Final Call
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday March 30, 2005
The latest travel news and products...
Fab food For a stimulating weekend in the country, try the Chapel Hill Winery Gourmet Retreat in South Australia. Located in McLaren Vale (45 minutes' drive from Adelaide), the retreat is for anyone who wants to hone their culinary skills and enjoy the finer things of life. Guests stay in the luxurious chalet-style lodge. Join a two-hour cooking class or sign up for a gourmet weekend. Doubles from $260 a night; gourmet weekends cost $750 a person (twin share). Chapel Hill Winery Gourmet Retreat, 1 Chapel Hill Road, McLaren Vale, South Australia 5171. Ph: 08 8323 9182 or visit info@chapelhillwine.com.auDown south Artists from as far afield as Newfoundland, Iceland, Japan, Reunion and Hawaii are converging on Tasmania for this year's Ten Days on the Island festival. The festival (April 1-10) is the perfect excuse for a trip down south, with 200 events in 40 locations around Tasmania. Highlights include the world premiere of The Garden of Paradise, John Bell in Moby Dick and The Incredible Hulls, a new musical work by Graeme Leak. Festival packages are now available. Visit the Tasmanian Travel Centre at 60 Carrington Street, Sydney or ph: 1300 655 145. Smart guide Travel guides don't usually come with an in-built pen and compass. Until now. Apart from these two quirky attractions, the new Insideout guides (pictured) are packed with advice on where to shop, eat and hang out in some of the world's favourite cities. The two pop-up maps should make it easier to find your way around. The robust guidebooks are nifty enough to fit into a pocket or handbag, but have all the essential information. London, Berlin, Florence, Dublin, New York, Paris, Venice and Washington are among the 17 titles available. Insideout travel guides ($19.95) are available at all good bookshops.Pamper Island Want to get away from telephones, televisions and day-trippers? Then Orpheus Island, located on the Great Barrier Reef, 80 kilometres north of Townsville, could be the solution. The island is offering readers of the(sydney)magazine a special Orpheus Indulgence package. Costing $3349, it includes five nights' accommodation, all meals, and unlimited use of motorised dinghies and other sporting equipment. Valid until March 2006. Flights and seaplane transfers are not included. Call Orpheus Island Resort on (07) 4777 7377 or email bookings@orpheus.com.auBrazil nuts South America is hot, hot, hot but if you're looking for a city with a year-round buzz then Salvador is it. Salvador (pictured), the former capital of Brazil, puts even Rio de Janeiro in the shade. The city's music scene is legendary and the old town, with its narrow cobbled streets and colourful Portuguese architecture, is equally fascinating. You can now visit Salvador and Rio as part of Un-limited Travel's six-night tour of Brazil. The package includes hotel accommodation, private transfers and return flights from Sydney with LAN airlines. Cost: $3500 (twin share), plus taxes. Ph: 9938 8000 or 1300 668 241.Let's split Tempo Holidays has launched an eight-day tour of Croatia, including visits to Dubrovnik, Plitvice Lakes (pictured), Krka National Park, Zagreb and Split. Croatia has a 5000-kilometre coastline, ancient seaports, beaches and wooded mountains. Tempo's Grand Tour starts at $1194 and includes airport transfers, air-conditioned transport, hotel accommodation, guides and entrance fees. Self-drive and rail pass options are available, as well as a seven-night cruise from Dubrovnik to Split. Available from May to October 2005. Contact Tempo Holidays on (03) 9646 0277, or visit www.tempoholidays.com
© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald
