| Our Small Group Tours are very different
from Backpackers Tours or other Coach Tours. Whereas Backpacker and Coach Tours usually have regular departure dates and run to strict schedules, our Small Group Tours are scheduled and run according to demand, are often customised and can be very flexible. This means that it's often impossible for you to get onto such a tour if you have already planned your whole itinerary with set dates for flights and other activities. Many of our tour participants reserve their seats or tours as long as 9 to 15 months in advance. This ensures that we can usually accommodate their wishes and can schedule accordingly. Only after they have secured their seats or tour do they finalise their flights and make other arrangement. |
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| If you are interested in any of our
tours then please contact us without delay. At present we can still make some changes to our tour schedule and may also be able to still accommodate special wishes. When contacting us please tell us the following: Your preferred tour and dates. The number of people in your group and their ages. Where you live, any medical condition of members of your group and any special wishes. Also let us know if yours should be a private tour or if you would travel together with other people. Tours for just 2 people are possible but much more expensive than tours with 4 participants. Contact us here for more Info: Australian Outback Tours. |
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2005
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| 2005 Nov. /Dec. |
12 Day Roundtrips. Melbourne > Great Ocean Road > Grampians > Adelaide > Barossa & Clare Valleys > Broken Hill > Lake Mungo > Mildura > Swan Hill > Ballarat > Melbourne. 8 Day Melbourne to Sydney. Melbourne > Gippsland > Lakes Entrance > Vic. High Country > Snowy Mountains > Blue Mountains > Sydney. 8 Day Sydney to Melbourne. The above in reverse. A 13 - 14 day Melbourne to Alice Springs tour or a 24 day Roundtrip from Melbourne are also possible. http://www.redcentre.com.au/2003/24day-loop.htm Those tours can also be customised. |
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2006
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| 2006 |
Our 2006 Tour schedule is
very similar to the 2005 tour schedule. Early inquiries ensure that we can set tours and dates aside for you or for your group. We will then schedule our other tours 'around' your tour. Two tours for which we already received a number of inquiries and some of them from previous participants are our Cape York 4WD Tag Along Tour, Cairns to Darwin Tour and our Kimberley Tour A Canning Stock Route 4WD Tag Along Tour is also possible after the above Cairns to Darwin Tour. The Cape York tour will be starting from Sydney and finishes either in Cairns or for those who wish to do so in Sydney. It starts in Sydney on June 30th 2006 and will be of 25 days duration ( 32 to 35 days if returning to Sydney). The Cairns to Darwin Tour follows on from the Cape York Tour and will be of approx. 14 days duration. At this stage it hasn't been decided if the Kimberley Tour or the CSR Tour will follow on from Darwin. Please contact us early if you are interested in those tours. This is especially important for all who require a hired 4WD vehicle so that we can assist you with the rental of well prepared vehicles. Should there be insufficient interest for the Cairns to Darwin and for the Kimberley tours then we may again run our East-West Crossing tour. More Info here: A participants journal, http://www.redcentre.com.au/4x4/EWX2001-Journal.htm Please contact us early, telling us which tour you are interested in. Contact us here for more Info: 2006 Australian Outback Tours. |
| The above tour schedule is still subject
to changes. Please contact us for additional and up to date Info. |
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| January, February 2006 |
