Luxury India Tours - Hungary - Archaeological tour - Travelling with Children - Blue Mountains - more

Turbaned Chauffeur at Maharani Bagh Orchard
Retreat. Image: Tony Sernack.

  New Australian tour company, Nomads Secrets, aims to take small groups of travellers beneath the skin of exotic cultures by combining the finest hotels and eco-resorts with guidance from world-leading experts in culture, photography, food, wildlife, festivals, and history.
Its 17-day exploration of Rajasthan this October, for instance, will be led by New York Times photographer Tony Sernack and will include the ancient Bateshwar Fair.
Prices start at $14,869 per person twin-share.
Visit www.nomadssecrets.com.

Hotel Boscolo New York Palace ... five-star
luxury in the heart of Budapest.

Beyond Travel is offering a wellness-spa package at one of the most opulent and elegant hotels in Hungary - the five star Hotel Boscolo New York Palace, located in the heart of Budapest on Grand Boulevard.
The three-night holiday is priced from $600 per person twin-share, including unlimited use of the hotel's spa facilities, an essential-oil massage, facial massage, daily buffet breakfast, return airport transfers and local taxes.
Phone 1300 363 554 or visit www.beyondtravel.com.au

Archaeological tour specialist Peter Sommer Travels will explore some of the most remarkable ancient sites of the Mediterranean this September during a series of four eight-day yacht expeditions in Turkey.
Each expedition will cater to no more than 16 guests, travelling along Turkey's south-west coast and hosted by expert guides with academic backgrounds in history, art and archaeology.
Cost is £2125 per person twin-share (approximately $3870). Visit www.petersommer.com.

When Ingrid and Paul Sanders became tired of negotiating their way through the minefield of

Baby & Toddler Travel Co ... taking the worry
out of travelling with young children.

travelling with kids, they took things into their own hands. The result is the Baby & Toddler Travel Co, which specialises in organising travel for people accompanied by ankle biters.
They've kicked the business off with packages to Bali - each one including such things as a child-friendly villa, access to a nanny, high chair, cot, car seat, fast track through airport and a specially fitted pool fence.
A five-night package in a three-bedroom villa in Canggu, for instance is priced from $1995, including breakfast daily and complimentary wifi.
Visit www.babyandtoddlertravel.com.au.

P&O Cruises has expanded its child-free Oasis retreats across two decks on each of its ships.

Adults only ... the child-free Oasis
retreat on Pacific Jewel.

Holidaymakers can chill out on new pod-style lounges for two, as well as plenty of cushioned lounges and sun beds.
Situated at the rear of Pacific Jewel, Pacific Pearl and Pacific Dawn, the Oasis retreats also feature a bar. Pacific Pearl also offers two whirlpool spas.
Visit www.pocruises.com.

Before you throw a lazy grand or two at the internet renting a place, sight unseen, for your next holiday, it may well be worth throwing $55 to the Go To Guys to see if it really has those splendid water views and a working jaccuzi.
Garry Harding and Greg Rawlinson have set up an Australia-wide network of 350 inspectors who will take photos and check if what you're really getting measures up to the hype.
And they can also check on prospective real-estate investments and even that blind date you're considering.
Visit www.gotoguy.com.au.

The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Centre, located at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah, will be given a $100,000 upgrade.
The Exhibition Centre opened in 2010 with the aim of providing information on, and communicating

Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah ...
due for a $100,000 upgrade.

the values of, the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. It provides interpretation on the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area to encourage respect for and protection of this special environment. The plan focuses on interpreting the northern Blue Mountains, the route known as the Botanists Way as it was first crossed by botanist George Caley, and on showcasing the world class canyons in the area, such as nearby Claustral Canyon, within the context of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. The upgrade is expected to be completed by 2015.
The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area covers 1.03 million hectares and includes seven national parks and outstanding examples of ecological processes, natural habitats and cultural associations. It is home to primitive species with Gondwanan affinities, including the Wollemi pine, and is a centre of the diversification of eucalypts. Phone 02 4567 3000 or visit www.mounttomahbotanicgarden.com.au.

JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa is offering a 'First Class Family Getaway' package priced from

JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa ...
first-class family getaway.

$158 per room per night, including accommodation in a garden-view room for two adults and two children under 12. Also included are complimentary daily breakfast, free dining for kids with two paying adults and access to the kids' pavilion.
Visit www.jwmarriottphuketresort.com.

Save 15 per cent on all room types at Broome's boutique Pinctada Cable Beach Resort.
Pay, for instance, from $239 per night for a Shinju Studio room September-October, from $187 per night from November.
Also receive 10 per cent discount on pre-booked transfers and spa treatments at the Pinctada Spa, including the Kodo Massage, which is inspired by traditional Aboriginal techniques. Available until further notice. Phone 1800 746 282 or visit www.pinctadacablebeach.com.au.

The Great Wall ... a must-see on
any Chinese itinerary.

Save up to $1000 per couple on select Helen Wong's Tours' group excursions to China later this year.
Pay, for instance, from $3480 per person twin-share ex Shanghai for the 14-day 'Yangtze Wonders' itinerary.
Includes a cruise on the Yangtze, visits to Shanghai and Beijing, including the Great Wall, and to the home of the Terracotta Warriors, Xian.
Book by August 8.
Phone 1300 788 328 or visit www.helenwongstours.com.

Absolutely treat yourself and save 65 per cent on a Garden Terrace Suite at Bali's Semara Luxury

'It's All About Me' package.

Semara Luxury Villa Resort Uluwatu ...
join Bali's A-listers.

Villa Resort Uluwatu. Pay US$419 per couple per night, including butler service, private chef, airport transfers, daily car service with driver, 20-minute spa treatment, free Wi-Fi, Semara gift pack, daily entry to Finns Beach Club plus free gym, tennis and use of the putting green.
Retreat offers a helipad, private beach, two tennis courts, putting green, fully equipped gym, pampering spa.
Until August 31.
Visit www.semarauluwatu.com.

Save an extra $200 off already discounted rates at Solar Springs health retreat in the Southern Highlands at Bundanoon.
Pay from $920 per person twin-share for a five-night
Includes all meals and activities, plus an 85-minute Solar Serenity Facial, pedicure and a one-hour massage of your choice (Swedish, remedial, shiatsu, lymphatic drainage or reflexology). Available until August 4. Phone 1800 044 944 or visit www.solarsprings.com.au.

Shakespeare - Titanic Belfast - Baltic Tour - Morocco - Kimberley Holiday - MSC Cruise - St Patricks Day Dublin - Beijing - India - Fiji

They’ll be celebrating William Shakespeare’s 450th birthday all year in his Warwickshire hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, but especially keenly during March and April.

Outdoor Travel is offering a particularly rustic way to join the festivities — aboard a self-skippered traditional narrowboat on the Stratford Canal and River Avon.

Rates start from £549 for seven nights on a two-berth vessel out of Alvechurch Marina, which is easily reached from Birmingham Airport or International Railway Station.

Visit www.outdoortravel.com.au.

 

CIE Tours describes its new eight-day Celtic Sampler fully escorted coach tour as an ideal introduction for first-time travellers to Ireland and Britain.

Highlights include Dublin, Titanic Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway on Ireland’s east coast, Edinburgh, the gentle scenery of the Borders country, the Lake District, Liverpool, and a drive across north Wales taking in the medieval town of Conwy with its huge castle.

Prices start at $1765 per person twin-share ex Dublin.


Visit www.cietours.com.

Melbourne radio personality Mike Brady — probably best known as the creator of Up There Cazaly — will help lead an 18-day self-drive European tour in July using brand-new leased globalCARS’ Citroens.

Travel will be from Munich to Berlin— via Prague, Warsaw, Vilnius, Tallinn, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Stockholm and Copenhagen, with many options of extending at the end of the formal arrangements.

