Australia: the ultimate family adventure

Dreamtime down under

australia

Australia: the ultimate family adventure

Australia is new and old, gentle and bold. That’s how a lot of travel folks put it: a “land of contrasts”. Despite the cliche, they’re not wrong. This, after all, is home to both an ancient living culture and a forward-looking cosmopolitanism straddled across the largest, and probably most beautiful, island in the world. Big places contain multitudes. That’s another saying from the books. But we think that things can get lost in translation (despite the shared language), because Australia – far-flung and ferociously beautiful – is bigger and stranger than the Sydney Opera House and scorched red earth (Editor’s note: these things are of course totally beautiful). Freycinet, the Blue Mountains, and the Whitsundays tell another story – one that’s wholesome and hidden, and that really knows how to look after families. This trip – which we’ve been finessing like a glass of Tasmanian Riesling (which you’ll love) – will greet you like an old friend, but it also has a lot of surprises up its Antipodean sleeve. It’s a little city, a lot of unfiltered nature, and plenty time to reconnect.

When

November - April

Price

From £16,700pp excl. flights

(based on 2 ppl sharing)

How long

12 nights

Ideal length

Days 1-2

Melbourne

Italian delis, Middle Eastern markets, flat white laneways, and cool-as-a-cucumber bars that give Brooklyn a run for its money, Melbourne is easy on the eye and unapologetically at ease with itself. The dining here is superb, the galleries first class, the neighbourhoods sparkling, and the gardens and greenspaces heavenly and abundant. You’ll fit right in.

Days 1-2

Day 1

On the boardwalk

We’re putting you up at Crown Towers, which is the perfect place to land feet first after a long flight. The Yarra River boardwalk runs just outside, so you’ll be in the heart of the city.

From here, you can take your first plunge into a city not only made by migration but continually reinvented by it. Excursions are easy (we recommend the penguins of Phillip Island), the markets bustling (Queen Victoria market is our pick), the public artworks plentiful, and the cafes, beaches, and hangouts of St Kilda are next to none. We’ll help you plan your approach. Oh, and the people are very welcoming here. But that’s the case with the whole of Australia.

Day 2

The Melbourne way

Melbourne is a neighbourhood city – and each one has its own energy and texture. Your guide will be your city sommelier, ensuring that you eat well, drink deep, and get a rich understanding of what makes Melbourne tick. Toorak is wealthy and prestigious, South Yarra trendy and bustling. Fitzroy and Collingwood, meanwhile, have that gritty Bushwick cool. No doubt your guide will have their favourites, but it’s also up to you. That’s the Melbourne way.

Hotel images courtesy of Crown Towers Melbourne

Days 3-5

Freycinet National Park, Tasmania

When Robert McKimson first drew his Tasmanian Devil for Looney Tunes in 1954, he set something in motion. Tasmania came to us through our TV sets as a whirlwind of cacti, red earth, and swirling dust. Tasmania itself – home of the very real, very beautiful, and very bountiful Freycinet National Park – will redraw your memories, one glass of OJ at a time. You’ve put the city behind you (for now). Here’s the legendary home of Wineglass Bay, oyster farms, Capes, wine, and – yes – the eponymous Tasmanian Devil itself.

Days 3-5

Day 3

Saffire by name, sapphire by nature

Once you arrive in Hobart, we’ll get you settled in at Saffire Freycinet – a hotel in Coles Bay that, and we say this sincerely, is so unbelievably beautiful that’ll you’ll need a moment to stop your head spinning. The view of the Hazards Mountains and Great Oyster Bay are hard to take your eyes off. Believe us.

That’s it for today. Settle in, wine and dine, and – most importantly – enjoy the vibe.

Days 4-5

Into the wild heart

This is where we’ll introduce you and yours to the massive immensity of Freycinet National Park. This includes wading into the waters of Great Oyster Bay to farm and shuck your own oysters, VIP tours of Tasmanian vineyards, shoreline fishing, kayaking, paddle boarding, birdwatching, and mountain biking. You can choose as much, or as little, as you like.

There’s also the option to cruise off the coast, drive ATVs, test your aim at one of Australia’s premier clay shooting ranges, and head up to Currawong Lakes to go fly fishing. In short, your time in Tasmania is about living well, being outdoors, and enjoying the best that Australia has to offer.

Days 6-8

Sydney

Sydney proves that a whole city can be an icon. Famously warm, welcoming, bohemian, and culinary. Anthony Bourdain loved it – and said “it’s only getting better”. And this was in 2012. You’ll know the Sydney Opera House by reputation – but this is your chance to take a look around.