Jan. 8th 2006. 14 Day 4WD tour from Melbourne to Alice Springs. http://www.redcentre.com.au/2006/mel2alice14.htm Other Jan. & Feb. 2006 Tours: 9 to 10 Day Tours from Melbourne to Adelaide , including the Great Ocean Road, Grampians Nat. Park, Flinders Ranges, Clare Valley, Barossa Valley, Adelaide. Also the same tour in reverse ( Adelaide to Melbourne ). 12 Day Tour from Melbourne to Melbourne ( Round-trip ), including the Great Ocean Road, Grampians Nat. Park, Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Flinders Ranges, Broken Hill, Mildura, Swan Hill, Ballarat, Melbourne. We also have capacity to run other tours. Please ask us for details. More Info: Jan./Feb. 2006 Tours |
| March 2006 |
March 6th to
22th. 14 days Melb. to Alice Springs http://www.redcentre.com.au/2006/mel2alice14.htm Other tours are also possible. More Info: March 2006 Tours |
| April 2006 |
March 28th to April 6th,
available for private tour April 9th to 26th. 18 Days Sydney to Alice Springs. Passenger and Tag Along. Similar to the following: http://www.redcentre.com.au/2004/18day-Syd-Alice.htm Dates are tentative Up to 5 Tag Along Vehicles are possible We also have capacity to run an additional tour. Please ask us for details. More Info here: April 2006 Tour |
| May 2006 |
April 28th to May 11th. Alice
Springs to Melbourne 4 seats available May 21st to June 13th . 24 day Great Southern & Red Centre Loop Check out the itinerary here: http://www.redcentre.com.au/2003/24day-loop.htm More Info here: May 2006 Tours One additional tour is possible. |
| June 2006 |
June 18th, 8 Day Melbourne to Sydney. Melbourne > Gippsland > Lakes Entrance > Vic. High Country > Snowy Mountains > Blue Mountains > Sydney. |
| The following are Tag Along Tours
with up to 4 passenger seats available in our escort vehicle. More general information about our Tag Along Tours: http://www.redcentre.com.au/4X4/TagAlongFAQ.htm You can read Journals about some of our Tag Along Tours here . |
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| June 2006 |
June 30th. Cape York Passenger and Tag Along Tour. 25 day Tour from Sydney, through Outback NSW & Western Qld. to the Cape. Return either to Cairns ( 25 days ) or to Sydney (unacompanied, 35 days ). A maximum of only 5 Tag Along Vehicles are possible. Only 4 passengers are possible in our Escort vehicle. 2 seats have already been booked. Contact: 2006 Cape York Trip |
| July / August 2006 |
July 30th. 15 day 4WD Camping tour from Cairns to Darwin for up to 4 passengers. Up to 3 Tag Along Vehicles are possible. Contact: Cairns to Darwin 2006 |
| August 2006 |
August 18th. 33 day Kimberley Tour, from Darwin to Perth for up to 4 passengers. Up to 3 Tag Along Vehicles are possible. http://www.redcentre.com.au/2005/33daysperth2darwin.htm Contact: Kimberley Tour 2006 |
| September 2006 |
September 25th. 35 day West - East Crossing, right through the Centre and Deserts. Contact: West-East Crossing 2006 |
| Alternative for September 2006 |
Depending on demand the following 22 day
Canning Stock Route Tag Along Tour may replace the West - East
Crossing. Perth > Wiluna > CSR > Bungle Bungle > Tanami Track > Alice Springs. 6 Tag Along Vehicles are possible. Only 2 passenger seats will be available in our escort vehicle. Contact: CSR 2006 |
| October / November / December
2006 |
Tell us where you want to go. We can still accommodate special wishes and even taylor a tour exactly to your wishes. |
| Suggestions for October through to
December 2006: 12 Day Roundtrips. Melbourne > Great Ocean Road > Grampians > Adelaide > Barossa & Clare Valleys > Broken Hill > Lake Mungo > Mildura > Swan Hill > Ballarat > Melbourne. 8 Day Melbourne to Sydney. Melbourne > Gippsland > Lakes Entrance > Vic. High Country > Snowy Mountains > Blue Mountains > Sydney. 8 Day Sydney to Melbourne. The above in reverse. A 13 - 14 day Melbourne to Alice Springs tour or a 24 day Roundtrip from Melbourne are also possible. http://www.redcentre.com.au/2003/24day-loop.htm Those tours can also be customised. Contact: Oct. to Dec. 2006 Tour |
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| 2007 |
2007 Advance Notice |
| May / June 2007 |
East-West Crossing, 4WD Tag Along Tour.
