Parkwood Personalised Tours South Australia Australia

Parkwood Tours operate tours from Adelaide to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road, scenic coastal regions of South Australia, and the Flinders Ranges. Tours can be tailored to suit your interests and linked with transport systems including the Kangaroo Island ferry and rural airline networks.

Touring Options

Magic Southern Explorer 6 Day Tour – PPT03

This six day tour includes Kangaroo Island, Mount Gambier, Halls Gap, Grampians National Park, Ballarat and the Great Ocean Road.

. Day One – Adelaide – Kingscote/Kangaroo Island. Transfer by Smart-Car from your city accommodation to the Adelaide Airport – pick up time is usually around 0800. Your domestic flight departs for Kingscote on beautiful Kangaroo Island at 0915. Our representative guide will greet you at Kingscote Airport around about 0945. On arrival, guests are given an orientation to Kangaroo Island, describing its history, layout and the forthcoming days itinerary. One of the most important features of the island is its wildlife in their natural habitats. Guests can hope to see Kangaroo Island kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, Sea Lions, Tamar Wallabies, a variety of bird life, wildflowers and Eucalyptus forests. Each season offers something different. Visit Seal Bay – home of the Australian Sea Lions and private properties where we take you off the beaten track to enjoy wildlife in the wild. Lunch is a gourmet picnic, arranged in the most suitable setting for the day – in the bush with koalas in the trees above or by the sea. Overnight stay at a lovely bed and breakfast. Includes lunch and dinner.

. Day Two – Kangaroo Island. The second day takes in more of the islands exciting wildlife experiences and highlights of the island which includes – Flinders Chase National Park – 74,000 hectares of natural bushland and with the absence of rabbits and foxes, Kangaroo Island’s environment is unique. It also features the spectacular rock formations of Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch, created by erosion over millions of years. Guests will also be delighted by the antics of the New Zealand fur seals of the surrounding headlands. One of the last stops for the day is the habitat of the kangaroo, where time is spent exploring their environment and enjoying the peace and tranquillity in the hope of seeing them come out to graze. Overnight stay at a lovely bed and breakfast. Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.

. Day Three – Kingscote/Kangaroo Island – Adelaide – Mount Gambier. After an extended breakfast with your hosts and a short morning tour, transfer to your domestic aircraft which departs for Adelaide at 1215. A 30 minute flight back to Adelaide Airport for your connecting flight departing Adelaide at 1530 for Mount Gambier, a farming and timber producing town nestled around an extinct volcano, to be greeted by our guide at 1630. We will visit the magnificent Blue Lake, a 5000 year old extinct volcano and some Limestone formations mother earth has created over millions of years. Overnight stay in Mount Gambier. Includes dinner and breakfast.

. Day Four – Mount Gambier – Halls Gap – Grampians National Park. Breakfast is ready for us by 0800. We will leave Mount Gambier around 0900. We then leave Mount Gambier to travel across rolling hills to Hamilton. Lunch in Hamilton. A pleasant drive via the Serra and the Mount William ranges into the Grampians National Park to Halls Gap follows, our destination for tonight. We will spend the remains of the afternoon to explore this magnificent National Park with its lofty lookouts and some of the most spectacular views Victoria has to offer. Baroka and Reed’s Lookouts are definitely worth a visit. Overnight stay in Halls Gap. We suggest dinner at the Kookaburra Restaurant, where local specialities may be tasted. A comprehensive selection of local wines is also available. Includes lunch.

. Day Five – Halls Gap – Grampians National Park – Ballarat. Breakfast is ready by 0800. We will leave the Grampians National Park at 0900 and meander along the Mount William range to Ararat and on to the historic gold mining town of Ballarat. A short city tour of Ballarat is next on the agenda and we will then visit Australia’s award winning and most significant outdoor gold museum Sovereign Hill where the 1850 gold rush comes alive again for the remains of the day. Learn about the thrill and hardship diggers have experienced from all over the world in those early days. Taste a Cornish pasty for lunch at the New York Bakery on Main Road. One can pan for gold; see the impressive steam engines and steam driven pump at work, watch skilled tradesmen manufacturing beautiful craft – wonder back in time until late in the afternoon. Overnight in Ballarat. We suggest dinner at the Lodge Restaurant, with its ever changing, seasonally influenced menu. A comprehensive selection of local wines is also available. Includes lunch.

