Great Divide Iconic Landscapes Tour
Discover the feet friendly trails and stunning scenery along the Great Dividing Range
Discover the feet friendly trails and stunning scenery along The Great Dividing Range. Enjoy one of the finest walking holidays in Australia’s World Heritage wilderness and National Parks. Explore Australia’s most influential land form and awesome scenery.
An 11 day “green” journey in absolute contrast to the arid outback perception of Australia. Visit the Girraween and Bald Rock National Parks, World Heritage New England, Oxley Wild Rivers, Barrington Tops and Greater Blue Mountains National Parks – Experience the very evolution and natural heritage of Australia.
HOW OUR GUESTS FELT
“Thank you so much for a most enjoyable and memorable tour. There were many highlights and we didn’t realise such countryside and scenery existed in Australia and the birding and photography opportunities were plentiful. We very much enjoyed your company and hope that our paths will cross again. Our best wishes and let’s keep in touch.”
Stephen and Maureen UK
Tour Highlights
Why you’ll like this holiday
Surprise yourself. Step into the very evolution of Australia from the Antarctic connection to drifting tectonic plates passing over volcanic hot-spots. Then continental separation giving rise to thousands of unique endemic species.
- Wander through wild landscapes of giant granite monoliths, tors and precariously balanced boulders, the powerful acts of nature over 225 million years
- Explore the amazing escarpment and canyon trails of the Greater Blue Mountains, a one million hectare reserve preserved for its geographic, botanic and cultural values, including the Wollemi Pine of the dinosaur era
- View tortuous gorges and waterfalls carving into the New England and Oxley Wild Rivers National Parks
- Enjoy a guided tour deep into the wondrous world of historic limestone caves
- Discover back country insights into bushranger legends, pioneering history, pastoral stations and dynasties, plus villages of the “Forgotten Valley”, roads designed and built in the convict era
- Witness some of the finest untracked wilderness panoramas in Australia
Itinerary
Day 1 Brisbane to Tenterfield - back roads through the world heritage scenic ranges
Leave the river city, once a penal settlement, for the world heritage Border Ranges, waterfalls and grand granite monoliths, then discover the birthplace of our nation.
Features
- You’ll travel south from the city toward the lush farming land of the “Scenic Rim” and “Border Ranges” to enjoy a coffee/tea break in the village of Boonah
- View a rich tapestry of hinterland and lifestyle seeker farming lots with the Scenic Rim drawing near
- Learn a little of Brisbane, chosen as a penal settlement, local exploration by the tyrant commandant, early pioneering endeavours and conflict with the Indigenous peoples
- From Mt French National Park assimilate the volcanic creation of a world heritage mountain range and subsequent millions of years of weathering to form the ever changing landscape
- Journey through lush forests between mountain peaks to the spring fed headwaters of Australia’s longest and historic inland river system - the Darling River
- Take a circuit walk to view the Queen Mary Falls plunging over its volcanic ledge
- Remote back roads lead toward an historic stone fruit growing and wine producing region for a unique lunch break in a local farm shed
- Contemplate life on the run for “Thunderbolt”, one of our legendary bushrangers. Visit one of his hideouts and learn of his gentlemanly ways, hero following and questionable demise
- Enjoy a 2 hour return summit walk on Bald Rock, the monolith offering amazing 360 degree views of the granite belt which stretches 400 kms across two States
- Enter the historic township of Tenterfield, where the impassioned speech of an English immigrant turned politician, Henry Parkes, led to the “birthplace of the nation”
- There is much to explore in this township, set around bush legends and folklore, our First Nations peoples, Australia’s fondest bush poet Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson, scoundrel from the Boer War, Breaker Morant, the Tenterfield Saddler and his grandson, broadway star Peter Allen
Accommodation
- Quality ensuite rooms - Regional Motel - 2 nights
Travel
- Driving: 330 kms in 4 relaxed stages over the full day
Day 2 Day visit exploring Girraween National Park - Inspirational walks in an iconic granite boulder strewn landscape
Enjoy a day of guided trail walks through an extraordinary world of granite, wildflowers, birds and wildlife known as the Granite Belt, part of Australia’s spine, the Great Dividing Range
Features
- Pack supplies for an active walking day and head for Girraween National Park. The walks will range from 2 to 4 hours each, to features creatively described as Castle Rock, Turtle Rock and The Sphinx, or the granite slabs lining Bald Rock Creek to The Junction
- Discover an evolutionary inselberg landscape of massive granite outcrops, large angular tors and precariously balanced boulders. Explore in, around and under this fascinating world
- The story unfolds of the interdependent connection between rock, soil, flora, fauna and humans
- Enjoy the showcase of spring wildflowers and foraging honey eating birdlife - Girraween being defined as the “place of flowers”
- The park is also the merging point of ranging wildlife and birds from all points of the compass and habitats
Accommodation
- Quality ensuite rooms - Regional Motel
Travel
- Driving: 76 kms locally in 2 stages throughout the day
Day 3 Tenterfield to Armidale - traversing the high tableland country
The New England Tablelands signifies your arrival in some of Australia’s most elevated pastoral country, where dynasties have prospered and forces of nature are carving into the volcanic escarpment
Features
- Pass through the acclaimed Celtic hub of Australia, complete with its own “standing stones” and small towns lined with the autumn beauty of willows and elms
- Contemplate the conflict and terror between European settlers and Aboriginal peoples where cultural differences led to a tragic local massacre
- Enter historic Armidale with its cold climate gardens and parks and institutions of higher regional education
- Take an afternoon walk to the rim of a dramatic gorge and falls in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park and search for the endangered and shy Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby family. Detect the haunting cries and powerful flight of Peregrine Falcons nesting seasonally on the precipice of the 120m deep ravine.
