Insight to Melbourne

"Firstly I wanted to thank many of you who have passed over your feedback on this newsletter. Your input is greatly appreciated and I hope that we can continue to provide the best luxury touring experience in Australia.

In this issue I decided to focus on the cultural capital of Australia, Melbourne. Often unluckily left out of itineraries due to time constraints or the lack of crowd drawing attractions, Melbourne has a great range of iconic experiences that your clients will love.

Please find a selection of our itineraries that have had gained fantastic feedback from many past travellers."

With thanks
Mat
Business Development Manager
Mathew@australianwildescapes.com

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Spotlight on Cairns

"With the dry season of Northern Queensland in full swing, I decided to focus this newsletter on Cairns and its surrounding regions. Being one of our most vibrant and exciting touring destinations, this area is bursting at the seams with unique itineraries that your clients will simply rave about. With the region playing host to such gems as the Atherton Tablelands, Kuranda, Mosman Gorge, The Great Barrier Reef and the mighty Daintree National Park it’s hard to not get excited about the activities your clients could be doing here!!.

Below you will find a selection of itineraries, interesting facts, and major selling tools that we hope you find useful in bringing your clients to explore this amazing region. If you ever have any questions, clients requests....you name it, please don’t hesitate to let me know. We are truly the leaders in luxury touring in the region, and aim to provide your clients with the 5 star experience they so deserve.

With thanks
Mat
Business Development Manager
Mathew@australianwildescapes.com

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First Issue

"Firstly I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your fantastic support for Australian Luxury Escapes. The private charter side of our business has gone from strength to strength and the main contributor has been the support of our agents, and for this we thank you.

With the amount of new itinerary ideas, feedback, excellent pictures etc, that come across my desk each week, we decided that we should formalize this into a fortnightly newsletter to keep everyone in the know. This newsletter will hopefully be used as and resource tool for your itineraries, and an update tool for our Australian Luxury Escapes website.

If you have any questions or feedback please don't hesitate to let me know."

With thanks
Mat
Business Development Manager
Mathew@australianwildescapes.com

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Hello Grant,

We just had some great feedback from our clients who recently enjoyed your Daintree Wanderer tour so thought it would be good to forward to you.

The tour of the rainforest was even better Our guide, Rick, was hugely knowledgeable about the wildlife, the environment and the local Aboriginal customs several of which he demonstrated to us including playing the didgeridoo, throwing a boomerang and making ochre face paints. He was also extremely interesting when explaining the environmental impact of the European colonisation of north Queensland. He was able to entertain and inspire our kids and even got one of them to lick an ant's bum! Apparently, the green ant releases a small shot of pure vitamin C when provoked! Because of Rick, it was the best tour that I've ever been on and I would highly recommend it.

Rachel Gleave

Hi Noah,

I want to thank you again for having caitlin and I on the trip to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree today.

The day was by far the best experience I have had so far in North Queensland.

From the minute we were picked up, our tour guide Kathy made us feel very welcome and comfortable.

Oozing with knowledge, Kathy filled us in on the history of the area, from the first European contact by Captain James Cook, to the separation of Australia from Super Gwondana.

The Daintree River Cruise was spectacular. The guide was full of knowledge on the ecosystem and flora and fauna of the river. After honing in on a small saltwater crocodile taking solace from the harsh morning heat, we journeyed further up the river and were lucky enough to spot a Green Tree Snake basking on a limb of a tree over hanging the river. Our guide pointed out all the varieties of Mangroves and plants in the area, and also some Black and Whistling Kites. We also caught a fluttering glimpse of an Azure Kingfisher and a Yellow Bellied Sunbird. After hearing that we were turning around to head to the other side to continue our journey I felt a pang of disappointment that we only got to see one crocodile.....Little did I know that in a couple of minutes we were to be graced with the presence of the gorgeous creature that is Scar Face.

Gracefully cruising beside us about 10 metres away was a 5 metre long croc named Scar Face. It was amazing to see an animal like that in the wild and see its natural behaviour. He just cruised along beside us, effortlessly propelling himself through the calm water. This was just a magnificent creature and I was thinking I could have spent the whole day watching this pre-historic wonder when he silently slipped under the surface to continue on his journey. And we continued on ours.

After driving up further into the Daintree Rainforest we pulled up at our next spot for morning tea and an eye opening history and culture lesson. We then ventured off to discover the oldest Rainforest in the world. We had been warned about the surprising power of the elusive Cassowary and were on the look out. Unfortunately we didn't end up seeing any but saw some of the most amazing plant species I have ever seen (home to over 3000 species), some more than 90,000 years old!! I couldn't believe the incredible flora thriving in this World Heritage Listed area. Thanks to the exclusive access that we had we were the only people on the track which was really the only way to see this gorgeous site. We didn't have to deal with loud people fighting over the best postions. It was just our small group of only 4 and our fabulous Kathy!

We then headed to our next stop, a short rainforest walk in another location followed by lunch. I loved the quality of food, the service, and the surrounds were just beautiful. Very relaxing!