The price of from $9250 per person twin-share includes vehicle lease with unlimited kilometres, four-or-five-star accommodation with most meals, ferry fees across the Baltic Sea, return rail tickets between Helsinki and St Petersburg and a fully-programmed GPS in each vehicle.

The trip into Russia does not involve driving. Cars remain in Helsinki while travellers travel by rail for three days to explore St Petersburg and return to Finland by rail to Turku before catching an overnight ferry to Stockholm.



Phone 1300 789 992 or visit www.globalcars.com.au.

Wander amidst snake charmers and street performers in Marrakech as you journey deep into Morocco’s cultural heartland with the 18-day Oh-So-Moorish package from Gypsian Tours.

Make like Lawrence of Arabia as you ride the sands of the mighty Sahara atop camels and sample the myriad delights of the Moroccan kitchen.

Book before March and receive a free half-day cooking class in Morocco.


Prices are from $6537 per person twin-share for the trip which Casablanca on May 6.

Phone 07 3372 4833 or visit www.gypsianboutiquetours.com.au.

Broome and The Kimberley Holidays has condensed the region’s main attractions into a seven-night package that includes must-sees such as El Questro Wilderness Park, a Lake Argyle and Bungle Bungles air safari, a guided tour of Willie Creek Pearl Farm and sunset dinner at Cable Beach.

The Distinctly Kimberley Icons package is priced from $3199 per person twin share ex Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane ($2699 ex Perth), including three nights accommodation in each of Emma Gorge Resort and Cable Beach Club Resort.

Phone 1300 357 057 or visit www.broomekimberley.com.au.



MSC Cruise’s 28-night Glacier & Mediterranean Magic itinerary is based on a four-week voyage from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean port of Genoa on board MSC Poesia.

Ports of call include Bergen, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Hellesylt, Flaam, Tallinn, Warnemunde (for Berlin), Copenhagen, Zeebrugge, La Coruna, Lisbon, Gibraltar, Barcelona and Marseille.

Prices are from $7041 per person twin-share ex Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, including accommodation for one night in Hamburg.

Phone 1300 028502 or visit www.msccruises.com.au.



If you’re heading to Europe next month, consider taking in the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin from March 14-17, when the Irish capital comes alive with parades, music and plenty of ‘craic’.

Tempo Holidays is offering a three-night package that includes breakfast daily, airport transfers, a hop-on/hop-off sightseeing bus pass allowing you to discover more than 20 attractions at your own pace, and entry to the Guinness Storehouse.

Prices start at $673 per person twin-share. Phone 1300 558 987 or visit www.tempoholidays.com.



Backyard Travel has introduced a very different two-day package to Xi’an, one of China’s oldest cities and home of the fabled Terracotta Army.

The tour costs from $US640 per person twin-share and includes accommodation in a traditional Wang cave dwelling and an evening meal there with the occupying family.

Transport is by sidecar attached to a vintage motorcycle and 1960s jeep. Other highlights include visiting a nearby vineyard, a local blacksmith and an artist district modelled on Beijing’s famous 789 precinct. 644$US per person based on a group of two

Visit www.backyardtravel.com.



Book now for earlybird Queenstown ski-season accommodation deals at Oaks Shores and Oaks Club Resort.

Pay from $139 per night for a hotel-style room or from $264 per night for a two-bedroom apartment, minimum two-night stay.

Features waterfront location, lake access, barbecue facilities, sauna, fully equipped gym, complimentary shuttle bus service to Queenstown’s city centre, and world-class ski fields within close proximity,

Book and travel before June 27. Visit www.oakshotelsresorts.com

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Escape high-season tariffs with a Rumba Relaxo deal at Rumba Beach Resort, on the Sunshine Coast at Caloundra.

Pay from $597 per couple for three nights in spa suite.

Includes credit of $50 at the resort’s Drift restaurant, morning smooth-water cruise for two, full-day bicycle hire, and a complimentary in-house movie.

Until April 17, including school and public holidays. Phone 07 5492 0555 or visit www.rumbaresort.com.au.




