How we're different
Our trips are about adventurous and challenging days, and restful comfortable nights. Throw in our healthful and delicious meals, passionate expert guides, and some like-minded travelers, and you have the recipe for an unforgettable vacation. We believe that scenery needs to be experienced, not seen through a bus window. We'll take you into the remote grandeur of Cradle Mountain and Barn Bluff, and hike miles into the wilderness. We'll take you canoeing through Kangaroo Valley, where you'll see an abundance of wildlife, including the primeval water dragon.
We take ordinary people to some of the most interesting parts of Australia. You don't need to be a tri-athlete to take our trips - and we offer a variety of different trips, so as long as you are keen on exploring Australia in an active manner, we have something that will work for you.
We love getting off the beaten track, and we leave the tour buses and the madding crowd far behind. We emphasize variety, and we'll make sure you have plenty of opportunities to try a wide range of activities. You won't need any experience to try canoeing, for instance, but if you're a seasoned veteran you'll find plenty to keep you entertained!
An ACTIVE AUSTRALIA trip is not a sight-seeing tour - but you'll see some amazing sights!
It's not a triathlon - but you'll get a good sweat up.
It's not a lazy vacation - but you'll go home more rested than if you'd spent two weeks in bed!
Since 1996, we've been running this same concept across the Tasman in New Zealand, and in 2003 we began running trips in South America as well.
Accommodations
We've selected lodgings over the years that are complementary to the areas we visit - so we stay on an Outback cattle station when we're in the Outback, comfortable B&B's in small Aussie towns, a secluded eco-resort on Fraser Island, and so on. We prefer to avoid the usual bland hotel rooms, and many of our people are impressed by the lengths we have gone to in order to find unique places we stay - and comment that we obviously put a lot of effort into unearthing some of Australia's most memorable and interesting places to stay. Our focus is on getting outside and being active during the day, and staying in unique and memorable lodgings at night. We don't stay in five-star hotels, but we do stay in some lovely places.
Because of the expeditionary nature of the Kookaburra trip, unlike our other trips, we stay in tents, and the facilities are very basic. In fact this is by far the most primitive of our trips, but it's also one of the most rewarding!
Getting Around
Australia is a pretty big place, but we've focused each of our trips on a smaller area, so that you can see a lot of one place, yet enjoy yourself along the way as well! Some days we don't drive at all, in order to maximise the time available for fun stuff, but when we do head to the next destination, we use comfortable vehicles well suited for the small groups on our trips. All of our guides are competent and experienced drivers, which is a requirement since Australian road standards can vary widely - from highways to bare dirt tracks. Of course we hold all relevant federal and state transport licences.
Meals
Australian food can vary from standard Western fare to distinctively Aussie delicacies like barbecued tiger prawns, fresh mangoes and the decadent national dessert - pavlova! We reckon sampling the local fare is an interesting and fun way to experience a new culture, so we make a real effort to introduce you to Aussie food. You even get to try vegemite on toast, or witchety grubs if you're feeling really brave, although we confess neither of these down under gastronomic delights seem to be particularly popular with the uninitiated! At least once on your trip, we like to go to a classic Aussie pub for a fair dinkum fry-up. If you're a meat eater, we highly recommend Australian beef steak, although vegetarians are surprisingly well catered for in this otherwise fairly traditional society. Our guides are awesome cooks, and can easily cater to particular dietary requirements.