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I had a fabulous time on my work trip to Australia this May, courtesy of Tourism Australia and Qantas Airways.

We flew to Melbourne, the gateway to Victoria. A laid back, cosmopolitan city with the Yarra River flowing through, and has great attractions, many sporting venues, and terrific shopping. Melbourne is easy to get around with a network of trams, buses and trains. The city centre is peppered with a network of narrow lanes - the heart of Melbourne's cafe society. We caught the tram out to St Kilda, a nearby beach suburb with craft shops, cafes, and wonderful cake shops. We went to the Botanical gardens, to Federation Square which had a jazz festival in progress, and we then went back into Melbourne history and visited the old town goal. We took a ride to the very top of the Eureka Skydeck, which had fantastic views out over the city and surrounding areas.

In Melbourne we stayed at the modern Crown Metropol, part of the huge Crown complex on the Southbank with shops, food halls and casino. We flew a comfortable journey with Qantas Airways, via Hong Kong.

From Melbourne we took an excursion to the rugged Victorian coastline, along the aptly named Great Ocean Road, and marveled at the 12 Apostles. And visited nearby rainforest.

Then we flew down to Southern Australia, and Adelaide. Adelaide is smaller, and built on a grid system, and surrounded by parklands. We started off with a visit to Keswick Railway Station went aboard the Ghan for a tour and had lunch in the Queen Adelaide restaurant. This legendary train starts at Adelaide on it's long meandering journey up to Darwin. A relaxing way to see the red centre. We visited a wild life park in the Adelaide Hills. And took in the leafy suburbs of northern Adelaide and some unique Heritage properties. And did an escorted tour of the Central Market. They take their food and wine seriously in Southern Australia and the produce at this wonderful indoor market is all top quality.

In Adelaide we stayed at the Crown Plaza Adelaide and the Majestic Roof Gardens. Both hotels are centrally placed.

From there we had a couple of days on Kangaroo Island, a 40 mins ferry ride from Cape Jarvis. Kangaroo Island is one of Australia's natural wonders. It has an abundance of wildlife that roam freely without fences or boundaries. Around a third of the island is protected as National Parks, offering the most spectacular scenery, and rock formations. We saw some amazing wildlife in their natural habitat. Kangaroos and wallabies rooming around freely. Koala's sleeping in eucalyptus trees by the roadside. Basking sea-lions on the beach. Little penguins who come ashore at night to burrow under the shrubs along the coastline. And the scenery is just amazing. There are some terrific hotels on this islands to cater for all budgets and tastes. My group stayed at the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Retreat, where the food is superb, and has it's own resident pet kangaroo called Beanie. The final night was at the Island Seafront Hotel in Penneshaw, before catching the car ferry back to the mainland.

Finally, we took an excursion our to the Barossa wine region, a beautiful patchwork of vineyards and rolling hills. This region is an easy 2 hours drive from central Adelaide. Again there are many hotels and and guest houses in the region, if you wanted to make a longer visit. The hospitality throughout our visit to Australia was warm and natural.

We flew home again with Qantas Airways, flying the new A380 from Singapore.
There are a couple of good options if you have a long flight change at Singapore,. Take the free 2 hours city transfer during daytime. Or in the evening, take a cossie and change of clothes in your hand luggage, and head for the airport swimming pool, and relax for a couple of hours. I have details on both.

To sum up, both Victoria, or Southern Australia, are wonderful to tour. And a great alternative to the more publicized, and iconic parts of Australia such as Sydney, Queensland, and the Red Centre. It's easy to get there, and no problem to travel around. The scenery is breathtaking. The food is a gastronomic delight, and the wines are top class. Match this with the wonderful, diverse scenery, the abundance of wildlife - these are the hidden delights of Australia. So, why not give them a try.