Getting the Edge on Australia

While most people think Australia is located somewhere between the bottom of the earth and the other side of the planet, the country "down under" has never been closer. Deals abound in both tours and airline flights and V Australia, Sir Richard's latest sky bound venture, just launched from Los Angeles last year to offer even more choices in services and pricing. And when you arrive, you will find that the airport is a mere six miles from the center of town.

Fall in Australia, our spring that is, can be the perfect time to check out the great "out there." For travelers anxious to see Australia's wild top end, the months of late May through September present the dry and temperate weather required. For those interested in Ayer's Rock and the jewels of the continent's vast Red Center, these months are also a good time to visit.

No matter what the weather is, the key to the continent is picking a region and sticking to it unless you have days to spare. If you want to go to Australia for quality, pick three cities and give yourself two weeks. Leave yourself time to recover from all of your travel when going to Australia.

The saucy and sensational city of Sydney is usually the start of an Australian holiday, but the city is a destination in its own right with a list of "dos" that extend well beyond touring the Sydney Opera House or making the famous Bridge Climb above the Harbor.

The bustling port city of New South Wales is the country's oldest and is a marvelous place for just about any sophisticated pursuit: art galleries, architecture, heritage tours, botanical gardens, hidden streets and alleys filled with artsy boutiques and shops, dining districts, and more.

The Opera House now offers high tea and backstage tours as part of the opera tour menu. The tea features a local diva that entertains with a medley of arias during the session. Also, for those who want to climb the bridge over Sydney Harbor, but do not have four hours to spend climbing all the way up and down, an "express climb" of two hours is available.

Recommended attractions inside the city include the state-of-the-art installations to be enjoyed at the Museum of Sydney, the early public buildings and gardens around Macquarie Street by the Opera House and the Australia (natural history) Museum. Darling Harbor is also worth wandering. It was once an industrial dockland and now is a meandering and cavernous waterfront tourist park with museums, shops, restaurants and lots of heritage.

A new dining district along George Street has opened with 18 bars, nine restaurants and lots of retail. The hip area of Paddington is the hot spot for seeing the city's traditional terrace houses and hidden turn of the century alleys and streets. It is not far from Oxford Street, an area buzzing with bars, boutiques and cafes.

Sydney has a vast and crackerjack system of trains and trams that can be employed for cross-town travel, but the downtown area by the Harbor is compact and a joy to walk and explore.

A walk to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, for instance, is surrounded by botanical gardens filled with odd avian species and a riot of flying foxes cackling and crying as they hover low over the trees and grab branches to hang on to. The museum itself is a world-class attraction with 29,000 works ranging from European and Contemporary to Aboriginal and Australian.

Chinese gardens, swap meet bazaars, artist enclaves and bohemian boutiques around The Rocks and across from Darling Harbor, the Bond Beach scene ... Sydney is a wonderland of shopping, walking, watching and wandering. Safe, easy and insatiable.

Call the Wizards today to customize the perfect Australia vacation itinerary for you!