australia tours and travel.
Australia
in Parts – a brief tour
Like
to see some suggested journeys in Australia? Click on the Planner
below, then select Browse Our Trips. There are 16 different routes
all over Australia that will give you a taste of what you can experience.
(Just close down the page to return here)
Like
group travel? Try our air cruising, small ship cruising and coach
tours with Australia's premier operators. These are all group travel
companies with a difference, where guests are individuals and itineraries
are carefully designed to allow plenty of time to enjoy each location
and activity. On many of the tours individual interests can be catered
for, with options and free time included. This is not bulk tourism
but group travel with a difference.
Air
Cruising with Bill Peach Journeys 
Cruising
In Australia 
Coach
Tours 
Recommended
Reading
Information
and Suggested Packing List
Selected
City Temperatures
How
far is is? Flight distances and times between major Australian cities.
Opals
Australian
Dictionary
