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Day 1 : Brisbane (D)
On arrival at Brisbane airport (please book flights to arrive by 11.00am) you will be met and transferred* to your hotel. Early this afternoon meet your Outback Discovery crew and join them on a trip to Australia Zoo. Tonight there’s time to get to know your fellow travellers over dinner.
Overnight Stay: Brisbane
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Day 2 : Brisbane - St George (B,L,D)
This morning your Coast to Coast Adventure starts as we drive west over the Great Dividing Range to Toowoomba and the Darling Downs. On arrival in Dalby enjoy a tour of the Pioneer Park Museum and its collection of working agricultural machinery, minerals and fossils. Continue to the Moonie Cross Roads, where you’ll see vivid murals depicting the town’s history. Arriving in St George we’ll take an orientation drive through the town’s wide streets.
Overnight Stay: St George
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Day 3 : St George - Quilpie (B,L,D)
Before leaving St George we’ll visit The Unique Egg, a world class collection of handcarved illuminated emu eggs. Our destination today is Quilpie, situated in the heart of Boulder Opal country. Experience a unique Australian story during our stay at Ray Station. Tonight enjoy dinner and entertainment around the campfire.
Two Night Stay: Quilpie
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Day 4 : Quilpie (B,L,D)
Following a hearty breakfast experience the inspiring ‘Tully-Durack story’ told by the family of the original owners. Ray station’s 600 square kilometres remains one of a select few properties in Australia never to have changed hands since white settlement. It has been passed down each generation directly from father to son. Ray Station was settled in 1874 by great grandparents Patsy and Sarah Tully nee Durack. Sarah’s brother the famous Patsy Durack (Kings in Grass Castles) urged them to follow him to the Kimberley, they declined, surviving the great drought of 1900.
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Day 5 : Quilpie - Birdsville (B,L,D)
Our first stop today is the cattle town of Windorah, with its giant red sandhills and Cooper’s Creek, a Lake Eyre tributary which swells to 100 kilometres wide in flood season. We’ll have lunch at Deon’s Lookout, a spectacular vantage point above the surrounding plains then it’s on to Birdsville, the starting point for the legendary Birdsville Track between the Simpson Desert and Sturt’s Stony Desert.
Two Night Stay: Birdsville
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Day 6 : Birdsville (B,L,D)
This morning we’re off to the tracks where Birdsville’s annual race meeting sees the population grow from 120 to 6,000 in two days. This afternoon travel out to ‘Big Red’ – the highest sand dune in the Simpson Desert.
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Day 7 : Birdsville - Marree (B,L,D)
Our journey today takes us along the Birdsville Track into some of Australia’s most remote country. Our lunch break today is at the Mungerannie Hotel, once a supply point for drovers travelling north to Queensland. Marree was founded around a series of artesian springs by wheat, sheep and cattle farmers in the 1870’s. Afghan camel drivers also made it their home, and many of their descendants still live here today.
Overnight Stay: Marree
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Day 8 : Marree - Coober Pedy (B,L,D)
The shores of Lake Eyre is our first photo stop today. Australia’s largest inland lake was discovered in 1840 and for more than a century it was thought to be permanently dry until its first recorded flooding in 1949. We’ll have lunch at the William Creek Hotel, the legendary ‘watering-hole’ on the Oodnadatta Track. We continue to Coober Pedy where this evening we will enjoy a gourmet BBQ on the hotel’s terrace.
Two Night Stay: Coober Pedy
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Day 9 : Coober Pedy (B,L,D)
Coober Pedy has become the ‘Opal Capital of the World’ since Australia’s national gemstone was first found here in 1915. This morning we’ll travel out to Moon Plain, a vast rock-strewn landscape. We’ll track along part of the Dingo Fence to the Breakaways, where you can stand atop flat-top mesas and imagine that this parched gibber desert was once a huge inland sea. You’ll visit the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum, see cutting and polishing demonstrations and view a stunning collection of opals. After dinner this evening, join our star-gazing session as we explore the sparkling beauty of the outback sky.
