| Australia and New Zealand |
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February 5-25, 2010
 TourMagination has been taking tour groups to Australia and New Zealand for many years and have planned a schedule that gives you many highlights in these two beautiful, but different, countries. Wilmer and Janet Martin, owners of TourMagination and the leaders of this tour, enjoy taking persons “down under” to explore and learn and meet the people they have come to appreciate. Join them on this unforgettable tour excursion in 2010. The group will worship one Sunday with the Mennonite Church of Hope near Newcastle, Australia. Click here to read past blogs about this tour. Friday-Sunday, February 5-7 The group will gather at the Los Angeles Airport for an evening flight to Melbourne, Australia. We will lose a day as we cross the International Date Line and will arrive on Sunday morning in Melbourne. We will walk around the Queen Victoria Market and then go to Geelong where we will visit the National Wool Museum. Monday & Tuesday, February 8 & 9 This morning we will drive to Ballarat to visit Sovereign Hill, a recreated 1850s town with homes, churches, stores, schools and costumed workers, and go down into an old gold mine. Then we will make our way to Phillip Island where we will enjoy seeing the Little Penguins on their nightly trek in from the sea to feed their young. On Tuesday morning, our drive from Philip Island takes us past Melbourne to Healesville Sanctuary where over 200 species of Australian animals are set in natural bush land. After a tour of the sanctuary, we will go to Beechworth where we will stay in homes of Australian families and hear “Lazy Harry ,” an Australian folk singer, perform. Wednesday & Thursday, February 10 & 11 You will enjoy the scenery as we travel through the Snowy Mountains. We will learn about the Snowy Mountains Electric Authority scheme and make stops at various places along the way as we travel to Cooma, our destination for the night. Thursday morning we will travel to Canberra, Australia’s capital city, where we will visit Parliament House, see exhibits about the planning of the city at the National Capital Exhibition and have a general city orientation tour including a drive by the many embassies. Then, it’s on to Sydney for two nights. Friday & Saturday, February 12 & 13 This morning we will walk through Sydney’s beautiful Botanic Gardens before taking a cruise of Sydney Harbour to see the city from the water. In the afternoon, you will enjoy a tour of the Sydney Opera House as we learn about its construction. You may want to attend an opera or concert in this impressive building in the evening (optional). Saturday morning you will have free time to explore The Rocks area (the old part of Sydney) and visit the craft market and shops there, or visit a museum. Later, we will travel on to Raymond Terrace for the night. Sunday & Monday, February 14 & 15  Ayers Rock Tuesday & Wednesday, February 16 & 17 Our driver-guide will give us much information as we travel by motorcoach through the Great Outback from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock. We will travel through many different habitats and see wild camels. Before sunset, we will visit the magnificent Ayers Rock (Uluru) which you have read about. On Wednesday morning, you may want to get up early and see the sun rising over Uluru. Visiting Red Center will give us a better understanding of the Aboriginal beliefs and way of life. We will take an early afternoon flight to Cairns. Thursday & Friday, February 18 & 19 Thursday we will have a full day as we cruise to Green Island to enjoy a beautiful tropical paradise on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. You will have the opportunity to swim, scuba dive, snorkel and view the huge variety of tropical fish, turtles, giant clams, shells and much more. On Friday, we must leave Cairns and fly on to New Zealand to learn about this interesting country. We will fly by way of Sydney and it will be late when we arrive in Christchurch. Saturday & Sunday, February 20 & 21  Taieri Gorge excursion Monday & Tuesday, February 22 & 23 Before leaving Dunedin, we will have a general city tour including a drive up Signal Hill to overlook the city. Want a challenge? Climb up Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. Then we will travel on to the beautiful town of Te Anau where you will have some time for relaxation or exploration of this scenic area. Tuesday will be a special day of magnificent scenery as we travel to Milford Sound for a luncheon cruise on the fjord. We will see cascading waterfalls, towering mountains and sea lions. Then, it’s on to Lake Wanaka for the night. Wednesday & Thursday, February 24 & 25 We will travel via Kawarau Gorge and Lake Tekapo to our afternoon destination to see Mount Cook. We hope the sun will be shining in this beautiful area so we can see Mount Cook. We will drive through the Mackinley Basin, Burkes Pass and Geraldine on our way back to Christchurch. Wednesday we will visit the Canterbury Museum and Botanic Gardens before our farewell meal. Then it will be time to go to the airport for our flight back to Los Angeles. It will be a long day, but it will give you lots of time to say goodbye to your new friends and think about the wonderful memories created on this trip. For further information regarding the complete tour fare, please This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . We would be happy to be of assistance. |