35 days from Sydney to Perth A participants journal, http://www.redcentre.com.au/4x4/EWX2001-Journal.htm Exact dates to be advised. Inquiries here please. |
| July 2007 |
33 day Kimberley 4WD Tour. Tag Along cars are possible. Exact dates to be advised. More information here. |
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4WD, Camping & Outback Tours |
All those tours are mostly camping
tours. We camp in Commercial Camping Grounds with all conveniences, in Nat. Park Camping Grounds that usually have toilets and mostly also showers and then there are also bush camps. Such bush camps maybe at the banks of a river or billabong, in the middle of a desert or even just behind a hill alongside the track we travel on. At bush camps there are no toilets and no showers! We have large centre pole 2 person tents and supply self inflating mattresses and sleeping bags. Many people however chose to sleep under the stars, just in their sleeping bags, on their mattresses on our large tarp. You should try it at least once!! There will be times when for various reasons an itinerary can't be adhered to. There can be flies, dust, very rough tracks an d heat. There may even be breakdowns and vehicle problems caused by the rough terrain we travel over that slow us down or result in hold ups. With our tours it is important that all participants are prepared to lent a hand with chores around our camp like packing & unpacking of the camping equipment, setting up their tents, collecting firewood and at times helping with the preparation of our meals. Everybody benefits from that as it gives us all more time for travelling and other activities. Participants must be able to work as a team and be willing to help each other. People who consider themselves not "team players" should seriously think about if they really want to take part in such adventures or if they would be better served by signing up to one of the Coach Tours with their strictly regimented schedules and who camp at their Permanent Bush Camps - is there such a thing? Bush camping to us means camping wherever you are and find a likely spot in the wilderness. On a recent tour the cars air conditioning unit developed a problem, resulting in it at times becoming ineffective for periods of up to 5 minutes. We were many 100's of km's and several days from a workshop where it could be repaired. All except one participant accepted this as a nuisance but nothing more. One however became very stressed and as a result almost impossible to travel with. This person would have been better of travelling on a Coach Tour, although such problems can occure with any vehicle. Such problems are not very common but can happen on any Outback Adventure tour when we travel in rough terrain and through remote areas. Especially with Custom Tours we can be very flexible and can at times change itineraries to suit the participants preferences, including their accommodation. This is at times also possible on our Small Group Tours, provided all participants are easy going and get on with each other. |
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You may like to read from some participants
travel journals: http://freedsville.org.uk/aus02/p25.htm http://www.redcentre.com.au/4x4/EWX2001-Journal.htm http://www.redcentre.com.au/4x4/brons_csr_journal.htm |
A typical day or two on our 4WD Camping Tours. The first Magpie with it's morning song wakes me. There is only just a hint of light in the east. I get up, rekindle the camp fire and set the billycan with water into the hot coals. While the water comes to the boil I pack up my bed ding. By now one of the participants is stirring and then joins me for our first cuppa. While I prepare a few things for breakfast the sun begins to rise and soon all the others are up, rolling up their be d ding, packing up tents and begin packing their gear into the trailer. Breakfast today maybe just cereals with fruits an d toast or it could be bacon and eggs, scrambled eggs on toast or perhaps pancakes. After breakfast and once dishes have been washe d I encourage the participants to go for a walk while I pack the cooking utensils etc. and check the vehicle. We should be on our way about 1 1/2 hours after everybo dy got up. Yesterday we came along an exceptionally rough track that slowed us down, resulting in progress being less than expecte d. We try to make up for that by keeping our hourly stops shorter than normal. Of course we still stop for those wild camels or other wildlife. It's a hot day and at lunchtime nobody feels like eating but reaches for some fruit instead. Nearly 2 hours later we spot an exceptionally spectacular rock formation. We pull up after finding a large shade tree. With the assistance of one of the participants I prepare a quick snack while the others go exploring, filming and photographing. Soon we are on our way again. We still have a long way to go to our planned destination and as the sun starts to descent we realise that we won't make it until sometime after sunset. So, it's another bushcamp tonight. This time only a short distance from a beautiful gorge with permanent water. While I, assisted by one of the participant prepare our evening meal another participant goes firewood collecting an d another straightens out a number of tent pegs that were bent in very hard ground a few nights earlier. Later we sit around our campfire stargazing. We all enjoy a drink while discussing today's experiences. As alcohol could not be purchased along our route due to it being Aboriginal land they had by now finishe d their beer and had to be satisfied with the Red Wine I had brought along. Next morning we leave our trailer at the turnoff to a gorge and after driving to the end of the track an d a short walk we reach the gorge. Being so early we have the whole area just to ourselves as people who had camped there just left as we arrived. All the participants declared this and their early morning swim as one of the highlights of the tour. Today we made good progress, ma de up for the time we had lost previously and arrive d at our planned destination late afternoon. Here we stayed at a Commercial Camping Ground with all facilities. Everybody went straight for the showers an d then caught up with laundry before we went out to dinner at the local hotel. Later, back at our camp site some of us start chatting to some other travellers who were camped nearby, while the others went straight to their tents to sleep. As much of our travel is on unsealed roads and tracks and in remote areas, conditions constantly change and various other reasons can at times delay our progress, we can never guarantee that we are at a specific destination at a certain day. |
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| For more info about any tour
please
E-mail here.
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| Home Page:
http://www.redcentre.com.au
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| Australian Red Centre Forum |
We maintain a forum for people interested
in Outback Travel, you may like to check it out. You are able
to read the messages there but if you wish to participate, check out
our photos and other information you will need to join as member. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/australianredcentre/ |