- Visit some of Australia’s wealthiest Merino wool growing regions where dynasties hosted royalty and pioneering settler families were so moved to build a chapel and extraordinary memorials to their fallen family heroes
- Pause in the tiny town of Uralla and reflect on a childhood of connective experiences which has led to the establishment of Nature Bound Australia
Accommodation
- Quality ensuite rooms - Regional Motel - 2 nights
Travel
- Driving: 227 kms in 4 relaxed stages throughout the day
Day 4 Day visit exploring New England National Park - Immerse yourself in the ancient world heritage wonders
Tread deep into an ancient and wondrous world of rainforests and twisted snow gums, then gaze across ridges of untracked wilderness, the protector of habitats, wild creatures and mystery of life
Features
- Discover tortuous gorges carving their way into the Great Divide escarpment headed with plummeting waterfalls
- Search for our largest bird of prey, the Wedge-tailed Eagle, soaring on the thermals or detect the shuffle of an Echidna across the forest floor, one of our unique living fossils
- Enjoy a 2 hr walk along undulating trails to view two of Australia’s most dramatic ravines and gorges
- Find yourself on the wilderness edge of the world heritage New England National Park, a reserve of high geological significance, diversity of habitats, plants and animal species
- Impenetrable ridges of volcanic origin dating back 500 million years protect dense sub-tropical and cool temperate rainforest through to high country snow gums and a windswept plateau of stunted heath
- Be on the alert for a chance meeting with a Superb Lyrebird or a Spotted-tailed Quoll
- Enjoy the crater’s edge panorama stretching over 75 kms of trackless wilderness to the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean
Accommodation
- Quality ensuite rooms - Regional Motel
Travel
- Driving: 185 kms in 4 relaxed stages throughout the day
Day 5 Armidale to Gloucester - - discovering wild rivers and the lives of legendary heroes and villains
Learn of the life and times of revered, unsung and notorious Australians as you travel through their homeland and discover the spectacle of an Oxley Wild Rivers gulch
Features
- The rolling landscape is home to Australia’s finest Merino sheep where world record fleeces were recorded. A Tiger Moth aircraft was the first ever to fertilise our rural landscape from the air
- Visit the final resting place of legendary cattle drover Nat Buchanan. His prodigious droving feats, with huge herds of cattle, into the Northern Territory and Western Australia meant he settled more country than any other man. But he died with very little. He survived on an uncanny sense of observation, direction, Indigenous awareness and bushcraft
- The central streets are an open air gallery of sculptures carved from local timbers, firming Walcha’s place on the Australian cultural map - an art friendly town
- Take a walk along the spectacular Apsley Gorge in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, where nearby, explorer John Oxley camped and opened the settler pathway to the New England Tableland. View nature’s gulch from the rim.
- Oxley wrote in his journal, he was "lost in astonishment at the sight of this wonderful natural sublimity”.
- Here the unspoken history of conflict around Aboriginal land dispossession, killing of wildlife and domestic animals, saw settlers taking the law into their own hands with tragic outcomes
- The forested wilderness around Nowendoc once provided a retreat for bushrangers and “wanted” fugitives
- Part of the glorious descent down Thunderbolt’s Way could well have been called “family way” given it was a local pioneering sawmiller and his two sons who built challenging sections of the road, tired of inaction by politicians of the time
- Find Gloucester nestled in a picturesque valley beneath the Bucketts Range. The town of 2300 has become the unofficial “base camp” for visitors to the nearby world heritage Barrington Tops National Park and our walks in the wild tomorrow
Accommodation
- Spacious ensuite rooms - country motel - 2 nights
Travel
- Driving: 244 kms in 4 stages throughout the day
Day 6 Day visit exploring Barrington and Gloucester Tops - - Friendly trails through an ancient world heritage wilderness
Visit the magical wilderness of Gondwanaland where all is rare and pure, even after millions of years and defying mankind’s penchant to interfere
Features
- Barrington Tops National Park, incorporating Gloucester Tops, protects the most extensive strip of diverse rainforest anywhere on earth
- A declared wilderness it contains an irreplaceable record of life on our planet carved out of ancient volcanic flows. The evolution of species over millions of years. It rises in elevation from near sea level to 1500 metres
- Stroll for 3 to 5 hours along easy formed trails, through cool temperate and dim ancient Antarctic Beech forests, to open snow gum woodland and grasses. Linger by pure streams flowing over moss covered glades
Accommodation
- Spacious ensuite rooms - country motel
Travel
- Driving: 116 kms in 3 stages throughout the day
Day 7 Gloucester to Wisemans Ferry - through “The Forgotten Way”
Values spring to mind when travelling through a region of apparent wealth then into a forgotten valley where convicts and “First Fleeter” chose a life of humble obscurity, in the wild
Features
- Today’s journey through Dungog and Gresford is filled with Welsh settler and timber industry history.
