pbtms world tours travel boutique home
AUSTRALIA
CELEBRATE NEW YEAR DOWN UNDER
The magic of the Blue Mountains, wineries of the Hunter Valley and the sparkling architecture of Canberra
PBTMS World Tours can design an exciting itinerary to suit individual requirements.
8 days Sydney New Year by the Harbour Celebration package from AUD 1488 pp twn sh - 4 star city hotel, 4 day tours & more included
MELBOURNE CUP - one of the greatest horse racing carnivals in the world
.3,5 & 7 night packages available. November.
"... gather at the crossroads of Melbourne outside Flinders Street Station, and watch, listen and thrill to the sights and sounds of our city and all its people"
The Australian Standing Stones in Glen Innes in the New England Tablelands of New South Wales are unique - one of the first to be built in the World for more than 3500 years.
A megalithic array, like those around which the ancient Celts danced, inspired by the Ring of Brodgar in the Orkneys. They became the venue for the annual Australian Celtic Festival held on the first weekend in May.
AUSTRALIAN CULTURE - AUSTRALIAN FESTIVALS
TAMWORTH COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL - Jan
MELBOURNE FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL - March/April
SYDNEY AGRICULTURAL SHOW - Easter
TERRIGAL CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL - July
HOBART SUMMER FESTIVAL - Dec/Jan
WILDFLOWER FESTIVAL Western Australia - Sept/Oct
MELBOURNE FESTIVAL - Oct/Nov
BRISBANE RIVERSIDE at XMAS - Dec
NEW YEARS EVE - Sydney
Discovering the best islands in the world.
TASMANIA
Something different
SOUTHERN DELIGHT - HOBART, PRISONS, GHOSTS, CHOCOLATES & THE DRUNKEN ADMIRAL
7 days ex Sydney from AUD$1995 pp twn sh
KING ISLAND - untouched, friendly, close Small island appeal
7 day inclusive packages from AUD$1998 pp twn sh ex sydney
Located off the tourist track and untouched by modern excesses, the indulging King Island is located in the western entrance to Bass Strait just 50 minutes flying time from Melbourne. King Island was the sight of Australia's worst peacetime shipping disaster and has more known shipwrecks lying on the reefs beneath the waters of its 145km coastline than any other part of Australia.
For all small group experiences in the Red Centre contact PBTMS
For all small group experiences in the Red Centre contact PBTMS
South Australia’s Flinders Ranges – taking in Hawker, Arkaroola and the vast natural colosseum of Wilpena Pound – are home to a myriad of ancient mysteries.
Five Aboriginal tribes have called these lands home for more than 40,000 years. Collectively, the tribes are known as the Adnyamathanha – “rock or hills people.
These people developed their culture over thousands of years, not by challenging and changing the landscape, but by developing philosophies to explain its formation and the Adnyamathanha’s role within it.
Wilpena Pound has particular significance to the local Aboriginal community. The name Wilpena is an Aboriginal word meaning “bent fingers” – an apt description for this huge natural amphitheatre which rises from within the central Flinders.
According to Aboriginal Dreamtime legend, Wilpena Pound was formed when two giant Akurras (Serpents of the Dreaming) encircled the Pound and swallowed a party of tribesmen holding a ceremony at the site. The snakes died from over-eating and their scaly, coiled bodies formed the ridged peaks which now surround the Pound. St Mary’s Peak is said to be the head of the male Akurra, while Beatrice Hill is the head of the female serpent.
VISIT THE STUNNING FLINDERS ISLAND ARCHIPELAGO
With a population of just over one thousand, FLINDERS ISLAND is the largest of about sixty named islands which make up the Furneaux group, first charted by Matthew Flinders in 1798. The islands became a base for the “Straitsmen”, who slaughtered seals in their tens of thousands and, so legend goes, lured many ships to their demise for a spot of piracy.
These rough men provided a vital link in the continuing survival of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people, ironically by stealing women to work for them on the islands. When sealing ended, the communities survived by muttonbird harvesting, a seasonal industry which continues today (with land rights claims in 1995 giving title to several outlying islands).
Flinders Island itself played a large part in the systematic attempted genocide of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people; between 1831 and 1834 the remnants of the Tasmanian tribes were hunted down and relocated here. Settled at windswept Wybalenna, on the west coast of the island, the Aborigines were without adequate food and shelter, and were forced to accept Christianity as their culture was expunged.
|