APT has released its 2019 ‘Outback Wilderness Adventures’ program and is offering a range of deals for early-bird bookings.
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Its 11-day ‘Cooktown & Cape York’, for instance, showcases some of the best of Outback Queensland’s remote landscapes in groups of no more than 20 guests.
Take to the skies for a scenic helicopter flight over the most northerly point of Australia’s mainland, Cape York; travel the rugged Bloomfield and Old Telegraph tracks; and explore the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve, normally off-limits to the general public.
Prices start at $7995 per person twin-share, which includes a saving of $600 per person.
Book before December 15 to take advantage of a range of offers, including a savings of up to $1200 per couple on some itineraries and departures.
Phone 1300 196 420 or visit www.aptouring.com.au
‘Aqua Tonic’, the second of Captain Cook Cruises ‘Gold Lunch’ specials this spring, will be held in Sydney Harbour on board its flagship MV Sydney 2000 on Sunday October 28.
The cruise is priced at $239 and includes a six-course lunch based on Huon Aquaculture’s salmon and ocean-run trout, matched by Tyrrell’s wines and, of course, the spectacle of one of the world’s great harbours.
The lunch will celebrate Australian fish and wine and depart noon from Sydney’s King St Wharf No.1, returning at 3.30pm.
An early-bird special of $159 per person is available to first bookers.
Phone (02) 9206 1111 or visit www.captaincook.com.au
Air Adventure Australia has just released details of 2019 air safaris, featuring 16 itineraries ranging from one to 14 days.
New tours include a Tasmanian golf-wine-and-art tour and a King Island day tour.
The company’s private aircraft, the Outback Jet, can quickly cover vast distances, and each departure is timed to coincide with the best time to be in a particular region, with the ‘Wet Season Spectacular’, for example, departing at the tail end of the wet-season when the King George and Kakadu Falls rage, and the Top End’s the red earth is replaced with lush green grass, swollen floodplains and remarkable wildlife.
The Outback Jet features large viewing windows to allow guests to take in the extraordinary landscapes, with other benefits being the ability to visit locations inaccessible by land.
Accommodation ranges from five-star luxury to comfortable remote lodges, the air safaris are all-inclusive, each tour has a maximum of nine guests, and a professional tour leader travels with the group for the entire journey.
At every destination, local guides share their experiences and knowledge, ranging from Aboriginal Elders to fourth-generation farmers, renowned archaeologists and conservation specialists.
Phone 1800 033 160 or visit www.airadventure.com.au
In March next year, Ecruising will combine an escorted eight-night land tour from Beijing to Shanghai with a 14-night cruise on Celebrity’s Millenium from Shanghai to Tokyo in its ‘Terracotta Warriors, Giant Pandas and Oriental Treasures’ itinerary.
The land tour will include stopovers in Xi’an and Chengdu, for a visit to the celebrated Terracotta Warriors and face-to-face encounters with giant pandas.
Also included in the land tour are a stroll through the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, one of China’s holiest Buddhist sites, along with a mandarin lesson and a calligraphy session at the famed Tang Dynasty Museum.
The cruise schedule includes Seoul, Jeju Island and Beijing, before heading eastwards towards Japan.
After a last stop in Kobe and a visit to Mt Fuji, the journey concludes in Tokyo, where guests will spend a night before flying home.
Prices start at $6519 per person twin-share.
Phone 1300 369 848 or visit www.ecruising.travel
Hong Kong is renowned for its cuisine and will be hosting its 10th Wine & Dine Festival from October 25-28, with more than 450 booths serving up a range of international wines and cuisines and reaching from the Central Harbourfront Event Space to Tamar Park on Hong Kong Island.
Five international chefs will join forces with two renowned Hong Kong chefs to present the Ten Michelin Starred Dinner at the Tasting Room to host an eight-course wine-pairing banquet with a menu will be a fusion of Chinese, Thai and French elements.
Two new food zones, International Street Eats and Coffee Fiesta, will make their debut, featuring delicacies such as jiu-wu beef noodle from Taiwan, while for the sweet tooth, renowned coffee-and-pastry shops will make up the Coffee Fiesta zone.
General admission starts from about $5.
Visit www.discoverhongkong.com
Air Tahiti Nui is about to take delivery of its first Dreamliner, pictured at the Boeing paint workshop in North Carolina and christened Fakarava after a picturesque atoll in French Polynesia’s Tuamotu Islands.
It has been registered with the letters MUA, meaning ‘moving forward’ in Tahitian.
With a design and colours inspired by the beauty and richness of the Polynesian islands, the livery features Air Tahiti Nui’s trademark tiare flower, a tattoo pattern representing a story of Tahiti and its people, and the blue hues that the islands are synonymous with.
The new aircraft will commence service on the Auckland-to-Papeete route on November 8.
When the airline has received all four Dreamliners by September, their registration codes will join together to say ‘the warrior going forward in the great canoe’.
Visit www.airtahitinui.com