Attention all lawn bowlers. Drift your bias towards Nadi in May for the sixth Sunny West Bowling Carnival and get some special deals at Fiji’s Sonaisali Island Resort.

Pay from $1949 per person twin-share ex Sydney ($1849 ex Brisbane, $2049 ex Melbourne), including seven nights at Sonaisali.

Features breakfast daily; entry into the six-day tournament featuring Lovo, cocktail and prize-giving evenings. Visit www.fijibowls.com or www.sonaisali.com. Carnival runs May 24-29.



Save up to $1955 per couple with Travelmarvel’s companion-fly-free deal on nine-to-21-day holidays to India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Pay, for instance, from $5495 per person twin-share for the 15-day Colours of India itinerary, including international airfares, flights and rail travel within India, and an eight-day Lower Ganges River cruise.

Highlights include exploring the narrow lanes of Old Delhi via rickshaw, enjoying a Bollywood Show, and visiting the iconic Taj Mahal and the pink city of Jaipur.

Book by June 30.

Phone 1300 196 420 or visit www.travelmarvel.com.au.

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Nordic sagas named it ‘tears of the sea’, Roman mythology referred to ‘petrified sun dreams’ and early European scribes wrote about ‘gold of the north’ or ‘Baltic gold’.

All were referring to amber, the petrified resin of primeval pine trees.

You can indulge yourself in an amber jewellery shopping spree on Toursgallery’s 25-day Baltic States and Poland Tour in July.

It takes in the Polish city of Gdansk, where guests can visit artisans making fine jewellery from rough local amber — with rings, pendants, brooches and necklaces at bargain prices.

As far back as the 10th century, Gdansk was one of the cities located on the Amber Route, along which amber was transported from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean.

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Tour prices start at $8950 per person twin-share.

Phone 1300 307 317 or visit www.toursgallery.com.

Get right off the regular tourist beat at Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort & Spa — located about 30 kilometres east of mainland Mozambique on the Bazaruto Archipelago, an area filled with protected national park islands about a 15-minute flight from Vilanculos Airport.

The resort offers a boutique collection of 44 villas with garden and shoreline panoramas, and made from indigenous reed, soft fringed thatch and wood.

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Guests can also tour the island by 4×4 to discover other pristine bays, exotic flora and fauna, local life and a 19th-century lighthouse. Renowned as one of the world’s top snorkelling, diving and fishing destinations, the Bazaruto Archipelago boasts year round warm waters, dazzling soft coral ridges and thousands of tropical fish species.

Visit www.anantara.com.

The growing popularity of self-guided cycling holidays has led Cycle Tours Global — an online hub for over 5500 bike tours in 112 countries — to list a new self-guided bike trip in the beautiful Dordogne Valley in France.

The new nine-day tour is available between April and October, with an itinerary that showcases the charm of one of the most picturesque regions of France, with riders pedalling through medieval villages unchanged by centuries, past grand chateaux and also street markets where they can collect local produce for a picnic along the route.

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The tour is available from €1490 per person twin-share, including accommodation in boutique hotels for eight nights, breakfast daily, bike hire, daily luggage transfers between hotels, detailed maps and route descriptions, local support if needed and a meet and greet at the start of the tour.

Visit www.cycletoursglobal.com.

Pack a comfortable pair of walking shoes when visiting Macau and take advantage of the tourist office’s new series of self-guided walks that take you off the former Portuguese enclave’s main tourist map.

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All routes meander through the historic Macau peninsula where 25 Unesco World Heritage sites are found, including the iconic Ruins of St Pauls, a much photographed surviving façade of a 17-century church destroyed by fire in 1835.

Phone (02) 9264 1488 or visit www.macautourism.gov.mo for details.

If you need another excuse to take in the scenery, hospitality and exceptional food and wine of the NSW Central West, it could be provided on March 15-16 by the annual Millamolong Polo Carnival, one of Australia’s major events in the sport.

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The venue at Mandurama has the feel of a classy picnic race meet and there will be plenty of ancillary events between the fiercely competitive polo matches, plus a party on the Saturday night.

