Australia: the Great Ocean Road, the Grampians and Kangaroo Island

Arrive in Melbourne

Melbourne Airport (MEL) to your hotel in the city centre, then the laneways on foot

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Melbourne
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

We finish at a local restaurant for a welcome dinner, with the dietary needs from your booking already passed on.

Compris

• Pick-up at Melbourne Airport (MEL)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Guided walk through the laneways and arcades of the city centre
• Welcome dinner

The Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles

Melbourne to Torquay, Lorne and Apollo Bay, then Port Campbell

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Port Campbell
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in Apollo Bay. In the afternoon we walk the Maits Rest boardwalk in Great Otway National Park, under myrtle beech and tree ferns, then cross farm country to the limestone coast. At about 290 km and four and a half hours of driving, this is just over our usual cap, because the road itself is the sightseeing: no stretch runs much past an hour without a stop.

Soir

We check in at Port Campbell, then go back to the Twelve Apostles for sunset, when the stacks turn gold and the day-trip coaches have left.

Compris

• The Great Ocean Road from Torquay with your guide: the Memorial Arch, Split Point Lighthouse, Lorne and Kennett River
• Sit-down lunch in Apollo Bay
• Maits Rest rainforest walk in Great Otway National Park
• The Twelve Apostles at sunset

Activités en option

• A short helicopter flight over the Twelve Apostles, booked locally, with the price shown at booking

Apostles at sunrise, then into the Grampians

Port Campbell to the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and Tower Hill, then Halls Gap

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Halls Gap
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Matin

Wake-up is around 5:15 am for the one sunrise of the trip: we are at the Twelve Apostles viewing platforms before first light, about 6 am in midsummer, to watch the stacks come out of the dark with hardly anyone else there. Back in Port Campbell for breakfast, then the rest of the limestone coast while it is still quiet: down the Gibson Steps to the beach below the cliffs, Loch Ard Gorge, named after the clipper wrecked here in 1878 with only two survivors, the Arch, and London Bridge, whose span fell into the sea in 1990. Late morning we turn inland to Tower Hill, a wildlife reserve inside the crater of a dormant volcano, where emus and koalas are often close to the path.

Après-midi

Lunch is in Warrnambool. The drive north past Dunkeld brings the sandstone ranges of the Grampians (Gariwerd) up ahead.

Soir

From Halls Gap we drive up to Boroka Lookout and walk out to the Balconies above the Victoria Valley, then watch kangaroos come out to graze at dusk.

Compris

• The Twelve Apostles at sunrise
• The Gibson Steps, Loch Ard Gorge, the Arch and London Bridge in Port Campbell National Park
• Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve
• Sit-down lunch in Warrnambool
• Boroka Lookout and the Balconies walk in Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park

The Pinnacle, then west to Adelaide

Halls Gap to the Pinnacle, then Horsham, Bordertown and Adelaide

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Adelaide
• Environ 6 h de route

Après-midi

We break it every hour and a half or so: coffee in Horsham, a sit-down lunch in Bordertown just over the South Australian border, where watches go back 30 minutes, and a last stop in the Adelaide Hills.

Soir

We reach Adelaide at about 5:30 pm local time, and the evening is yours.

Compris

• The Pinnacle walk with your guide
• Sit-down lunch in Bordertown
• The drive to Adelaide, with regular stops

Adelaide's market, then the ferry to Kangaroo Island

Adelaide to Cape Jervis, the ferry to Penneshaw, then Kingscote

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Kingscote
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

After breakfast your guide walks the centre with you, along North Terrace past the Art Gallery of South Australia and the State Library, then into the Adelaide Central Market for coffee and a wander between stalls of cheese, bread, fruit and seafood from the state's farms and coast.

Après-midi

At about 11 am we drive south down the Fleurieu Peninsula, through vineyard country, with a sit-down lunch on the way, to Cape Jervis for the afternoon ferry. The crossing of Backstairs Passage takes about 45 minutes, and dolphins sometimes ride alongside. From Penneshaw we drive across the Dudley Peninsula to Pennington Bay, a surf beach on the island's south coast, and on to Kingscote, the island's main town, where we stay two nights.

Soir

The evening is free: walk the foreshore or find a table for local oysters.

Compris

• Guided walk in Adelaide: North Terrace and the Adelaide Central Market
• Sit-down lunch on the Fleurieu Peninsula
• Ferry from Cape Jervis to Penneshaw, with our vehicle
• Pennington Bay

A wildlife day on Kangaroo Island

Kingscote to Seal Bay, Little Sahara and Flinders Chase National Park, then back to Kingscote

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Kingscote
• Environ 4 h de route

Matin

We leave after breakfast for Seal Bay Conservation Park on the south coast, where a ranger walks us down onto the beach among a colony of Australian sea lions, a threatened species, resting on the sand, nursing pups or coming in through the surf. If the beach is closed, the ranger's visit runs from the boardwalk above it. A short stop at Little Sahara, a field of white dunes in the bush, then west to Flinders Chase National Park, which burned in the 2019 to 2020 bushfires and is growing back.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal near the park. At Remarkable Rocks, wind and sea have hollowed granite boulders into strange shapes on a dome above the ocean, and at Cape du Couedic a boardwalk leads down to Admirals Arch, where long-nosed fur seals haul out on the rocks.

Soir

On the way back we look for koalas at a wildlife sanctuary near Hanson Bay, and at dusk kangaroos come out along the roadsides. Farewell dinner is in Kingscote.

Compris

• Ranger-guided sea lion visit at Seal Bay Conservation Park: on the beach, or from the boardwalk if beach access is closed
• Little Sahara dunes
• Flinders Chase National Park entry: Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch
• Sit-down lunch near Flinders Chase
• Koala walk at a wildlife sanctuary near Hanson Bay
• Farewell dinner in Kingscote

Activités en option

• Sandboard hire at Little Sahara, where operating, with the price shown at booking

Emu Bay, the ferry and Adelaide

Kingscote to Emu Bay and Penneshaw, the ferry to Cape Jervis, then Adelaide Airport (ADL)

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

A slower last morning. After breakfast we drive the short way north to Emu Bay, a long curve of white sand with calm water, for a swim or a beach walk. Back in Kingscote we stop at a local honey producer to taste honey from the island's Ligurian bees: they were brought from Italy in the 1880s, and the island was declared a sanctuary for them in 1885.

Après-midi

Then we cross the island to Penneshaw for a sit-down lunch looking over Hog Bay before the early-afternoon ferry back to Cape Jervis. Our driver takes the road up the Fleurieu Peninsula, about 110 km and an hour and three-quarters, arriving at Adelaide Airport (ADL) at about 4 pm. Your guide checks your flight before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 6:30 pm, or stay on: we can drop you at a city hotel instead, and suggest a day in the Barossa Valley or the Adelaide Hills.

Compris

• Emu Bay beach
• Honey tasting in Kingscote
• Sit-down lunch in Penneshaw
• Ferry from Penneshaw to Cape Jervis, with our vehicle
• Drop-off at Adelaide Airport (ADL) or a city hotel