Voyager replaces Pioneer at Britz

Britz Campervans have announced a new addition to their fleet - the Britz Voyager.

The new vehicle replaces the Britz Pioneer, which caters for two couples or a family of four, is available for bookings now, with travel from April 1.

The Britz Voyager, which is said to have been developed in response to customer feedback, has two double beds and takes into account the number of campervan clients who prefer to use caravan park facilities while touring Australia by not including a built-in toilet and shower.

Britz say this configuration has been planned to provide more space and comfort in the vehicle while not including facilities that clients are unlikely to use.

The new configuration includes an 80-litre fridge, gas stove, crockery and cutlery, as well as a microwave and CD player.

The Britz Voyager is built on a powerful 2.6 litre 2006 Toyota Hiace super long wheel base chassis with automatic transmission.

Accolades for the Sunshine Coast

It’s all been happening on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast lately, with good news for golfers, divers and those who prefer chilling out on the beach.

Hyatt Regency Coolum was recently named Best Australian Golf Course Resort at the Luxury Travel & Style 2007 Gold List Awards. The resort was also a finalist in the Best Australian Spa Resort category.

Another accolade for the Sunshine Coast has gone to Coolum Beach, which has been named Queensland's Cleanest Beach 2006.

The popular swimming and surf beach outperformed 175 other entrants from along the Queensland coast and islands in the annual Keep Australia Beautiful's Clean Beach Challenge.

Meanwhile, the dive business on the Sunshine Coast is booming as a direct result of national and international interest in diving on the wreck of the ex-HMAS Brisbane.

The latest estimate from the Environment Protection Agency suggests about 8,000 divers have made around 14,000 separate dives on the wreck since it was scuttled in July 2005.

The Sunshine Coast's Scuba World has reported a 400 per cent boost in dive numbers in the twelve months following the scuttling of the ex-HMAS Brisbane.

Eco-resort for Phillip Island

Phillip Island, a major attraction in Victoria known for its legendary fairy penguins, will be offering a new resort in May with the opening of Accor’s All Seasons Eco Resort Phillip Island.

The eco-resort is the first of its kind on the island providing the perfect base for visitors who want to combine quality and comfort with environmental sensitivity. It will offer a mix of accommodation including self-contained studio spa as well as two and three bedroom villas.

All 211 villas will be operational by the end of 2007.

The villas are scattered within the 26-hectare (64 acre) site surrounded by bicycle and bush walking tracks. Resort facilities will include a swimming pool, toddler pool, tennis courts, health club (with a fully equipped gymnasium, spa and sauna) and a kids club with playground.

The resort will also host weddings, conferences and meetings for up to 150 delegates.

Phillip Island is also home to the annual Australian Motor Cycle Grand Prix, which this year will be staged from October 12-14.

Accor also operates hotels in fragile environments including Grand Mercure Mt Buller Chalet in Victoria’s unique Alpine region; and the Novotel Lake Crackenback Resort in the Snowy Mountains, which conducts a guided walks programme in Kosciusko National Park, adhering to the environmental ‘Leave No Trace’ principles.

Accor recently opened Novotel Ningaloo Resort near Ningaloo Reef off the coast of Exmouth in Western Australia, one of the largest fringing coral reefs in the world and home to a diverse array of coral and marine life.

Your Monopoly vote needed

An Australian version of the world popular Monopoly game is to be released in June.

And you are invited to log onto www.monopoly.com.au to vote for your favourite towns and attractions from around Australia.

Are you a fan of the Barossa Valley, Margaret River, the Great Ocean Road, Cradle Mountain, or major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne or Perth? Then you have until February 10 to make your vote.

The region that receives the most votes will be honoured with the famous dark blue property, traditionally held by Mayfair.

Once published, the Australian Monopoly game will make a great tool for promoting the destination.

Podtours for Melbourne

Radio station 774 ABC Melbourne has joined forces with the University of Melbourne’s Department of History and ABC New Media and Digital Services to launch PodTours, which double as both an audio guide and a guided walking tour.

History students from the University of Melbourne have thoroughly researched the tours, ensuring scores of facts and anecdotes about the city.

There are three tours, and they can be downloaded free of charge at the ABC website.