Days 6-8

Day 6

And breathe

Back from Hobart, we’ll pick you up and drop you off at Park Hyatt Sydney – right in the heart of the city with an incomparable panorama across the Sydney skyline. Today is about sitting back and enjoying yourselves – and Sydney has a lot to offer.

Day 7

Into the Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains – which are a defiant and smoky blue –, bounded by rivers, and only 31 miles from Sydney, are one of Australia’s most enduring icons, where crags, cascades, escarpments, and canyons tear up the landscape in a way that’s both beautiful and boisterous.

Today, we’ll pick you up from your hotel and introduce you to some of its most rapturous vistas – hiking to the Wentworth Falls, the National Pass, and Princes Lookout. Lunch is in the historic village of Leura (which is famous for its laidback and seasonal approach to food). Your day’s last stop will be the legendary outpost of the Three Sisters – a great place for a photograph.

Day 8

A sense for Sydney

Back in Sydney, we’ve arranged a family-friendly day to get to grips with this inventive, chic, and walkable city. For you, this’ll involve crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge (an essential maneuver), a VIP tour of Taronga Zoo, lunch at Balmoral Beach, and a cloud nine stroll on the coastal way between Manly and Shelly beaches. We also want to take you to North Head, where the city really begins to relax and unwind.

Days 9-13

The Whitsundays

Many, many millennia ago, a prehistoric coastal range was swallowed by rising Ice Age seas. The 74 islands of the Whitsunday Passage are formed by the peaks of those mountains. It’s a reminder that Australia, and the world, is an ancient and ever-changing place. Even then, the Whitsundays – with their forests, beaches, and reefs – don’t feel changeable. In fact, this is a place where you can let time slip away.

Days 9-13

Day 9

The blue edge

To get to the Whitsundays, you’ll need to take a short flight. We’ll set that up for you, meaning you’ll make the passage from Sydney to Hamilton Island – which has been called one of the most beautiful places in the world so many times that we’d be wrong to disagree – in the quickest of blinks.

You’ll be settling in at The Sundays – an eco-conscious, family-friendly hotel that, with its acclaimed food, views, bars, film club, and kids club, has received a lot of rave reviews, all of which – from personal experience – we firmly agree with. Happily, you’ll be here for four nights.

Day 10

The Great Barrier Reef

We don’t talk enough about missed opportunities (that’s usually because we don’t let them happen). But staying on Hamilton Island demands dazzling yourself with the Great Barrier Reef – where you’ll be ferried on an intimately sized high-speed catamaran to Bait Reef, a Special Management Area with pristine coral structures, extraordinary snorkelling opportunities, and – most importantly – small group numbers. Trust us: the only thing that’ll crowd you is marine life. Lunch, afternoon tea, and every indulgence you could ask for will be provided onboard. Bliss. Just imagine walking around inside a David Attenborough documentary. That’ll give you an idea of what you’re about to witness.

Day 11

Easy-going days on Hamilton Island

The great thing about Hamilton Island – aside from its beauty, and the easy-going comforts of The Sundays – are the number of family-friendly things you can do here. Water sports are de rigeur (windsurfing, kayaking, paddleboarding), but so is scuba diving, game fishing, tennis, golf, wildlife, and wellness. In other words, this is your much-deserved permission to do whatever you want to do.

Day 12

This side of paradise

Being your penultimate day in Australia, we wanted to make this one very special. For you, this means sailing and snorkelling out around the islands, coves, and bays of the Whitsundays. Whitehaven Beach – a swirled sandbar of pure white silica – and Chalkies Beach – fringed by coral – are firm favourites at Black Tomato. We’ve never known anyone to frown here. The beaches are very white, and the waters so luminous and sparkling that they feel Photoshopped.

Day 13

The End

Two weeks. That’s almost how long you’ve been drinking up the unforgettably unfiltered beauty of Australia. And you’ve still barely scratched the surface.

Even then, on your last day, as you take your flight home, part of your mind will still be floating in the reefs of Whitehaven – or wading in the waters of Great Oyster Bay. There’ll be a part of you that’s staying for “just one more drink” in that Melbourne bar you couldn’t drag yourself away from – or hitting the snooze button on the sheets of The Sundays. But now, in the soft light of the cabin, looking around at your family – who will probably be fast asleep – we think you’ll make a promise to come back.