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Day 10 : Coober Pedy - Alice Springs (B,L,D)
Today we cross the Northern Territory border and head for Alice Springs, Australia’s most famous outback town, affectionately known as ‘The Alice’.
Three Night Stay: Alice Springs
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Day 11 : Alice Springs (B,L,D)
The magnificent West MacDonnell Ranges is our destination today. We take a short walk into Simpsons Gap, further along the range we walk into Standley Chasm and on to Ormiston Gorge. To end the day we go to the Gosse Bluff lookout to see the huge crater created by a comet crashing into earth millions of years ago.
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Day 12 : Alice Springs (B,L,D)
You’ll visit all of the sightseeing highlights of Alice Springs today including the school of Distance Education (previously known as the School of the Air), The Alice Springs Desert Park and the Cultural Precinct. We will call in to the Royal Flying Doctor Service to learn how this remarkable lifeline for remote areas operates. This evening you’ll dine at the Red Ochre Grill and attend the Sounds of Starlight show.
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Day 13 : Alice Springs - Kings Canyon (B,L,D)
Before we reach Kings Canyon today, we divert from the highway to Chambers Pillar. Heading back through Maryvale Cattle Station, we rejoin the Stuart Highway until we turn west along the Ernest Giles Road to Kings Canyon.
Overnight Stay: Kings Canyon
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Day 14 : Kings Canyon - Uluru (B,L,D)
This morning you have a choice of guided walks within Kings Canyon. We drive to the million acre cattle station, Curtin Springs and on to Uluru.
Two Night Stay: Yulara
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Day 15 : Ulara (B,L,D)
It’s an early rise today to see the sun come up over Uluru. Spend some time at the Cultural Centre before going to the equally spectacular Kata Tjuta (Olgas). Tonight you’ll dine under the stars at the award-winning Sounds of Silence dinner.
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Day 16 : Uluru - Warburton (B,L,D)
Today we travel along the Gunbarrel Highway which links the Red Centre with Western Australia. We’ll stop at Lasseters Cave, named after Harold Lasseter who claimed, in 1929, to have discovered a rich gold reef in this area. This afternoon there’s a visit to the Giles Weather Station on the edge of the Gibson Desert.
Overnight Stay: Warburton
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Day 17 : Warburton - Leonora (B,L,D)
Our travels today reveal scenic ranges, red soil, spinifex, mulga and desert oaks. We stop at Tjukayirla Roadhouse, the most isolated roadhouse in Australia. We’ll tour the local indigenous caves and view 5,000 year old rock art.
Two Night Stay: Leonora
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Day 18 : Laverton (B,L,D)
After breakfast we travel to Laverton which a century ago was a gold mining town reputed to be the wildest town in the west. In 1969 nickel was discovered here by the Poseidon Company which famously saw its shares rocket from $1.20 to $280 in one day. Step back in time at The Great Beyond – Explorers’ Hall of Fame to learn the stories of explorers and pioneers during the Australian gold rush.
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Day 19 : Leonora - Kalgoorlie (B,L,D)
Journey to the gold rush town of Kalgoorlie and follow the Golden Mile. At the Miners Hall of Fame you will have the opportunity to pan for gold, watch gold being poured or even put on your hard hat and go down a mineshaft.
Overnight Stay: Kalgoorlie
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Day 20 : Kalgoorlie - Perth (B,L,D)
Once the centre of Australia’s greatest gold rush, Coolgardie is known as the ‘mother of the Western Australian goldfields’ and is now the nation’s best preserved gold mining town. Just out of town we’ll visit the local cemetery and the grave of Ernest Giles, the first European to sight Uluru. We’ll drive east into the wheat belt and visit Cunderdin Museum. Farewell new found friends this evening in Perth.
Overnight Stay: Perth
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Day 21 : Perth (B)
This morning after breakfast you will be transferred* to the airport for your homebound flight. *Check transfer entitlements with your Travel Agent. For passengers who have already received documentation - refer to your booking summary.
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