Antipodeans have a reputation for adventure. Show them a large open space and they’ll wander off into it carrying only a sleeping bag. Build something tall and they’ll throw themselves off it attached to an elastic band. Find a dangerous animal and they’ll cuddle it.
If your clients like the sound of this, you can pack their holiday full of adventure. But if they consider them a mite stupid, why not suggest a softer option, so they don’t miss out on the adventurous Australian spirit altogether?
Animal Action
White knuckle
Send them cage diving with great white sharks in Port Lincoln, South Australia, where it’s also possible to swim with giant 300kg tuna, one of the ocean’s fastest-moving fish. Snorkelling with the huge but harmless whalesharks at Ningaloo Reef in remote Western Australia offers a softer shark experience.
For more big teeth, clients can swim with crocodiles – again from the safety of a cage – at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin, or for a tamer experience, head to the late Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo in Queensland, where there are daily crocodile-feeding demonstrations.
Wuss
If your clients want to swim with dolphins, they can do so at many locations across the country – try the Mornington Peninsula, Rockingham or Adelaide. Most operators sell dolphin swims. Alternatively, book customers into the Tangalooma Island Resort in Queensland, where guests can hand-feed the wild dolphins that flock around the jetty.
If they prefer furry friends, they can feed kangaroos and koalas at Caversham Wildlife Park, Perth. For a different start to the day, suggest an al fresco breakfast with kangaroos in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney. Or they can p-p-pick up the opportunity to see penguins on Phillip Island, where hundreds of Little Penguins parade to their burrows at dusk.
Sample product
Kuoni offers breakfast with the kangaroos in the Blue Mountains from £163 per person, including a wildlife park visit and ferry ride. kuoni.co.uk, 01306 747008
Austravel offers a full day snorkelling with whalesharks at Ningaloo Reef from £210 including lunch and snorkelling equipment. austravel.com, 0800 032 5492
Travel 2 offers a two-night Cape York Turtle Rescue package from £497 per person including meals and accommodation but excluding flights. travel2.com, 0800 022 4182
Up in the air
White knuckle
Queensland is the place to be if clients want to jump off something high. There’s the famous AJ Hackett bungee jump in the rainforest just north of Cairns – celebrities including the Red Hot Chili Peppers have taken the leap. Clients can even do night jumps at the monthly full-moon parties. There’s also a jump on the Gold Coast at Surfers Paradise.
For even better rainforest views, suggest jungle surfing in the Daintree Rainforest in tropical north Queensland. Biological scientists guide ‘surfing’ groups as they whizz along a series of cables, spotting animals, birds and plants indigenous to the oldest living rainforest on earth.
Adrenaline junkies can freefall over beaches, rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef with skydiving in Cairns and Mission Beach. There are also skydiving options near Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.
If your customers have done the popular Sydney Harbour Bridge climb, suggest the Story Bridge in Brisbane, which has a viewing platform 80 metres above sea level. Alternatively they could try the skywalk around the top of Sydney Tower, 260 metres above the city.
Wuss
Hot-air balloon tours are 10 a penny, so there will be a chance for clients to float up into the blue no matter which area of the country they choose to visit.
They can drift over the vineyards of the Yarra Valley, the red plains outside Alice Springs, the beaches of the Gold Coast or the mountains of South Australia’s Flinders Range – most operators offer a wide selection of options.
Or they can take a scenic flight or a helicopter ride. Alongside air tours of Sydney, operators also offer air safaris over the Red Centre, the Kakadu National Park, the Bungle Bungle rock formations and the Great Barrier Reef.
Fans of vintage aircraft can even zoom up over the Gold Coast in a Tiger Moth, opting for a relaxing scenic journey or one complete with barrel rolls and loop-the-loops.
Sample product
Anzcro offers two-hour jungle surfing canopy tours in the Daintree Rainforest from £52 per person. anzcro.co.uk, 01872 266899
Attraction World has a new Sydney Bridge climb at night option from £122 per adult, £76 per child from 10-15 years old, including a photograph and certificate. attractionworld.com, 0871 700 8888
Qantas Holidays offers a full-day air safari over the Blue Mountains from £466, including lunch and wine-tasting. qantasholidays.co.uk, 020 8222 9124
Stretch your legs
White knuckle
The Larapinta Trail in the remote Northern Territory traverses the red, rocky terrain of the East MacDonnell Range west of Alice Springs and is divided into day-long sections – the whole thing takes 23 days.
