15 nætter fra Sydney med Seabourn Quest

Tag “Down Under” til en af de mest befolkede byer i Australien: Sydney. Med solens varme stråler og skønne klima som en del af pakken, bør et af dine første besøg være ved den ikoniske bygning, Sydney Opera House, der er et fremtrædende kendetegn ved byens kendte skyline. Udforsk gadernes mange muligheder for shopping, kulinariske oplevelser og se den imponerende arkitektur og de ældre bygninger Parliament House, Sydney Town Hall og Australian Museum.Har du brug for en tur væk fra byen, kan du hoppe på en båd til Manly Beach, hvor du kan nyde lange sandstrande og turkis vand.

Located on the south coast of New South Wales where the River Clyde enters the sea, Bateman’s Bay is the closest seaport to Canberra, Australia’s capital. As such, it is a popular weekend getaway for Canberrans, a majority of whom are government employees. The town has always been associated with seafood. The town’s establishment dates to the mid-19th century when Irish immigrants started Australia’s third fish and chips shop there, which still stands today. It soon became a center for the harvesting, and later farming of oysters in the Clyde River estuary. The area is referred to as Australia’s Oyster Coast. Some 90 miles inland lies the Australian Capital Territory, and the planned city of Canberra. Canberra was built starting in 1908, as a compromise to the claims of both Sydney and Melbourne, which were vying to become the national capital. It is one of the few such separate national capital territories, which include Washington D.C and Brasilia. Located on a broad flood plain between a scattering of sub-3,000 foot peaks, Australia’s largest inland city is laid out in a hub-and-spoke design encircling Lake Burley Griffin, formed by damming several meandering creeks and named for the city’s planner. The Parliament Triangle is a wedge of the circle containing the Old and New Parliament, the Anzac Parade and the impressive Australian War Memorial. Like other designed national capitals, Canberra boasts many monuments, arts centers, museums and a pair of major universities.

Located at the mouth of the Yarra River, Melbourne was founded by free settlers in 1835, 47 years after the first European settlement in Australia. Transformed rapidly into a major metropolis by the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, Melbourne became Australia’s largest and most important city, and by 1865 was the second largest city in the British Empire. Today, Melbourne is a major center of commerce, industry and cultural activity, and is consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world.

Hobart giver dig adgang til Mount Wellington og dets utroligt smukke omgivelser. Derfra kan man se ud over den travle havn, hvor der ligger yachts fra hele verden. Salamanca Arts Centre udstiller også regionens utrolige illustrationer, herunder nogle fantastiske aboriginalske værker. Hvis du leder efter noget mindre formelt, så kan du blot vandre omkring i gaderne og lytte til gademusikanter eller tage en lille pause på en pub og prøve de lokale vine.

Milford Sound is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand’s South Island, off the Tasman Sea. Part of the Fjordland National Park and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site, it has been judged one of the world’s top travel destinations in an international survey. Frequently visited by rain, the mountain peaks rising from the waters of Milford Sound are often softened by mist and an air of almost flawless and overpowering mystic calm. Acclaimed as New Zealand’s most famous tourist destination.

New Zealand’s Fiordland National Park is the largest of the country’s 14 national parks, at 4,868 sq. mi./12,607 sq. km. Located on the southwest corner of the South Island, it was founded in 1904, to protect the natural environment for nature lovers and trekkers. It comprises a large portion of the Te Wahipounamu UNESCO World Heritage Site. The key features of the park are the mountain ranges of the Southern Alps, which rise to heights from 1,500 m/4,900 ft to over 2,500 m/8,200 ft., as well as the spectacular U-shaped glaciated fjord valleys that cut into the mountains as deeply as 25 miles from the sea. There are three major fjords that are navigable by your ships, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound. Your exact itinerary will be determined by your captain depending on the weather and other conditions on the day. But whatever course you sail, you will be treated to spectacular waterways curving between sheer cliffs towering thousands of feet above the mirrored surface of the fjord. Depending on recent rainfall, waterfalls tumble down the rock faces from above. Many of the peaks have nicknames based on their resemblance to animals or other objects of previous observers’ imaginations. You are also likely to see seals, birds including fiordland penguins, bottlenose dolphins and possibly such other fauna as red deer or whales.

You might not realize that New Zealand has a third island. It hangs beneath the South Island and is just about the last inhabited place before Antarctica. The island itself is only about four percent inhabited, and that is its attraction. It is an unspoiled piece of primeval New Zealand. Oban is a very small town, about 800 souls. The phonebook is printed on a single sheet of A4 paper!

Port Chalmers is the main port for the city of Dunedin. Situated in a natural amphitheater at the head of a long fjord-like inlet, Dunedin was the first permanent European settlement in New Zealand, founded in 1848. Not long afterwards, gold was discovered in the region, and the province quickly became the richest and most influential in the colony. While Christchurch is New Zealand’s most English town, Dunedin is its most Scottish; the name Dunedin is the old Gaelic name for Edinburgh. Numerous distinctive and historic buildings remain from the time of its predominantly Scottish settlers, preserving its architectural heritage.

Although it is known as the “Garden City” because of its beautiful parks and world-renowned gardens, Christchurch is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city with exciting festivals, theatre, modern art galleries, great shopping and award-winning attractions. Named after Christ Church, a college at the University of Oxford in London, Christchurch is often described as the most English of New Zealand’s cities. Located in the city center is the Christchurch Cathedral, an outstanding example of Gothic Revival architecture. Other grey-stone nineteenth century buildings, tree-lined avenues and extensive leafy parks give the city it’s elegant, English atmosphere.

Gisborne ligger på østkysten af New Zealands nordø. Et af byens højdepunkter er strandene, der er perfekte, hvis du interesserer dig for surfing! Byen er også hjem for mange levn fra New Zealands oprindelige befolkning, Maoriernes tid.

Tauranga ligger ved indsejlingen til en af de største naturlige havne i New Zealand. Du kan tage en tur i en af de super hurtige “bush jet boats” eller tage på “white-water rafting” på Rangitaiki-floden. Det er også her i Tauranga, at du kan smage den friskeste udgave af retten “fish ‘n’ chips”, du nogensinde har smagt – serveret “al fresco”. Hvis du leder efter en mere eksotisk oplevelse, så kan du tage en tur til Mount Mauganuis varme saltbade.

Auckland er New Zealands største by, og ligger på den nordlige ø. Her kan man både opleve sprudlende storbystemning og smukke vulkaner og laguner. Nyd byens flotte parker, fine restauranter, historiske bygninger, museer og fantastiske stemning. I Auckland er der altid noget at lave, også om natten, hvor byens festlige natteliv folder sig ud.