Sydney Week + East Coast Semi-Guided Tour, Sydney to Cairns (37 Days)

Your airport pick-up is included on any day before the tour, so land early if you like. Tonight you meet your guide and your group over a welcome dinner, then head up for rooftop drinks with the city lit up below.

Hébergement

Central Sydney hostel dorm

Repas inclus

Dîner

A guided morning through The Rocks, two centuries of history on cobblestones, then the Opera House and Harbour Bridge up close. In the afternoon an Aboriginal cultural tour tells the story of the world's oldest continuing culture on the land the city stands on. Dinner is at Spice Alley, the laneway food hall locals keep quiet about.

Repas inclus

Dîner

Add a guided day trip to the Blue Mountains, 90 minutes away, for the cliffs, rainforest and the Three Sisters (an optional extra), or take your guide's list of places beyond the itinerary and explore Sydney with or without the group. On a Working Holiday visa? This is the day for the free starter pack and a one-on-one with the team on jobs and getting set up in Australia.

One of the great coastal walks: six beaches, cliff-top views and the Pacific all the way. The group starts at Coogee, walks the trail to Bondi with a sweet stop at Bondi's cult dessert bar on the way, and finishes at Dudley Page Reserve, which has the best view back over the city, before dinner.

Repas inclus

Dinner, Bondi dessert stop

Thirty minutes on the Manly ferry with the Opera House sliding past and the Harbour Bridge behind you: the best-value harbour cruise in Sydney, and it's included. In Manly the first stop is a much-loved bakery, then you walk out to Shelly Beach, find the Manly Wormhole and finish with your feet in the sand.

Repas inclus

Dinner, Manly bakery stop

Two days with no agenda. Go back to the beach you liked best, try a neighbourhood you haven't seen, or just slow down before the coast.

Hébergement

Central Sydney hostel dorm

Meet the crew you'll spend the next month with. The day opens with an overview session that runs through every stop, every inclusion and every question you came with, then there's a surprise group activity in Sydney (they keep it secret, and it's better that way) and a welcome dinner together. That night you board the overnight coach north and wake up in Byron Bay.

Hébergement

Overnight coach

Repas inclus

Dîner

Your guide walks you round town on arrival, then it's a group dinner to mark night one. Next morning you're on the water for a guided river kayak, and in the afternoon you climb to Cape Byron Lighthouse, the most easterly point of mainland Australia, for one of the best views on the coast. Your hostel is 100 metres from the beach and has a rooftop bar, so the gaps between activities sort themselves: a surf, a swim, a sleep on the sand. The last night is a team night out. Your guide hands over here, and from Byron the group travels on with the app, the local guides at each stop and the support team on call.

Hébergement

Beachside hostel with rooftop bar

Repas inclus

2 dinners

An Aboriginal guide takes the group around the Burleigh Heads headland and tells the story of the land and its people from the inside. Then it's the Gold Coast at full volume: beach days, theme and water parks if you want them, and the famous Surfers nightlife after dark.

Hébergement

Hostel dorm (6 to 8 beds, shared with your group)

Repas inclus

2 dinners

Three days in Queensland's capital and you choose the pace. Rest up, ride the city ferries (the best views in town for the price of a ticket) and swim at the free South Bank lagoon by the river. Or go big with the two favourite add-ons: Moreton Island for sandboarding, kayaking around shipwrecks and snorkelling, and a day at Australia Zoo with the kangaroos.

Hébergement

Hostel dorm (6 to 8 beds, shared with your group)

Noosa National Park starts 500 metres from town, and the Fairy Pools you've seen all over Instagram are inside it. The group also gets an afternoon on the Noosa River in a round boat (bring your own snacks and drinks; it's that kind of trip), and the app tells you exactly where to be at sunset. The hostel here is the one people don't want to leave, with enough going on that some days you won't.

Hébergement

Hostel dorm (6 to 8 beds, shared with your group)

No hostel tonight. You sleep inside the Noosa Everglades national park in lakeside cabins and safari tents, and the kangaroos come out around you every evening. Grab a kayak or paddleboard and get on the lake, or sit by the water at the onsite bar. Day two goes deeper: a boat cruise, then a short, easy canoe on the River of Mirrors, the stretch so still the sky shows up twice. All gear supplied.

Hébergement

Lakeside cabins and safari tents in a wildlife retreat

K'gari means paradise, and it's the largest sand island in the world. You spend three days crossing it by 4WD: swimming in freshwater lakes, floating down lazy creeks, stopping at shipwrecks and driving the beach highway with your mates in the car. Over 21 with a full licence? You get a turn behind the wheel. Two nights you camp on the island with tents and sleeping bags provided, and the stars around the campfire are the best you'll see in Australia. Either side of the island you're at Rainbow Beach, with sunset from the Carlo Sandblow, before the long run north to Airlie Beach.

Hébergement

Hostel at Rainbow Beach, 2 nights camping on K'gari (all gear provided) and an overnight coach north

Repas inclus

2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners

You see the Whitsundays twice. First from the sky: a 60-minute scenic flight over Heart Reef and the outer islands, included, not an add-on. Then from the water: a fast-boat day to Whitehaven Beach with snorkelling in the clear water around the islands. In between, Airlie does the rest, with its swimming lagoon, laneway bars and waterfront places to eat.

Hébergement

Hostel dorm (6 to 8 beds, shared with your group)

Repas inclus

Lunch on the Whitsundays day

Ferry across to Maggie, the island everyone forgets to plan and then doesn't want to leave. If you haven't seen a wild koala yet, you will here, along with wallabies you can hand-feed. Walk the Forts Walk, hire snorkels, or split a tiny open-top hire car round the bays (the team sorts the bookings). It's the deliberate slow-down before the finale.

Hébergement

Hostel dorm (6 to 8 beds, shared with your group)

Nearly 3,000 kilometres from Sydney, the trip ends where it should. You spend a full day out on the Great Barrier Reef snorkelling the coral with reef fish and, if you're lucky, a turtle; scuba is there to add if you want it. Then the whole crew sits down for a farewell dinner. Cairns is the adventure capital of the coast, so if you can stay on, the add-ons are right here: white-water rafting, bungy, skydiving, the Daintree and Fitzroy Island. The tour ends on the final day, and you can leave at any time.

Hébergement

Hostel dorm (6 to 8 beds, shared with your group)

Repas inclus

Reef day lunch, farewell dinner