Visit millamolong.com.au.

Cox & Kings has added more 2014 departure dates to a popular eight-day small-group journey exploring Russia’s rich cultural and historical heritage.

Classic Russia takes in the main attractions of Moscow and St Petersburg, with accommodation in centrally located 4.5-star hotels.

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Prices start at $2493 per person twin-share and there are 29 departures between March and November, including dates which coincide with St Petersburg’s White Nights festival — a month-long cultural celebration in June.

Phone 1300 836 764 or visit www.coxandkings.com.au.

The pristine beaches and hinterland of the Illawarra on the NSW South Coast can now be explored using aboard Segway personal transporters.

Segway Tours South Coast is offering eco-adventure tours for individuals, families and groups in Killalea State Park, near Shellharbour, with all riders receiving a 10 per cent discount on accommodation at the 4.5-star Sebel Harbourside Kiama.

Tours from 30 to 90 minutes are available at beautiful Killalea State Park, 90 minutes south of Sydney, between Shellharbour and Kiama.

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Tours run on weekends and during school holidays and are available from $39.

Phone 0402 000 222 or visit www.segwaytourssouthcoast.com.au.

Worldwide Cruise Centres’ 27-day Great Wall to Walls of Ice itinerary is built around a six-day cruise around Japan and a trans-Pacific voyage to Alaska and Vancouver on Holland America Line’s MS Volendam.

Also included are four nights in Beijing, plus two nights in Vancouver and an exhilarating two-day Canadian trip, with a night at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler alpine resort on the way.

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Prices start at $4999 ex Australia, with departure on April 9.

Visit www.worldwidecruisecentres.com.au.

Get a three-night package in Auckland from Travelscene American Express.

Pay from $199 per person twin-share, including three nights at the Park Regis Hotel.

Includes return transfers from the airport to your hotel; Auckland Explorer hop-on/hop-off bus ticket.

Book by April 30 for travel May 1 to September 30.

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Phone 13 13 98 or visit www.travelscene.net.au.

Sail seven nights but pay for only four on the 120-passenger MV Reef Endeavour with Captain Cook Cruises Fiji.

Prices start from $1560 per person twin-share for the seven-night Yasawa Island and Northern Discovery cruises, instead of the normal $2900.

Discover the pristine beaches, turquoise waters and remote villages, churches and schools of the real and untouched Fiji

For sale until March 31, 2014, and valid for travel from April 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015.

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Phone 1300 863 454 or visit www.captaincook.com.fj.

Save more than $3300 per person on an ecruising.travel 54-day itinerary from London to San Diego on board Celebrity Infinity.

Pay from $7689 per person twin-share, including return airfares.

Includes 49-night cruise plus two nights accommodation at the St Ermins Hotel in London and three nights at the Marriott in in San Diego.

Departs England on October 1.

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Phone 1300 369 848 or visit www.ecruising.travel.

Enjoy school-holiday specials at Novotel Twin Waters Resort on the Sunshine Coast.

Pay from $174 per night for two adults and up to two children aged to 15 years.

Facilities include putt-putt golf, beach volleyball, beach cricket, stand-up paddle boards, catamarans, kayaks, water trampoline and new bikes for hire.

Valid until January 26.

Phone 1800 072 277 or visit www.novoteltwinwatersresort.com.au.

Baikal Ice Games - Cotswolds - QM2 - The Ghan - Pitcairn Island - Fiji - more

Shrewsbury’s The Golden Cross Pub

Explore the oldest of British establishments, the pub, along with its famous fare on Back-Roads Touring’s new five-day Old Pubs & Great Grub package.

Prices start from $1848 per person twin-share, with a 5 per cent discount when booked by December 15.

The tour features visits to , which dates back to the 1400s, Loughpool Inn in Ross-on-Wye, the Westonbury Mill & Water Garden in Pembridge, Eastnor Castle, Hereford Cathedral, Goodrich Castle and some of the Cotswolds’ most charming villages.

