Paul and Tracey Carter have worked in the UK travel industry for over 40 years, having met during the big Hoover free flights promotion in 1993. Now recently retired with Tracey co-owning 13 agencies, Carrick Travel with Paul, managing one of them – they wanted to use their time to see the world that they had been selling for all those years… and first on the list was 9-weeks travelling to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Malaysia. Who better to come to, to book their holiday… well the Australasia experts, ANZCRO!
Please take the time to read about their incredible trip in their words.
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Part 1 – Australia
Destinations visited: Perth, Adelaide, Victor Harbor, Robe, Ashmont, Apollo Bay, Melbourne, Sydney, Blue Mountains.
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After leaving the dark, cold, and wet England, we started our journey by landing in the Western Australia capital, Perth. We spent our next 4 nights there enjoying the blue sky and January heat, alongside the company of our friends who we were staying with in Walnut Grove. We had picked one of the busiest weekends to start our journey as our arrival coincided with the celebration of Australia Day/Weekend. We cruised along the Swan River from Perth to Fremantle while enjoying a lovely buffet lunch with drinks, navigated our way around Rottnest Island through busy crowds while searching for cute Quokkas (apparently half of Perth had decided to visit that same day!), walked and sat on one of the many beautiful beaches, and visited downtown Perth and the Zoo. Well, you have to see the natives, don’t you?
After our short but sweet time in Perth had concluded, it was onto Adelaide to pick up our rental car. Although we only spent a day there, we managed to squeeze in a walk around Adelaide’s beautiful Botanical Garden, conveniently located close to our hotel, the Majestic Roof Garden Hotel. Then our great journey along Australia’s southern coast began. Our road trip along the Great Southern Road continuing onto the Great Ocean Road started with a bit of luck as our rental car was upgraded from an MG to an Audi A6; we were going to do this drive in luxury. With multiple stops along the way, visiting the likes of Victor Harbor, Robe, Ashmont, and Apollo Bay, we were fully immersed in the Australian culture and way of life, getting to know the locals, and learning everything we needed to know over a very cold Aussie beer. Our favourite stop on this leg of the journey was the idyllic town of Robe with its beautiful beaches, lovely marina, quaint shops, and fantastic restaurants.
The journey was quite magnificent; the drive itself had hardly any traffic and with petrol a mere 80p a litre, all we had to worry about was missing the scenery, which we didn’t. Along the route, there are brown signs telling you of the sights, beaches, and places of outstanding natural beauty, so it’s difficult to miss the things that you really need to see. I suppose the highlight was the 12 Apostles, but don’t miss out on the other great places as they were just as magnificent.
Our long drive landed us in the bustling city of Melbourne, which was our favourite Australian city visited on our trip. Although the temperatures had hit over forty degrees, we still managed to get those steps in and explore all that Melbourne has to offer, ending up down by the magnificent Yarra River on many occasions.
After a lovely stay in Melbourne, we returned our luxury rental car and took a domestic flight to Sydney, where we would be spending the next six days. Our time in Sydney was spent seeing all the sights within the city and venturing out to the Blue Mountains on a small group tour with Diamond Tours. We spent our day in the Blue Mountains beginning with a drive across Anzac Bridge and through Katoomba to Echo Point where we admired the Three Sisters rock formation. We visited Scenic World for rides on the Skyway, Cableway, and Railway and took a walk in the rainforest. We also enjoyed the view of Megalong Valley from Cahill’s Lookout, explored the Quaint Village, visited Sydney Zoo, and ended our tour with a ferry ride to Circular Quay. This was worth every penny; this trip gets you out to see the most beautiful countryside and it really helped by having an amazing guide.
We ended our time in Sydney and Australia by enjoying a fantastic meal at Café Sydney, sitting on the front row of the terrace, savouring our breakfast alongside the accompaniment of stunning views of the Sydney Harbour and bridge (we recommend you book a table as far in advance as possible if you’d like to dine at Café Sydney too!). We then made our way to the airport and bid farewell to Australia as it was finally onto New Zealand to start the second leg of our journey.
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Thanks so much Paul and Tracey for sharing your trip with us. Stay tuned for next week where we uncover the second part of their holiday travelling around New Zealand.
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Paul and Tracey’s Australian Stays:
- McCracken Country Club, Victor Harbor
- Lakeview Motel and Apartments, Robe
- Ashmont Motor Inn & Apartments, Ashmont
- Captains at the Bay, Apollo Bay
- Victoria Hotel, Melbourne
- Parkroyal Darling Harbour, Sydney
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