Inclusions:

As mentioned in the itinerary

Exclusions:

• International Air Tickets
•  Internal Air Tickets
• Weekend stay surcharge in hotel if applicable
•  Tips to Drivers and Guide
•  Portage charge
• Camera Charges wherever applicable
• Any Option excursions other than mentioned in inclusions
•  Meals other than mentioned in inclusions
•  Travel Insurance
• Use of Hotel Services Minibar
• Laundry etc.

Hotel Details:

(2N MEL 2N SYD 2N CNS 3N OOL)   3*

Note: Hotel component in above tour pricing is dynamic and subject to change at the time of confirmation.

Costing:

The history of Australia is the history of the area and people of the Commonwealth of Australia with its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians arrived on the Australian mainland by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago. The artistic, musical and spiritual traditions they established are among the longest surviving such traditions in human history.

The first known landing in Australia by Europeans was by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606. Later that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through, and navigated, Torres Strait islands.[1] Twenty-nine other Dutch navigators explored the western and southern coasts in the 17th century, and dubbed the continent New Holland. Macassan trepangers visited Australia's northern coasts after 1720, possibly earlier. Other European explorers followed until, in 1770, Lieutenant James Cook charted the east coast of Australia for Great Britain and returned with accounts favouring colonisation at Botany Bay (now in Sydney), New South Wales.

A First Fleet of British ships arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788[2] to establish a penal colony, the first colony on the Australian mainland. In the century that followed, the British established other colonies on the continent, and European explorers ventured into its interior. Indigenous Australians were greatly weakened and their numbers diminished by introduced diseases and conflict with the colonists during this period.

Gold rushes and agricultural industries brought prosperity. Autonomous parliamentary democracies began to be established throughout the six British colonies from the mid-19th century. The colonies voted by referendum to unite in a federation in 1901, and modern Australia came into being. Australia fought on the side of Britain in the two world wars and became a long-standing ally of the United States when threatened by Imperial Japan during World War II. Trade with Asia increased and a post-war immigration programme received more than 6.5 million migrants from every continent. Supported by immigration of people from more than 200 countries since the end of World War II, the population increased to more than 23 million by 2014, and sustains the world's 12th largest national economy.

The first Europeans visited the site of Melbourne in 1803. A group of settlers landed at Port Phillip Bay but within a year they moved on to Tasmania. The city of Melbourne in Australia was founded in 1835. In that year a group of Tasmanian businessmen formed the Port Phillip Association to found a settlement on Port Phillip Bay. Acting on their behalf John Batman (1801-1839) bought land from the local Indigenous Australians, the Dutigalla clan. However, the indigenous people had no concept of owning or selling land and did not really understand the deal.

St Francis Church opened in 1845. Its the oldest Catholic Church in Victoria. St James Old Cathedral opened in Melbourne in 1842 (though it was not completed till 1847). The cathedral was moved to its present site in 1913. Meanwhile in 1837 Williamstown was laid out as a seaport for the town of Melbourne. However, in the 1880s it was superseded by the growth of Port Melbourne. Meanwhile in 1842 Melbourne was incorporated (given a mayor and corporation).

By 1851 Melbourne was already a considerable town with 29,000 inhabitants. In that year Victoria became a separate colony from New South Wales and Melbourne became its capital. In the same year, gold was discovered in Victoria and a gold rush began. As a result, Melbourne mushroomed. Settlers flocked to the town. As Melbourne exploded in size many new buildings were erected. Princes Bridge was built in 1850. Melbourne University was founded in 1853. The Royal Melbourne Hospital was founded in 1848. Then in 1857 Melbourne gained a gas supply. In 1865 a monument to the explorers Burke and Wills was erected in Melbourne.

The first telephone call in Australia was made in Melbourne in 1878. Melbourne was connected to Sydney by railway in 1883. Meanwhile, Royal Arcade was built in 1870. The Royal Exhibition Building was built in 1880. Block Arcade was built in 1892. It was modeled on the Galleria Vittorio in Milan. Then in the 1880s, the price of land in Melbourne rose to dizzying heights. However it became overpriced. In 1889 the property market collapsed and economic depression ensued. Eureka Tower was built in 2006. The Yve Building was also built in 2006. At the beginning of the 21st century Melbourne was a thriving city. In 2002 a new development, Federation Square opened. In 2004 UNESCO declared the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne a World Heritage site. Then in 2008 UNESCO designated Melbourne a city of Literature. Today Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia. The population of Melbourne is 4.4 million.

The History of Sydney begins in prehistoric times with the occupation of the district by Australian Aboriginals, whose ancestors came to Sydney in the Upper Paleolithic period.[1] The modern history of the city began with the arrival of a First Fleet of British ships in 1788 and the foundation of a penal colony by Great Britain.

From 1788 to 1900 Sydney was the capital of the British colony of New South Wales. An elected city council was established in 1840. In 1901, Sydney became a state capital, when New South Wales voted to join the Australian Federation. Sydney today is Australia's largest city and a major international capital of culture and finance. The city has played host to many international events, including the 2000 Summer Olympics.

The history of the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia began in prehistoric times with archaeological evidence revealing occupation of the district by Australian Aborigines for at least 23,000 years. The first early European colonizers began arriving in the late 1700s, settlement soon followed throughout the 19th century, and by 1959 the town was proclaimed a city. Today, the Gold Coast is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia.

Cairns was named for Sir William Wellington Cairns, and officially founded in 1876, following the discovery of gold in the surrounding area. However, Captain James Cook had 'discovered' the area more than a century earlier, on his first voyage of discovery in 1770 aboard HM Bark Endeavour. Captain Cook needed all his seamanship skills to navigate the treacherous channels between the Great Barrier Reef and the mainland. Despite his skill, the tiny 30m Endeavour ran aground on the coral reefs and, limping to land, put in at a river that was named for her, the Endeavour, which became the site of present-day Cooktown. The dispirited crew named other features according to their mood: Cape Tribulation, Hope Island and Weary Bay.

While Aboriginal inhabitants had lived well in the rainforest and from the sea, immigrants found the land harsh and ungiving. The dangerous reefs, dense vegetation, debilitating climate and advent of disease took their toll. For these reasons and more, it was not until gold fever lured hundreds of thousands of fortune hunters after the discovery of gold at Palmer River in 1872 that the region became developed. Initial access was via the Barron River, Trinity Bay provided a port, and the relatively clear, flat land to the north and south of the proposed site allowed for easier development. However, Cairns remained for a long period a mangrove swamp uninhabitable by all but the toughest pioneers.

Cairns was far from secure as a future city until the railway was built, being the starting- and finishing-point for the rail track to the south and up to the Atherton Tableland. The engineering feat required to build the railway up the steep inclines to the tableland was enormous. The railway allowed for the opening up of the rich agricultural lands over the ranges and provided a livelihood for the pioneers after the decline of gold. While fruit and dairying predominated in the high country, sugar cane became and remains the main crop of the coastal flats. The all-important railway served the growing towns with access to markets and supplies.

The city remained a low-key place until after World War II, when visitors for pleasure started arrving. Tourism was cemented as the town's major industry in 1984 with the opening of the international airport, and the subsquent listing of World Heritage areas. Cairns Museum, on the corner of Lake and Shields Streets, is worth a visit to learn more.