If that isn’t tough enough, July 31 will see the first Outback Marathon, where runners will run – or limp – past Uluru. If 26.2 miles is too far, there’s a half marathon, 11km and 6km events too. Or they can run the Great Ocean Road in a marathon on May 15.
Cox & Kings offers the Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive tour in August, a unique trip that allows proficient riders to help drovers herd cattle along a famous stock trail, staying in luxury tents.
Alternatively, riders have the chance to stay at a cattle station, take a group riding holiday through some of Australia’s most stunning scenery or simply jump on a horse for a few hours to canter along a beach.
Wuss
Climbing Uluru is waning in popularity – it damages the rock and offends the local Aborigines. A walk around the base instead takes about five hours and often includes breakfast. If visitors would rather stretch someone else’s legs, operators also offer camel rides in the area too.
Not long, but high – treetop walks give maximum views and excitement for minimal effort, as long as clients don’t suffer from vertigo. In south Western Australia’s Walpole Wilderness, the Valley of the Giants treetop walk takes visitors 40 metres up into the forest canopy among giant tingles – these are some of the biggest trees in the world and are up to 400 years old. Closer to civilisation, King’s Park in Perth has its own treetop walkway too.
Sample product
Anzcro offers a two-and-a-half hour camel tour of Uluru at either sunrise or sunset from £57 per person, including breakfast or snacks and one hour on the camel. anzcro.co.uk, 01872 266899
Travel 2 offers a four-day Albany, treetop walk and Margaret River itinerary including the Valley of the Giants walk from £779, including three nights’ accommodation. travel2.com, 0800 022 4182
Austravel offers guesthouse rooms at Home Valley Cattle Station in the Kimberley from £62 per person per night. Guests can muster cattle or go horse trekking. austravel.com, 0800 032 5492
Aquatic adventures
White knuckle
No sport is more synonymous with Australia than surfing, so there are few better places to catch a wave than Down Under. Sell clients surfing lessons at Bondi Beach so they can give it a whirl.
One of Australia’s most famous sights is best viewed below the ocean, so why not suggest a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef, or even a learn-to-dive package for the uninitiated. Packages of five days usually allow time to get a PADI certificate. Alternatively they could learn to sail – Sunsail has a school in the Whitsundays.
For whiter water, visitors can try river rafting. The optimum spot is around Cairns, where the Barron River offers a good beginner’s course, and the Tully River tumbles down through the rainforest with grade four rapids to challenge more experienced oarsmen.
Wuss
But why make all that effort? Clients can cruise the Great Barrier Reef and sail the Whitsundays without having to lift a finger. Itineraries vary from one day, to up to a week, and clients looking for something a bit different could choose a tall ship or a racing ship.
In 2011, clients will even be able to circumnavigate Australia in ultimate luxury, with Silversea’s new Circle Australia voyage. The 30-day round trip sets off on January 19, sailing anti-clockwise from Sydney. Cruise-only fares start from £11,282 based on two sharing a vista suite. silversea.com, 0844 770 9030
Sample product
Qantas Holidays offers a two-hour Bondi surf lesson from £42. qantasholidays.co.uk, 020 8222 9124
Kuoni offers white-water rafting excursions from £54 for a half-day on the Barron River and £88 for a full day on the Tully River. kuoni.co.uk, 01306 747008
Travel 2 offers a five-day PADI learn-to-dive course on the Great Barrier Reef from £439, including two days of classroom training and three days all-inclusive on a liveaboard. travel2.com, 0800 022 4182
Driving around Australia
Picturesque routes such as the Great Ocean Road have made Australia famous as a driving destination. But Australia is vast, so make sure clients don’t get too ambitious about distances they can cover.
However, if they want to get adventurous they could take inspiration from the first European to reach the Red Centre. Scotsman John McDouall Stuart made the journey 150 years ago this month.
Visitors may not want to complete the full 1,874 miles of the Explorer’s Way – also known as the Stuart Highway – so they can download itineraries and ideas from the Northern Territory tourism website at en.travelnt.com.
Alternatively, take a tour of Uluru by Harley-Davidson – available through Austravel and Qantas Holidays – or accompany the postman on a mail run in remote South Australia, visiting outback towns and cattle stations, bookable with Cox & Kings.