- The Hunter Valley with its wineries, manicured horse studs and extensive coal mining sites, is one of Australia’s most productive and wealthy regions. Savour a vineyard lunch?
- Pass by Yengo National Park heading for a convict built back road in the wilds of “The Forgotten Valley” leading to the historic village of St Albans and your overnight break at Wisemans Ferry on the upper reaches of the Hawkesbury River.
- You are entering magnificent sandstone country synonymous with the unique native flora of Australia.
- “The Forgotten Valley”, a beautiful but very remote retreat which has been by-passed by all major road and rail corridors out of the city of Sydney.
Accommodation
- Quality ensuite rooms at country motel
Travel
- Driving: 289 kms in 4 stages throughout the day
Day 8 Wisemans Ferry to Blackheath - bound for The Greater Blue Mountains
Beyond the chaos of a celebrated city lies a rich natural heritage and health retreat of the 1800’s, still nurturing mankind’s quest for balance, inspiration and adventure in a demanding life
Features
- You are headed for the world heritage area of the Greater Blue Mountains, a reserve of over one million hectares, noted for its geographic, botanic and cultural values.
- Time for a botanic treat with a visit to the Blue Mountains cold climate gardens and terraced exhibits dating back 120 years.
- Look for the extraordinary inclusion of Wollemi Pines drawn from base specimens found deep in a secret canyon of the Wollemi National Park in 1994, thought to be extinct but located accidentally by a bushwalker / parks employee. One of the world’s oldest and rarest plants from the dinosaur era in natural history - oldest known fossil 90 million years
- Complete the day with a 6 kms return walk to Pulpit Rock from the staggering view over Grose Valley at Govetts Leap and an equally stunning experience at Pulpit Rock. A taste of walking excitement to come.
Accommodation
- Quality ensuite rooms - Federation Gardens Cabins - 3 nights
Travel
- Driving: 146 kms in 3 stages throughout the day
Day 9 Discovering the Greater Blue Mountains National Park - Sublime scenery and moments of mindfulness along historic trails
The most wondrous moments in life are often discovered on foot as you connect deeply with nature, searching across a grand panorama, finding intimacy within a hidden canyon and embracing the possibility only you have experienced it.
Features
- Fancy an invigorating picnic breakfast on a sublime point overlooking the grand Blue Mountains panorama
- Enjoy a magnificent 4 kms / 4 hr trail walk along the escarpment cliff face or other historic pass, built by passionate naturalist walkers swinging pick and shovel over 100 years ago
- Ascend through cascading waterfalls to a homely mud brick restaurant serving a delightful and rewarding walkers lunch
- Step across the dampened trail behind a wall of water showering from the hanging swamps above
- Fired with enthusiasm for the Greater Blue Mountains, visit the headquarters of the National Park Service and plan further experiences for the days ahead.
Accommodation
- Quality ensuite rooms - Federation Gardens Cabins
Travel
- Driving: Nominal local access travel only
Day 10 Exploring the wonders of Jenolan Caves and Kanangra Boyd National Park - From fresh mountain air to glorious caves and precipitous walls
Beauty and grandeur will be discovered above and below mother earth in this stunning day of contrast, strolling through illuminated show caves and along the awe-inspiring walls of the Kanangra Deep
Features
- Descend into the steep forested Jenolan valley for a guided tour of the underground wonderland, historic Jenolan Caves,
- A remarkable discovery of large chambers, richly draped illuminated limestone formations, crystals, straws, stalactites, stalagmites, columns and underground river systems
- Enjoy a coffee in the classic alpine, federation arts and crafts style wilderness retreat of Caves House, designed and built in 1897
- Walk out onto and along the Kanangra Walls wilderness to enjoy a day-pack lunch while gazing down into “The Deep” of Kanangra Boyd National Park.
Accommodation
- Quality ensuite rooms - Federation Gardens Cabins
Travel
- Driving: 264 kms in 5 stages throughout the day
Day 11 Blackheath, Blue Mountains to Sydney - Parting discoveries and memories in a grand canyon
The quiet solitude of a canyon walk seems a fitting time to commit all the iconic landscapes, people and serendipity moments of the tour to your personal archive of fond memories
Features
- End your memorable Great Divide Tour in the secluded depths of a grand canyon complete with its descending stone stairs and trail constructed in 1907. Peer into the adventurer canyoning slots, brush by the sandstone walls and feel part of, at one with the unique ecosystem
- Take in the select offerings of inspirational lookouts, famous galleries and historic villages before descending to your journeys end in Sydney
Accommodation
- Tour completed
Travel
- Driving: 85 kms drive into Sydney
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