. Day Six – Ballarat – Great Ocean Road – Melbourne. Breakfast is ready by 0730. We will leave Ballarat no later than 0830. A pleasant drive of about two hours, through sheep and cattle farming countryside, follows heading southwest for Port Campbell on the Southern Ocean with its scenic limestone coast and rugged rock formations. We will stop at the 12 Apostles and the site of the tragic shipwreck at Loch Ard Gorge to listen to some fascinating stories of that time. We now traverse the Otway Ranges, famous for its giant Mountain Ash Eucalypt trees to Apollo Bay, where we will have lunch. After lunch, we meander along the historic Great Ocean Road with various stops to marvel at the views and learn more about the past and the tragedies of the unforgiving shipwreck coast to Geelong – the second largest port in Victoria. From Geelong we will travel to Melbourne via the West Gate Bridge where we will arrive late in the afternoon and we will transfer you to your city accommodation. Includes breakfast and lunch.

. Operates:
. Every Monday at 0800.

Magic Flinders Outback 3 Day Tour – PPT04

Highlights of this three day tour include Burra, Wilpena Pound and the Flinders Ranges.

. Day One – Adelaide – Wilpena Pound. Depart Adelaide city hotel at around 0730 – 0745 in the morning. We leave Adelaide and head north through picturesque countryside – grain farming areas in particular. First stop at Burra, which is a very famous copper mining town. At Burra we will be exploring the history of these early mining days in Australia and we will also take you on a trip to the nearby mining sites. Tour around the historic township, now a mixture of historic buildings among very new dwellings. Continue north to ‘Maggies Rendezvous’ in Orroroo for a well-earned lunch break. After lunch visit South Australia’s largest and oldest Eucalypt tree. Travelling north to Hawker, the gateway to the Central Flinders Ranges and reach our base near Wilpena Pound in the early evening. Includes lunch and dinner.

. Day Two – Wilpena Pound. After an early morning optional flight (extra costs and not included in the tour price) around Wilpena Pound, we will enjoy a hearty breakfast. Following breakfast, drive to the Sacred Canyon and walk along the creek bed inside the canyon to see some interesting Aboriginal paintings and carvings. Travel through the Bunyeroo Valley and Gorge (superb scenery) to the intersection of the Brachina Geological Trail and Gorge and the famous Aroona Valley. Enjoy a delicious outdoor picnic near where Sir Hans Heysen used to paint his famous landscapes. Travel through time (geological formations are some 580 million years old) and encounter the sights of the true outback at the end of the Brachina Gorge. Returning back to base through the Moorolana Scenic Drive. Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.

. Day Three – Wilpena Pound – Adelaide. Visit the Yourumbulla Caves where we will see ancient cave paintings left behind by Aborigines who lived here thousands of years ago. Travelling via Hawker and Quorn, home of the famous Pichi Richi Railway, through vast grain farming holdings to Melrose/Wirrabara for lunch at Bluey Bluntstones coffee house/Old Bakery. After lunch we continue south towards the beautiful Clare Valley, which is famous for its wines. We will visit some wineries for tastings and return late afternoon to Adelaide where we will transfer you to your city accommodation. Includes breakfast and lunch.

. Operates:
. Every Sunday and Wednesday at 0730.

Magic Great Ocean Road 3 Day Tour – PPT02

Highlights of this three day tour include air transfer from Adelaide to Mount Gambier, Grampians National Park, Halls Gap, Ballarat and the Great Ocean Road.

. Day One – Adelaide -­ Mount Gambier -­ Halls Gap – Grampians National Park. Transfer by Smart-Car from your city accommodation to the Adelaide Airport ­ pick up time is usually around 0800. Your domestic flight departs Adelaide for Mount Gambier at 0910. You will be greeted by our guide after your arrival at the Mount Gambier Airport at 1010. Visit the magnificent Blue Lake, a 5000 year old extinct volcano and some Limestone formations mother earth has created over millions of years. We then leave Mount Gambier to travel across rolling hills to Hamilton. Lunch in Hamilton. A pleasant drive via the Serra and the Mount William ranges into the Grampians National Park to Halls Gap follows, our destination for tonight. We will spend the remains of the afternoon to explore this magnificent National Park with its lofty lookouts and some of the most spectacular views Victoria has to offer. Baroka and Reeds’ Lookouts are definitely worth a visit. Overnight stay in Halls Gap. We suggest dinner at the Kookaburra Restaurant, where local specialities may be tasted. A comprehensive selection of local wines is also available.

