It doesn’t take long to draw up a big list of great reasons to visit Australia. From starry nights in the outback and days out on the beach to natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef and cultural icons such as the Sydney Opera House; not to mention the fine wines, beer, barbecues, koalas, penguins, laid-back lifestyle, a small matter of 16,000 miles of fabulous coastline and… well, you soon start losing count.

There’s only one problem: all those reasons to visit Australia aren’t exactly a secret. So what if you want to get off the beaten track Down Under – and what if you want a fresh take on those must-see sights?

If that’s you, here’s a thought: on your next Australian tour, don’t just see Sydney; make a scenic loop over Sydney Harbour in a seaplane. Don’t just take a boat to the Great Barrier Reef; take a helicopter ride to experience it in all its glory from the air. Don’t just visit the outback; have a gourmet outback dinner with dramatic Uluru (Ayers Rock) as your backdrop. And the next day, should the mood take you, ride through the bush on the back of a Harley Davidson – just because you can.

On a Scenic Tours escorted tour, you could do all of this and more. And, as it’s a fully inclusive tour, all those excursions are accounted for in the cost of the holiday, as are all travel and first-class hotel stays, and even a three-night outbound stopover in your choice of Hong Kong, Bangkok or Singapore.

Scenic Tours is an Australian company that offers innovative tours to the continent it knows best, letting you take a fresh look at the world Down Under by including a lot of the things other companies leave out. Flexibility is the key to the Scenic Tours experience, so you can enjoy a holiday as original and individual as if you’d designed it to suit yourself.

After all, one of the great beauties of Australia is that it’s so big and so varied you’ll want to enjoy a huge range of activities on one holiday – whether it’s taking a scenic rail journey through the rainforest in Queensland, or sailing on an America’s Cup yacht off the coast of Sydney.

A great tour needs to harness that variety, and give you a wealth of different excursions to choose from – without having to pay a penny more. With “FreeChoice” from Scenic Tours, you choose one of a range of excursions at any given destination, so you can design a holiday around your own tastes.

For example, in Melbourne, if wildlife is your thing, you could take a trip to Phillip Island, 90 minutes from the city, to witness the famous “Penguin Parade”. At dusk, hundreds of little penguins (the smallest penguin species) come out of the sea and head across the beach to their burrows in the sand dunes.

Or you could bike around Melbourne, visit the Melbourne Cricket Ground or, yes, see Ramsay Street on the Official Neighbours Ultimate Tour. And if you haven’t had enough of Australia’s amazing landscapes, you could tour the dramatic Great Ocean Road – the scenic coastal highway that winds along the Victoria coastline – to see the Twelve Apostles, a series of beautiful rock stacks rising out of the Southern Ocean.

And the choices don’t stop there, because in Melbourne there are FreeChoice dining options, too – whether it’s a plush dinner at the Hyatt Hotel or dining aboard a historic tramcar.

It’s all about giving you the holiday you want, and perhaps seeing a side to Australia that you might not have considered before.

Along the way, with Scenic Tours you always stay in first-class hotels. In Queensland, for example, you stay at the Thala Beach Lodge, a luxury eco-resort set among tropical rainforest that overlooks the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. In Sydney, it’s the heritage-listed Radisson Blu Hotel, not far from the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

Talking of Sydney, with Scenic you can round off your holiday in style. On your last full day, you go up in your seaplane for a view of Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge; then, in the afternoon, tour the Harbour by boat; and, for your last night, you enjoy dinner in an award-winning restaurant with Harbour views.

It’s an appropriate way to finish off a luxury tour that includes the things other companies leave out.

The Grand Australia escorted holiday with Scenic Tours are currently available for travel up to April 2013: 27-day tour from £5,495pp; 31-day Very Best of Australia and New Zealand tour from £6,795pp.

Special Offer

Experience a new destination on your way home with a free two night stopover on selected dates worth up to £618 per couple. 

To book or request your FREE brochure and DVD click here or call 0800 023 5081

www.scenictours.co.uk