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Commonwealth Games 2006: melbourne |
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MELBOURNE 15-26 MARCHLand Packages & Golf
Prices quoted are subject to availability, dates, minimum passengers and final itinerary. If some of the activities are not available at time of travel, wherever possible a suitable alternative will be offered. Currently no reservations are being held. Tours are operated by Southbound Australia.
Phillip Island Penguin Parade:Every evening at dusk the Little Penguins come home from the sea at Phillip Island. Witness the natural phenomenon of the Penguin Parade.
The premium viewing area allows you to experience a more personalised wildlife viewing experience. Limited to 150 people, this viewing platform provides a closer viewing of the penguin arrival than the main viewing stands at the Penguin Parade. Rangers are on hand to provide full interpretation of the world’s smallest penguins and their fascinating lives. Fare Includes: Entrance to Penguin Parade, hand feeding Kangaroos & meeting Wombats, on-coach videos, Koala Conservation Centre. Upgrade to a premium viewing area and complimentary drink. Price:
Grampians National Park
Some of the peaks stretch to 1000 metres and there are around 1000 different species of native plants known to be growing in the region. The landscape is painted in a fauna of beautiful colours when in bloom, and wildlife roam freely in their natural habitat. This is a truly beautiful area, where roads lead to picturesque lakes and inlets of immense beauty. The Grampians:
Fare Includes: Kangaroo feeding, Aussie style Bush Billy tea, on-coach video Price:
Great Ocean Road
The dramatic and imposing limestone cliffs that are the backdrop to the Apostles tower up to 70 metres, while the tallest of the rock stacks is around 45 metres high. The Apostles had their beginnings up to 20 million years ago with the forces of nature attacking the soft limestone of the Port Campbell cliffs. The limestone was created through the build up of skeletons of marine creatures on the sea floor. As the sea retreated, the limestone was exposed. The relentess, stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs.
2 Day / 1 Night Great Ocean Road Adventure:
Fare Includes: A visit to Bells Beach, National Park Fees, Aussie style Bush Billy tea, on-coach video and resort accommodation at the Cumberland Lorne Resort and use of resort facilities. Price:
Yarra Valley
Yarra Valley is also renowned as being one of Victoria's largest tourist destinations.
Yarra Valley Wineries:
Fare Includes: Lunch/wine tasting at Fergusson's, wine tasting at Rochford's Eyton, wine tasting/tour at Domaine Chandon. Price:
Please contact Bruce, Debbie, or Dave if you are interested in any of the above mini-tours.
GOLF:Victoria has so much to offer visitors, and if you are golf lover, then you will think you've found utopia! Victoria has seven of the top ten golf courses in Australia, so opportunities abound to improve the swing or just simply enjoy the wonderful locations.
Royal Melbourne Golf Club
Designed by legendary architect Alister Mackenzie, it features all the elements of strategic design that make it both challenging for professionals and playable for amateurs.
Kingston Heath
The Commonwealth Golf ClubA memorable finishing stretch of holes with plenty of variety in design. Extensive tree plantation program places a premium on straight driving. Probably the grandest clubhouse on the sand belt, with majestic views across the final fairway and green surrounded by majestic bunkering. Last hosted the Australian Open in 1967.
The National Golf Club
The Moonah is a links-style course that was recently rated in Australia's top 10, with a testing layout that would not look out of place in Scotland or Ireland, due to its deep pot bunkers and natural coastal rough. Likewise, the Ocean course features Scottish style bunkering and subtle undulating fairways and greens.
The Dunes Golf Links
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Here are four mini land packages that we would recommend if you would like to do some sightseeing whilst in Melbourne for the Games, plus we have also suggested some of Australia's best golf courses for those who love the challenge of the fairways and the bunkers.
This tour departs daily at 13:00 hours enabling one to see Penguin rookeries, look for Koalas in their natural habitat, feed Kangaroos and meet a Wombat family. This tour also includes premium viewing of the Penguin Parade with a complimentary drink.
