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Follow the Endless Summer to AustraliaAir-Inclusive Packages to Melbourne, Australia
Celebrate Melbourne’s December - February summer season on a hot air balloon ride over Australia’s most cosmopolitan city, for a bird’s eye view of modern skyscrapers, lush green parks and surrounding wine and coastal regions. Touch down in West Melbourne to explore the historic Queen Victoria Market, where everything from trendy Ugg boots to tasty Aussie lollies (sweets) are in the offing. Next, stop for lunch at an outdoor café in Federation Square -- an architectural masterpiece whose expansive plaza gives visitors and locals an ideal spot to enjoy food and wine, galleries and museums, and commanding views of Melbourne's cityscape. Central Melbourne’s beautiful tree lined boulevards are made for meandering, packed with boutique shops and galleries offering aboriginal art for sale. The elegant Victorian-era streetscapes of St. Kilda, Melbourne’s bayside suburb, are known for cool cafes, restaurants and bars, with panoramic views of Port Phillip Bay. And, with 15 hours of summer sunlight each day, there is ample time to visit the Botanical Gardens, or to walk the Bay Trail Path from St. Kilda Pier to Bay Street, home to lovely cake shops. Night brings this great restaurant city to life, from stylish fine dining in gourmet restaurants to intimate bistros, serving wines from the Mornington Peninsula or one of Victoria’s other 16 wine regions. After dinner, check into your suite at the intimately luxurious Lyall Hotel, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, located in trendy South Yarra. Follow the salt air route on a one-hour’s drive southeast from Melbourne to San Remo and the bridge to Philip Island, a haven for nature lovers. Traverse the sand dunes around Cape Woolamai in search of shearwaters, or stroll along the Rhyll Inlet and Wetland boardwalk for pelicans, ibis and swan sightings. Enjoy a picnic on the gentle shores of Cowes or don bathers (swimsuit) and boardies (board shorts) to surf like a local (with a lesson, of course) at Smiths beach. Visit Summerland, residence of the world’s largest colonies of Australian fur seals and Little Penguins - followed by a specialized night tour for a close encounter with the nightly “Penguin Parade,” as the smallest of their species retire on cue each evening after a long day of fishing. Your day ends just as sweetly in a cozy suite at the Cliff Top inn, where dinner is accompanied by inspiring vistas of the wild Bass Strait. Summer’s pleasures intensify as the scent of eucalyptus leads you north to eco-friendly French Island for one of Australia’s largest koala populations, more numerous than the local town residents by more than 40 to one amidst a stunning 27,000-acre nature park. A short ferry ride carries you east to Stony Point, entryway to the Mornington Peninsula, Melbournians’ warm-weather playground. Summer seems perennial in amidst the peninsula’s famous gardens, orchards, lavender fields, strawberry farms, olive groves and vineyards - and on to the golden shores of Brighton beach, with its brightly colored bathing boxes (beach bungalows). Swim with Port Philip Bay’s resident dolphins, or wander the rugged windswept coast along Bushrangers Bay past dunes, beaches, cliffs and lighthouses in the Mornington Peninsula National Park. You can even explore the historic seaside village of Sorrento, site of Victoria’s first European settlement. Sundown may find you on the porch of a lakeside chalet at the Woodman Estate, a luxurious Victorian manor - or some other grand setting suggestive of “eternal summer.” Down Under Answers offers “Summer in Melbourne” packages combining Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula and Philip Island from $2,399 USD per person (based on double-occupancy), including roundtrip economy airfare from Los Angeles on Qantas Airways, three-day car rental, and seven nights accommodation. This package is combinable with a variety of tours to Australia’s many attractions. For more information, log onto www.duatravel.com , or call 1-800-788-6685. For information about exciting vacation options in Melbourne, Australia, and throughout the state of Victoria, log onto www.visitmelbourne.com. Edited by Dave Shultz |
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As winter rolls in, Americans can follow the summer sun
to Melbourne, Australia, gateway to the state of Victoria’s stunning bays,
golden beach-lined peninsulas and offshore islands. And from “Marvelous
Melbourne,” as Victoria’s thriving metropolis is affectionately known,
travelers can sample the fragrance and flavors of an Australian summer,
partaking of their choice of outdoor activities from day trips to weeklong
excursions in and around the Mornington Peninsula and Philip Island.