8 Day - Port Stephens Great Escape
Departure Date: Friday, 18th June 2010
Tour Cost: from $2249 per person twin share
This tour is always a favourite holiday destination. Port Stephens is a blue water Paradise! Your holiday combines beautiful scenery, cruising amongst the dolphins of Nelson Bay with flora, fauna and time to relax as you explore the many delights of the region. Some of the activities during your stay include a visit to Trudgalong Farm, Hillview Herb Farm, Moffat’s Oyster Barn, Port Stephens Winery, Williamtown RAAF Base, Monarch Historical Museum, Old Maitland Gaol, Golden Grape Winery, historic Campbell’s Store plus a stroll through the spectacular Hunter Valley Gardens. As a bonus a visit to the Barrington Top National Park is also included! All in all, what are you waiting for, come and escape to a beaut holiday by the sea!
DAY 1 HERVEY BAY–TENTERFIELD (LD)
Friday 18th June 2010: An early start for passengers joining between Hervey Bay and Caloundra. Brisbane and Gold Coast passengers join at Brisbane Roma Street Transit Centre at 10.30am. The Cunningham Highway leads us into the Darling Downs and to the “Rose and Rodeo City” of Warwick, for lunch at the Abbey of the Roses. This former Sister’s of Mercy Convent is now classified by the National Trust and we are given an interesting tour and the opportunity to relax in their gardens. After lunch continue south through Stanthorpe and over the NSW border to Tenterfield to our comfortable accommodation for the night.
DAY 2 TENTERFIELD–BARRINGTON TOPS-GLOUCESTER (BLD)
Saturday 19th June 2010: Our travel today will take us through some interesting country. The New England Tablelands are noted for cool country wines and prime beef cattle and there is evidence of this as we travel south through the Celtic town of Glenn Innes to the attractive university city of Armidale for our morning break. Further south reach Tamworth, the Country Music Capital of Australia for a lunch break at the Tamworth Services Club. The afternoon tour brings us through racehorse stud country from Murrurundi to Scone, where we take a break at the Visitor Information Centre.
Reboard the coach and head eastward through Gundy and past Belltrees into the Barrington State Forest area. The Park features World Heritage listed rainforests, wilderness areas and wild scenic rivers. We pass through the “dog fence” and descend into the foothills before arriving in Gloucester for our overnight stay.
DAY 3 GLOUCESTER–NELSON BAY (BLD)
Sunday 20th June 2010: A change in pace today, as we head the short distance from Gloucester to historic Gold Town to learn how gold was discovered in the rainforest. See the largest single stand of red cedar left in Australia and look through the interesting museum. Take the guided tour and try your luck at gold panning and remember finder’s keepers! We enjoy morning tea here before travelling back through Gloucester to Trudgalong Farm, set on the banks of the Gloucester River. Trudgalong is an alternative farm.
To make a living on just 130 acres Trudgalong has had to diversify, you will see and hear about raising Australian Native Silver Perch, the Boer goat stud, miniature ponies, free range hens, Labrador breeding and more. Enjoy a delicious home cooked lunch before we visit Hillview Herb Farm. Here learn about herbs during the informative tour. Purchase from their range of herbs, jams and pickles and then sit down to a wonderful afternoon tea. Next, travel down Bucketts Way, through historic Stroud then along the Bellarine Peninsula to the resort town of Nelson Bay. Stay four nights at our resort accommodation in Nelson Bay. Time to freshen up in our rooms before dinner is served in the restaurant.
DAY 4 PORT STEPHENS SIGHTSEEING & CRUISE (BLD)
Monday 21st June 2010: All full day of activities by the sea in beautiful Port Stephens. Start the day with a visit to the Nelson Heritage Lighthouse, for breathtaking views of the sparkling waters of the Port. At the marina board our cruiser the MV Moonshadow for a dolphin watch cruise. A pod of wild dolphins live inside the Port and love to interact with travellers in the Bay.
Back on shore enjoy a picnic lunch in town before taking the scenic drive via Corlette and Salamander Bay to Moffat’s Oyster Barn at Swan Bay. Enjoy a tour and tastings of course! Our return to Nelson Bay includes time for wine tasting at Port Stephens Winery, where you might like to acquire a bottle or two as a souvenir of your visit. Return to our motel for dinner.
DAY 5 FIGHTER WORLD & OLD MAITLAND GAOL (BLD)
Tuesday 22nd June 2010: A change in pace today as we travel to Williamtown. Enter a world of wonder at Monty and Dorothy Wedd’s Monarch Historical Museum. See their collection of treasures from the past and enjoy the nostalgia evoked by their many artefacts and the welcome tea provided by our friendly hosts. Our next visit is to Fighter World at The RAAF Williamtown Base.
Experience first hand the day-to-day operations of an active fighter base and the thrill of the roar of jet aircraft taking off and landing before our very eyes. Enjoy a light lunch at the Fighter World Café before we are farewelled by our RAAF friends. Travel to Maitland and the confines of the Old Maitland Gaol. It only ceased operations in 1998 and on our guided tour be regaled with grisly details of those once incarcerated within these grim sandstone confines. Time to contemplate life on the “darker side” as we return to our comfortable accommodation at Nelson Bay.
DAY 6 HUNTER VALLEY GARDENS & SIGHTSEEING (BLD)
Wednesday 23rd June 2010: Today travel via Kurri Kurri to the magnificent Hunter Valley Gardens, spanning over 25 hectares with 12 spectacular international display gardens modelled on traditional gardens from around the world. They include a Rose Garden, Italian Grotto, Japanese Garden, Indian Mosaic Tea Garden and Chinese Garden among others. The Gardens also feature “Dancing Waters”, a magical show with coloured lights and water choreographed to music. Having soaked up the wonderful fragrances it is time to reboard our coach for the short trip to our lunch venue at the Golden Grape Estate.
The Golden Grape Estate is one of the oldest wineries in the region, and we are served a delicious lunch on arrival followed by a tasting. Try their Golden Tango Cream; popularly know as “love in a bottle”! There is an interesting wine museum well worth exploring before we take our leave and travel the short distance to the historic village of Morpeth. Now classified by the National Trust it was once a thriving Hunter River port for ships taking goods around Australia and the World. We visit the old Campbell’s Store and admire the colonial buildings before travelling back through the Tomaree Peninsula to Nelson Bay. Time to relax before our last dinner in our holiday resort.
DAY 7 NELSON BAY–BALLINA (BLD)
Thursday 24th June 2010: Farewell to our Nelson Bay friends as we make an early start on our travel back up north to Ballina. Join the Pacific Highway at Raymond Terrace and pass through the river town of Bulahdelah before a morning tea stop at Taree, on the banks of the Manning River. Our morning tour continues, by-passing Port Macquarie and Kempsey before arriving at Nambucca Heads for a welcome lunch at the RSL. Enjoy the water views, then continue north through Grafton to the Scottish town of Maclean for an informative stop at the Visitors Centre. The final leg of our afternoon brings us to the popular resort town of Ballina and a good dinner before a well earned sleep at our motel.
DAY 8 BALLINA–HOME (BL)
Friday 25th June 2010: A leisurely breakfast before we leave Ballina and take the coast road up to Byron Bay for a short tour of the now popular resort area. Rejoining the Pacific Highway our tour takes us over the border at Tweed Heads (passenger drops offs on the Gold Coast as required) stopping at Nerang RSL for lunch and on to Brisbane where our Brisbane friends leave us. Passengers north enroute to Hervey Bay stay on the coach.