On to Cape Tribulation and WOW!! This was my favourite spot. Walking through the trees to beach delivers a breathtaking view of the Coral Sea. Turn around and you realize exactly what they mean when they say 'Where the Rainforest meets the sea'. Vivid shades of the Rainforest green flow between the perfect white sand and the glorious blue sky, whilst the crystal water laps up against your bare feet. The whole experience was made all that much more exclusive when Kathy showed us how the Aborigines used the coloured rocks for their Corroboree, a very special moment.

Finally was our delicious stop to the Daintree Ice Cream Company. Four flavours of the yummiest ice cream I have ever tasted! Made with fresh fruit of the day grown right there. Delectable!!

The journey home was filled with more interesting facts and information, laughs and stories shared by all.

Again Kathy was such a great guide, with more knowledge than I could have ever thought one person could know. She is a great asset to your company.

I had a great day and just felt so comfortable with the other passengers and Kathy. The professional, personalised service made what started out as a day trip become a special experience that I will not forget. I will definately be highly recommending the trip and your company to our guests. There's no other way to see Australia!! :o)

Kind regards & thanks again
Rachel Chong Sun

Dear Noah,

I just wanted to share with you how much my husband Dan and I enjoyed the Daintree tour with Kathy today. She was an amazing guide with a plethora of information. She eloquently told us the history of the area as one could see her pride. We feel so honored that she was our guide showing us special sites that few tourists get to see. I am sure your realize how fortunate your are to have such a quality employee. We truly appreciate your well run company with such stellar staff and will gladly recommend your tour to friends planning a trip to Australia.

Sincerely,
Monique Greenberg

Dear Bob,

I cannot thank you enough for your wonderful introduction you gave us to your GREAT Country and Sydney. Americans have always had an affinity to Australia, but as I mentioned, I had no idea of what it really is like. It is progressive, modern, preserves its heritage, clean, neat and above all a friendly place. I think I left out beautiful The entire country must be special, but we have only seen Melbourne and Sydney.

I have visited many places, as you have, and lived in Europe, and Sydney is a very special place. I think a good part of what made it special is your introduction and our trips to the Hunter and the Blue Mountains, not to mention your guidance on using the 4Seasons LIFT to get to the hotel.

It was truly great and again, many many thanks.

G'night & cheers,

David

PS: Best of luck in your future travels and should they reach New England and Cape Cod, please let us know. I am an amateur tour guide and a pretty good host....D

David Leary

Hi Matt

Well I'm back home in the UK and back to work! My holiday in Oz just a memory, but what a memory! I have my 600 photos to collect tomorrow.

We wish to thank you for the wonderful afternoon and evening we had with Kylie on the Penguins, Koalas and Wildlife Ecotour. It was a great experience seeing the Koalas and Little Penguins close up like that, and something that we will not forget. The visit to the farm was very good and the afternoon tea excellent and was the dinner before the Penguin parade.

The following day we did 'The Great Ocean Road' trip with AAT Kings (I didn't know that you did this also, so had pre booked with them) and now I can appreciate the difference between small group touring and 40 - 50 people being herded about, and not having enough time at stops to get served and eat.

It was so much nicer having the personal touch, and we found Kylie very knowledgeable when answering questions, and a good host. So it was a very good learning curve. Now I will recommend the small group tours every time to my clients and your company for tours in the Melbourne area.

Once again many thanks for a very good tour, I cannot praise it enough.

Kind regards
Sue Grinstead

Hello..

I was recently staying at the Grand Mercure at Palm Cove for a holiday not wanting to do anything other then relax and if possible have a trip to the Daintree. When I arrived at the hotel, I picked up all the brochures from the tour desk and then spoke to the receptionsist, Rachel, and asked if she had any reccommendations. Immediately she suggested your tour and added ...you must try and get Cathy, I'll ring and see when she's on. She booked for me and on Sunday morning, myself and 2 other guests from London joined Cathy for her tour. What a fantastic day!!! That area is so beautiful, however, it was CAthy's amazing commentary that really helped me enjoy the trip so much.

The small group was great and we all instantly became friends. The trip was great, the sights were breathtaking, food for morning tea and lunch and service we received was fabulous!!! Now anyone can drive you to a beautiful destination. But every step of the way, Cathy would give us interesting snippets about the area we were travelling through. The amazing facts and the insight she gave us helped us not only enjoy what were were seeing but understand just why this amazing place is so special. Not only does she know the area well, she loves it with a passion and she communicates this very easily with her guests.

So well done Australian Wild escapes for a great and for a great guide. I want to come back in the future and I would love to take another trip with Cathy. So be assured, you will hear from me again.

Kindest regards,
Julie Croucher

Hello,

We recently had John take us to the Blue Mountains while we were vacationing in Sydney, and I told him I would send him photos of him and the bird shots. Please send them on to him.

Thanks very much - he was a wonderful guide and made our day very special. Please tell him I bought the Slim Dusty CD!

Regards,
Inger Bischofberger

Hi Rick,

Just wanted to pop you a quick email to thank you once again for our tour on the 31st - it was by far our favourite day in Australia !

People can't believe how much information we retained from that tour as we are spouting off facts about Australias history (which we probably now know more about than our own country ), current conditions, water, sugarcane, cane toads etc., a compliment to yourself on the delivery :) A memorable tour from learning to throw a boomerang, jump starting the truck to giving an ant a good butt licking after lunch !

Wishing you a safe and happy new year from all of us !

Gail Gibson