As you’d probably expect, day trips offered in and around Sydney are mostly outdoor excursions immersing you in the land and culture of the country. These are tours in every sense of the word, which means you can expect a comfortable, accessible experience with nothing more challenging than a walk. There’s also an option for those who prefer to stay in the city for their cultural experience.
Sydney Boutique Tours (7 Campbell St., Artamon, tel. 02/9436-1333, adult $250, child under 14 years $229) offers a boutique wildlife tour to the Southern Highlands, pristine bushland where Australia’s iconic wildlife (such as kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, and emus) lives without the need for zoos or fences—just a 90-minute drive outside Sydney. This tour leaves at noon and does not return until later in the evening to ensure you have the chance to spot some of the nocturnal animals, such as possums and wombats. Travel in a small group with your own naturalist guide in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, stopping for lunch or afternoon tea and dinner while on “safari.”
The emu is the world’s third largest bird. In this species, the female is larger than the male and, after breeding, wanders away and leaves the male to perform all the incubation. Photo © feathercollector/123rf.
Walk with an expert cultural guide through Ku-ring-gai National Park and learn about the local peoples’ art, culture, and traditions.Take a tour to Canberra, Australia’s capital city, with Down Under Day Tours (tel. 02/9251-7069, Mon., Wed., and Fri., hotel pickup around 7am, returning at 9pm, adult $125, child $63). You’ll see the New and Old Parliaments, the Aboriginal embassy, the Australia War Memorial, the National Museum of Australia, Lake Burley Griffin, and Mount Ainslie. Tour cost includes a guided tour of parliament, entry to the war memorial, and entry to either the national gallery or the national museum.Wachtl Australia (62/209 Harris St., Pyrmont, tel. 04/1208-6034, from $198) offers a tour to Jervis Bay, where you can swim, go on dolphin trips, or simply relax and enjoy the unspoiled wilderness surroundings of Booderee National Park. Drive out of the city southward, and along the way see Botany Bay, where the first settlers arrived but did not stay; visit the impressive blowhole at Kiama; and spend some time on the pristine Hyams Beach, where you will hopefully be able to spot dolphins and maybe even humpback whales. A 10-hour round-trip, this tour gives you another impression of what’s around the city.
If you take the Wachtl Australia tour to Jervis Bay, one of the stops along the way is Botany Bay, where the first settlers arrived in Australia. Photo © Leah-Anne Thompson/123rf.
EcoTreasures (tel. 04/1512-1648, adult $145, child $99, hotel pickup 8am, around 5.5 hours, lunch included) takes you north of the city to explore Australia’s Aboriginal heritage on the “Northern Beaches Cultural Heritage Tour.” Walk with an expert cultural guide through Ku-ring-gai National Park and learn about the local peoples’ art, culture, and traditions. Discuss Australia’s native wildlife and ecosystems, search for tracks, and learn about bush tucker; then drive to West Head, which is home to culturally significant Aboriginal sites, including rock engravings, hand stencils, and midden sites.
Find the true essence of Australia in the rural Outback on the “Tobruk Sheep Station Outback Experience” tour offered by Sightseeing (tel. 1300/655-965, adult $149, child $75, around 6.5 hours). You will drive through NSW to a traditional farm, where you can watch the stockmen muster sheep and shear them, eat the typical “damper” (the soda bread prepared by campers in the Outback around a campfire), and maybe even try your hand at shearing or cracking a whip. Lunch is a typical steak followed by a lamington cake, and the experience feels a million miles away from modern Sydney. The return journey takes you past the majestic Hawkesbury River and through the Blue Mountains.
Looking for more than just a one-day trip? Aussie Farmstay and Bush Adventures (tel. 02/9660-3245, adult $1,010, child $640) offers a four-day tour into the bush of Australia, experiencing the country and its ingrained traditions on a varied farm stay. On the way out of Sydney, you will visit the Koala Park Sanctuary and travel through the Blue Mountains to Mudgee for a wine tasting; the next day you will get into sheep shearing, bush craft, enjoying Australian bush tucker (food traditionally eaten and prepared by the Aboriginal peoples) around a campfire, and learning about the stars in the southern hemisphere sky. On day three, visit the country town of Canowindra, a fossil museum, and the Abercrombie Caves. Stay in the Megalong Valley in a log cabin. On day four you’ll go horseback riding in the Jamison Valley, visit the Scenic Railway in Katoomba, and see Aboriginal rock art before heading back. All accommodations, meals, and activities are included.
Excerpted from the First Edition of Moon Sydney & the Great Barrier Reef.