. Day Two – Halls Gap – Grampians National Park -­ Ballarat. Breakfast is ready by 0800. We will leave the Grampians National Park at 0900 and meander along the Mount William range to Ararat and on to the historic gold mining town of Ballarat. A short city tour of Ballarat is next on the agenda and we will then visit Australia’s award winning and most significant outdoor gold museum Sovereign Hill where the 1850 gold rush comes alive again for the remains of the day. Learn about the thrill and hardship diggers have experienced from all over the world in those early days. Taste a Cornish pasty for lunch at the New York Bakery on Main Road. One can pan for gold; see the impressive steam engines and steam driven pump at work, watch skilled tradesmen manufacturing beautiful craft – wander back in time until late in the afternoon. Overnight in Ballarat. We suggest dinner at the Lodge Restaurant, with its ever changing, seasonally influenced menu. A comprehensive selection of local wines is also available.

. Day Three – Ballarat -­ Great Ocean Road -­ Melbourne. Breakfast is ready by 0730. We will leave Ballarat no later than 0830. A pleasant drive of about two hours, through sheep and cattle farming countryside, follows heading southwest for Port Campbell on the Southern Ocean with its scenic limestone coast and rugged rock formations. We will stop at the 12 Apostles and the site of the tragic shipwreck at Loch Ard Gorge to listen to some fascinating stories of that time. We now traverse the Otway Ranges, famous for its giant Mountain Ash Eucalypt trees to Apollo Bay. Lunch at one of many gourmet cafes. After lunch, we meander along the historic Great Ocean Road with various stops to marvel at the views and learn more about the past and the tragedies of the unforgiving shipwreck coast to Geelong ­ the second largest port in Victoria. From Geelong we will travel to Melbourne via the West Gate Bridge where we will arrive late in the afternoon and we will transfer you to your city accommodation.

. Operates:
. Every Thursday at 0800.

Great Southern Journey 3 Day Tour – PPT01

This is a three day tour from Adelaide to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road. See kangaroos and koalas in their natural habitat and visit world class wineries. Travel through national parks and stay in quaint bed and breakfasts. This tour travels through some of southern Australia’s most scenic coastal regions.

. Day One – Travelling from Adelaide through Hahndorf an early German settlement, Strathalbyn and Langhorne Creek winery region, crossing the Murray, Australia’s largest river system by ferry at Wellington where the Murray River enters Lake Alexandrina, before emptying into the Southern Ocean. Following the edge of the Coorong National Park on the Younghusband Peninsula, teeming with water birds, the quaint seaside town of Robe, where there is lobster fishing and historic remains of the Chinese gold rush migration. A tasting at one or two of the many renowned wineries is recommended at the Coonawarra premium wine growing district. Overnight accommodation at Chardonnay Lodge or Lakeside Country House Robe.

. Day Two – Travel from Coonawarra via the Grampians Mountains. Visit a national park for bush walking, scenic lookouts, Aboriginal culture, wildflowers (over 850 species in spring) and even see a kangaroo or wallaby. For the sea lovers keep following the coast via Mount Gambier, volcanic craters and lakes, Portland and Port Fairy. Overnight destination – Quamby Homestead (circa 1888) a gracious and historic example of the Victorian era, full of charm and old world hospitality, where fine food and wine and open fires await you. Wake to the sounds of the Australian bush songs and take the opportunity to stroll through the magnificent English style gardens.

. Day Three – Travel through Warrnambool, a whale nursery in season to the Port Campbell National park, see the spectacular 12 Apostles, London Bridge, Loch Ard Gorge, Bay of Islands and many more breathtaking examples of nature at it’s best. We travel to Melbourne through the Otway National Park, following the Great Ocean Road’s towering cliffs and surf coast, winding your way through the seaside resort towns of Apollo Bay and Lorne, see the kangaroos on the Anglesea Golf Course and koalas in the Angahook Forest. Arriving at your Melbourne hotel in the evening.

. Operates:
. Departs Thursdays from Adelaide city hotels and motels at 0900.

Website: www.oztour.com