Baikal Ice Marathon

The small group tour features a maximum of 18 passengers and includes two dinners, three lunches, accommodation, full English breakfast daily, mini-coach transport and entrance fees.

Phone 1300 100 410 or visit www.backroadstouring.com.au.

Looking for a challenge with a difference? The 10th annual Baikal Ice Marathon will be held next March as part of the Baikal International Winter Games Festival.

More than 250 competitors are expected to race across the ice surface of Lake Baikal, which is the deepest freshwater lake in the world and holds some 20 per cent of the planet’s fresh water.

Adventure travel company 56th Parallel is offering tours to Baikal for the race, with other highlights including a visit to the cultural hub of Irkutsk and dog-sled and snowmobiling experiences in the Pribaikalsky National Park.

Registrations for the Baikal Ice Marathon close on December 1.

Phone 1300 742 374 or visit www.56thparallel.com.

QM2

Cruise Express is offering a 31-night fly-stay-and-cruise package next May based on two back-to-back voyages through northern Europe aboard Cunard’s Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2.

Prices start at $8369 per person twin-share, including return air travel to London and four nights accommodation at the five-star Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.

Guests will visit ports in Scandinavia, Russia, Germany and Belgium and also have the rare chance to see Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and QM2 rendezvouse in Southampton.

Phone 1300 764 509 or visitwww.cruiseexpress.com.au.

The Ghan

The legendary Ghan will undertake its fourth Anzac Tribute Journey in next April.

The four-day journey will include a dawn service atop Anzac Hill in Alice Springs, a cruise along the Katherine River, an outback dinner under the stars, a visit to the Alice Springs Desert Park and a trip on an original Pichi Richi troop train through the Flinders Ranges.

Gold-class prices start from $3009 (pensioners from $2359).

Phone 1800 023 614 or visit www.greatsouthernrail.com.au.

Intrepid Travel has added a variety of new culinary hotspots to its Food Adventures range of trips for 2014, increasing its emphasis on authentic, local, grassroots experiences and provision of an affordable alternative to traditional high-end gourmet food tours.

Highlights include feasting on a camel burger in Morocco, indulging in an asado (barbecue) with Argentinean gauchos, daring to try the infamous fugu, or puffer fish, in Japan, and picking tea leaves and preparing a fresh cup of tea in the highlands of Sri Lanka.

Macarthur Spring Food Tour

Visit www.intrepidtravel.com/food.

The Macarthur Spring Food Tour will take place on Saturday, October 26, in the historic Macarthur region around Camden, Menangle, The Oaks and Campbelltown, just south of Sydney.

The day-long gourmet, small-coach journey will be hosted by local foodie Nicci Peverill, and costs $99 per person, including transport, morning tea, lunch, tastings and a showbag.

Highlights include Camden’s Deli D’lish café, Camden Produce Market, visits to some of area’s best farms, food producers and wineries, and a grazing lunch created by Pretty Picnics in the grounds of Kelvin House, an 1820 Georgian farmhouse.

Mapping Our World: Terra Incognita

Phone 0431 942 945 or visit www.macarthur.com.au.

Some of the most rare and valuable maps telling the Australian story will be on display at the National Library of Australia in Canberra from November 7 to March 10.

Mapping Our World: Terra Incognita to Australia will bring together more than 100 spectacular maps, atlases, globes and scientific instruments from around the world, telling the story of how European cartographers were imagining an undiscovered land in the southern hemisphere, while Aboriginal people were already here using mapping in very creative ways.

The centrepiece of the exhibition will be one of the rarest maps in the world, the first large-scale map of New Holland, created in 1663 by master cartographer for the Dutch East India Company, Joan Blaeu.

Visit www.nla.gov.au/media/mapping-our-world. 

Claymore II

Pitcairn Island — best known as the home of Fletcher Christian and his fellow Bounty mutineers —remains one of the world’s remote and rugged outposts.

About 10 times a year Pitcairn’s supply ship, Claymore II, offers 12 passengers the chance to cruise to the island from Mangareva, in far-flung Eastern French Polynesia.