The Grampians are named after the mountain range in Scotland due to their resemblance, as seen through the eyes of the Scottish explorer, Major Mitchell who climbed them in 1836. The Grampians are located in the mid west of Victoria and the wild sandstone formations form the western extremity of the Great Dividing Range.
Experience the majesty of this ancient land from spectacular lookouts on mountain escarpments! Fascinating rock formations, streams and plunging waterfalls make this a day of mountain top adventure. Famous for its spring wildflowers, fern gullies and birdlife, the region has become particularly popular for bushwalkers. Emus roaming the plains...Eagles soaring in thermal currents...Kookaburras laughing in the trees...This is Grampians Grandeur!
The mighty Twelve Apostles are world-recognised icons of the Great Ocean Road. These giant rock stacks soar from the swirling waters of the Southern Ocean and are a central feature of the spectacular Port Campbell National Park that extends from Princetown to Peterborough.
The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed, rock islands up to 45 metres high were left isolated from the shore. This has created the Twelve Apostles and a host of other stunning natural features along this truly remarkable stretch of coastline. Among them are Pudding Basin Rock, Island Arch, the Razorback, Muttonbird Island, Thunder Cave, the Blowhole, Bakers Oven, London Bridge and the Grotto.
The power and majesty of nature reign supreme in this awe inspiring sea and landscape. The huge stone monoliths of the Twelve Apostles, Island Arch, Razorback and the rugged coastline with its spectacular views never fails to impress. You will spend a night at the surf coast town of Lorne, arriving around midday with the afternoon and following morning free to relax and enjoy. Rejoin the Great Ocean Adventure around midday on the following day.
Just 50 minutes from the Melbourne CBD lies the lush hillsides of the Yarra Valley. A place of diverse and rich history stretching back to the first settlers, The Yarra Valley is home to 90 vineyards and 35 wineries, many of which hold a reputation for creating world-class wines. 
Pass through the spectacular Blue Dandenong Ranges, with towering mountain ash forests, lyrebirds and fern gullies. Travel through the richness of the Yarra Valley - a pastoral experience of farms and vineyards, haystacks and wine grapes. Taste the Yarra Valley wines at Fergusson's Winery and enjoy a sumptuous lunch. Visit Rochford's Eyton to taste a selection of fine Australian wines and take a guided tour of Domaine Chandon Winery and enjoy a glass of Domaine Chandon and savoury platter. 
Home of the Prsidents Cup in 1998 and European Tour Venue for the Heineken Classic, Royal Melbourne is the number one Course in Australia and is regularly ranked in the top 10 courses in the world by Golf World Magazine.
Australias no. 2 ranked course. An Alister Mackenzie masterpiece featuring sculptured bunkers and unforgettable par threes. On the 15th, players face a semi-blind shot to a green with challenging undulations. Hosted seven Australian Opens, seven Australian Match Plays, two Tournament Players Championships and seven Victorian Opens. Australasian host for the British Open qualifying event in 2004.
The National is Australia's largest private club, comprising three very distinct and challenging championship layouts, all ranked in Australia's top 40 courses. The Old course features some daunting drives and approaches to avoid dense ti trees, rough and large open bunkers. The third par signature hole is a stunning short hole over a gully of scrub with the ocean as a backdrop. When the wind blows off the water, this course is considered by some to be the toughest in the country. 
The Dunes is a classic links layout set in undulating coastal terrain. With fairways following the natural contours, The Dunes is highly rated and ranked number 24 in Australia. Drives are often played over or between large mounds and hills with large sometimes cavernous bunkers cut out of the sandhills protecting the greens. The seventh is a long par five requiring an accurate drive to avoid the fairway bunkers and large mounds, the approach is to a green dwarfed by a huge bunker. As with other courses in the region, the coastal winds can dramatically alter the course and how it is played. For beginners and intermediate golfers, the nine-hole Cups layout is a good introduction to links golf.
During early morning and late afternoon, the flocks of between fifty and a hundred kangaroos invariably present a ‘hazard’ to golfers on some fairways. Occasionally, golfers have struck kangaroos with golf balls on their drives; and, on one notable occasion, a member's fairway shot found the pouch of a kangaroo, who nonchalantly hopped away! |