6 Days – Friday 4th to Wednesday 9th April 2025
Accommodation: Standpipe Motel Port Augusta, The Desert Cave Hotel Coober Pedy and Roxby Downs Motor Inn Roxby Downs
Highlights of the tour:
- « Relax in the comfort of the coach as you make your way north. Stretch your legs and enjoy morning tea in the pretty town park at Balaklava.
- « Stop at Laura, a little town nestled in the eastern slopes of the Southern Flinders Ranges and enjoy a two course lunch at The North Laura Hotel, complete with Golden North Ice cream for dessert.
- « Tour of Coober Pedy. See the many buildings dug into the side of hills to protect the inhabitants from the extreme Summer heat. Pass by the grass-less golf course, and the opal fields. Stop at The Big Winch Look Out and get a birds eye view over Coober Pedy. Enter the underground Serbian Church with its’ beautiful glass windows.
- « Visit the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum and see how opal is made into jewellery and extracted from the ground in an underground mining tunnel. Wander through an underground house, complete with all modern utilities and be amazed at how dark it is when the lights are turned off.
- « Take the short drive to the Old Timers Mine and Museum. Step back in time to 1916 and see how opal mining was done, how the miner’s lived and discover the early days of Coober Pedy.
- « See the desert-like moonscape and colourful low hills of the Kanku-Breakaways and enjoy champagne and orange juice at sunset.
- « Visit the Woomera Heritage Centre, which incorporates the Heritage Centre Café where you will have free time to wander through the two newly opened museums. Whilst there we will also visit the Aircraft and Missile Park .They are well worth the time to visit and learn about the local history as well as fascinating information on the Woomera Rocket Range in it’s heyday.
- « Tour the town of Roxby Downs also visiting the Roxby Visitor Centre to watch a video on the Olympic Dam Story and a virtual underground mine tour.
- « Continue onto the unusual and unique town of Andamooka where the landscape is dotted with “diggings”. We will have a light lunch at the Dine-A-Mite café .
- « Visit the iconic Dukes Bottlehouse Motel, opened in 1967 by Rudi & Inge Duke as a guesthouse. It also includes the Post Office, Opal Showroom, tourist info and Underground Museum. Across the road wander among the Heritage Cottages and Machinery display.
- « If weather permits after the sun goes down you will have a beautiful dinner whilst dining under the stars, a truly wonderful experience.
Inclusions
- « Morning tea provided on Day 1
- « Fully cooked breakfast on Day 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
- « Lunch on Days 1, 5 and 6
- « Two course dinner on Days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
- « Entrance to Museums/attractions listed
- « Fully escorted with a tour host.
- « Deluxe bus travel.