Prices start from $4970 per person twin-share ex Mangareva, including four nights aboard Claymore II and three nights home stay on Pitcairn.

Phone 8270 4899 or visit www.freighterexpeditions.com.au.

Save up to 40 per cent at Best Western hotels, apartments and resorts.

Book at least two nights in selected properties and get 40 per cent off in Fiji, 30 per cent in New Zealand and 20 per cent in Australia.

Prime locations close to beaches, major shopping centres and other holiday hotspots.

Japan’s Hakuba Valley

Book by November 10.

Visit www.bestwestern.com.au/shortbreaks.

Take an affordable ski lodge package in Japan’s Hakuba Valley.

Pay from $400 per person for five nights at Elk Lodge, including breakfast.

Get expert help in accessing the valley’s 10 ski areas, and getting to and from Tokyo’s Narita Airport.

Visit www.elkathakuba.com.

Phuket

Low-cost packages to Phuket.

Pay from $1163 ex Sydney ($1144 ex Melbourne and $1170 ex Brisbane) including return air travel to Thailand with full-service Malaysia Airlines, and five nights at the Bamboo Beach Hotel, just steps from peaceful Kalim Beach.

Free wifi and shuttles to Patong Beach, and a ticket to the spectacular Siam Niramit stage show, which features Thailand’s cultural heritage and includes a buffet dinner.

Book by November 11 for travel from January 16 to June 19.

Vibe Hotel Rushcutters Bay

Visit www.directflights.com.au.

Enjoy a Getaway Seafood package at Sydney’s Vibe Hotel Rushcutters Bay.

Pay from $269 per night, including a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine on arrival, a seafood platter for two in Curve restaurant, full buffet breakfast for two and a midday check out.

Free upgrade to a king view room overlooking Rushcutters Bay Park.

Monday to Saturday until January 31.

Visit www.vibehotels.com.au

Indonesia - Blue Mountains - NZ Bungy - Cycle Tours - QM2 - Murray River - more

Australian travel site Mega Holidays is offering a five-night Bali package including return flights with Garuda Indonesia, accommodation at the three-star Spazzio Bali Hotel in the heart of Kuta, and a full-day coral-reef excursion to the palm-and-beach-lined island of Lembongan.

Prices start from $1370 per person twin-share ex Sydney and the offer is valid for sale until December 31 for departures to March 31.

Visit www.megaholidays.com.au.

The traditional custodians of Darkinjung, Darug, Dharawal, Gundungurra, Wiradjuri and Wonnarua Country will play a leading role in this year’s Blue Mountains Festival of Walking, which starts next Saturday (October 5) and runs to October 13.

From the Gundungurra Ancestral Pathways Walk leading into the festival, the official opening at a site of Aboriginal significance, walks by indigenous people throughout the festival and a commemorative walk to wrap up the event, Aboriginal people of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area will be involved every step of the way.

Visit festivalofwalking.com.

On November 12 it will be exactly 25 years since AJ Hackett and Henry van Asch set up the world’s first commercial bungy-jumping operation at Queenstown’s historic Kawarau Bridge.

To celebrate, New Zealand adventure tourism company AJ Hackett Bungy will commence 25 days of celebrations on October 18, including stunt jumps, celebrity events, discounts and competitions.

Visit www.bungy.co.nz.

What is the world’s most popular cycling tour? According to the Cycle Tours Global website, it’s the Annapurna Fun Ride, a 10-day easy-to-moderate round-trip from Kathmandu in Nepal through alpine meadows in the Himalayas, Buddhist villages and the deepest valley on Earth between the 8000-metre-plus peaks of Annapurna and Dhalagiri.

Operated by Snowy Horizon Adventure, the tour runs weekly from September to November and March to May each year and is available from $2200 per person twin-share, ex Kathmandu, including mountain-bike hire, lodge accommodation, all meals on the bike expedition, B&B accommodation in Kathmandu, a farewell dinner and two flights within Nepal.

Other rides in the top three were World Expeditions’ Vietnam by Bike, a 15-day ride between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and Hannibal Expedition, a 27-day, 2400-kilometre trip from Barcelona to Rome, tracing the epic 218 BC warpath of one of history’s greatest military commanders.

Visit www.cycletoursglobal.com.

And talking of travel hot lists, Abercrombie & Kent notes that the island of Chiloé, in southern Chile, is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s prime luxury destinations.

Fishing and subsistence farming are the major industries but it’s also famous for its handicrafts and unique timber architecture. There are some 150 wooden churches there, many with World Heritage listings, and the colourful palafitos (stilted house over water) are dotted all around the archipelago.

Just about the only place to base yourself is Refugia, a new 12-room hilltop lodge.

Phone 1300 590 317 or visit www.abercrombiekent.com.au.  

Travel from Sydney to Adelaide by rail on the Indian Pacific, cruise the Murray River for three nights on the Murray Princess paddlewheeler, then return to Sydney with a four-night cruise on the Queen Mary 2.

The adventure begins on March 5, with prices from $3309 per person twin-share, including a night at the Sebel Playford Adelaide.

Phone ecruising.travel on 1300 369 848 or visit www.ecruising.travel.

Le Boat, which operates one of the largest fleets of self-drive craft on Europe’s waterways, has added Poland’s magnificent Mazurian Lakes to its offerings for 2014.

Guests will be able to explore more than 2000 interconnected lakes, all surrounded by lush and unspoiled nature.

Le Boat’s craft availability extends to countries such as France, the UK, Belgium, Italy and Germany.

Visit www.leboat.com.au.

Australians travelling on APT’s Royal Experience European river-cruise program next year will be guests at an exclusive performance by Vienna’s Mozart Boys’ Choir.

The venue will be the city’s newly refurbished City Palace, official residence of the Liechtenstein Royal Family.

As well as the opportunity to view the palace’s many artistic masterpieces, guests will also enjoy a cocktail reception followed by an exclusive and private soiree featuring members of the choir.

Phone 1300 278 278 or visit www.aptouring.com.au.

Take a three-night family escape to Spicers Hidden Vale, a 12,000-acre working farm in the Lockyer Valley less than an hour’s drive from Brisbane.

Pay from $925 per night per family (two adults, two children), including breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.

Also includes animal feeding, bush walking, a 4WD tour, a session at the Shooting Academy where guests can enjoy archery and laser clay target shooting, one massage, a pony lead each morning and one yoga session.

Phone 1300 179 340 or visit www.spicersgroup.com.au.

PIC: spicers.jpg — Spicers Hidden Vale … a 12,000-acre working farm in the Lockyer Valley. 

Wake up to an extra night at Daydream Island Resort and Spa in the Whitsundays for only a dollar extra.

Pay from $449 per person twin-share for a garden-balcony room and get a fourth night for $1.

Children aged up to 14 inclusive can stay and eat breakfast free of charge; free guest activities including kayaks, catamarans, stand-up paddle boards, stingray and shark feeding shows, an open air cinema, rainforest walk and gym.

Book by December 13 for stays until March 28.

Phone1800 075 040 or visit www.daydreamisland.com/dollardeal.

Take advantage of opening specials at the 13-room Frangipani Green Garden, in downtown Siem Reap, the gateway to Cambodia’s amazing Angkor Wat complex of ancient temples. Pay from $US35 per night per room, including breakfast.

Robust property-wide wifi; restaurant offers Khmer and western cuisine.

Visit www.frangipanihotel.com.  

Experience the luxurious side of the French capital with Tempo Holidays’ four-day Taste of Paris Deluxe package. Pay from $1034 per person twin-share for three nights at the legendary Hotel Sofitel Le Scribe, on the popular Right Bank.

Get a two-day hop-on hop-off bus pass, two-day Paris sightseeing pass offering entry to more than 60 museums and monuments including the Louvre, airport transfers and daily breakfast.

Valid for sale and travel to December 31.

Phone 1300 558 987 or visit www.tempoholidays.com.