Highlights of Eat, Drink Melbourne include the story of Australian food icons, such as Vegemite, the Freddo Frog, and the Dim Sim, which were all invented in Melbourne; the site where the Prince Alfred caused Melbourne’s biggest food-fight involving around 100,000 Melburnians; and great tales about Melbourne's famous pubs and vineyards.

Under every glistening, stylish sophisticated city (and Melbourne's certainly one of those) there lies a long tale of grime and crime – and Death, Dirt & Disease and Showbiz helps visitors explore the macabre side of Melbourne. There are dead bodies being pulled out of the Yarra River, coroners counting maggots and nightmen dumping bedpans on flowerbeds.

Sexy Spectacles and Sideshows is full of interesting trivia, such as Houdini’s chained and padlocked dive into the Yarra; the place where Kung Fu actor Jackie Chan threw a bad guy through a shop window; the lanes that served as purgatory for Nicholas Cage in Ghost Rider , and the story behind the 1920s race to build the first and most exotic picture palace.

All PodTours begin at the Federation Square Tourist Information Centre and take approximately one hour to complete.


*Selling Down Under keeps you up-to-date with Australian travel product with a bi-monthly turn-the-page on-line publication for the travel industry. Make sure you get your online edition by going to www.sellingdownunder.com or sending an email to register@sellingdownunder.com

New luxury lodge for Tasmania

The newly-opened Tarraleah Lodge, located in a restored art deco-style building just a 90-minute drive from Hobart, is set to become another of Tasmania’s luxurious wilderness resorts.

Perched high on a plateau on the edge of the World Heritage wilderness area the property is an ideal base for a range of activities including guided trout fishing.

The village of Tarraleah was originally built to house pioneering hydro-electricity workers in the 1930s. The village was bought by a local company in early 2005, and has since been developed to create a five-star lodge with nine spa suites and a cliff-top spa tub.

The property also offers 15 art-deco style cottages, 10 apartments in the former 1940s schoolhouse, a gourmet restaurant called Scholars, a café and tavern.

Tarraleah is situated midway between Hobart and the west coast town of Strahan, surrounded by Tasmania’s temperate wilderness. With virtually no alternative accommodation along this popular but challenging six-hour drive, it gives visitors access to a vast area of ancient forests, streams, rivers, lakes and mountains.

There are more than 80 bird species in the region, including wedge-tailed eagles and black swans – as well as an abundance of rare and elusive wildlife species, including platypus and Tasmanian devils,

Activities range from playing golf on Tasmania’s highest golf course, (from where on a clear day you can see Mount Wellington in Hobart) to mountain biking, kayaking and boating on pristine lagoons, to bush-walking, 4WD adventure tours and star-safaris.


*Selling Down Under keeps you up-to-date with Australian travel product with a bi-monthly turn-the-page on-line publication for the travel industry. Make sure you get your online edition by going to www.sellingdownunder.com or sending an email to register@sellingdownunder.com

Alpine fires do not stop horse riding tours

In the latest edition of Selling Down Under, we took a look at horse riding adventures in Victoria’s Alpine National Park. As we went to press, massive fires struck this region of Victoria, threatening several tourism ventures. So we were pleased to get this message from Bogong Horseback Adventures

“Our area of the Alpine National Park has been re-opened for our summer tour programme.

The bushfires are now described as contained and have not burnt any of the country featured in our Mount Bogong Tours. The Western (Mansfield) end of the Alpine National Park remains closed. I have been advised that the unburnt country north and east of Falls Creek, including the Nelse Range and Mount Bogong have been opened for our operations.

Those clients booked on the January 6 ride should plan on the ride going ahead. Please be assured that as this section of the Park is opened it will be safe to visit, and being unburnt, as beautiful as ever.

We carry satellite phones as well as Web abled next G phones so we can be well informed of any future developments.

Meanwhile our daily trail ride programme is fully operational, and visitors are encouraged to return to our Valley to enjoy their summer holiday. The fire scars are barely visible and the smoke has cleared.

If any one is considering booking one of our scheduled tours, you can assume that they will be going ahead. Some of the Mount Fainter program may move to Mount Bogong, but it's all great country."

If you have any specific queries please contact Steve

*Selling Down Under keeps you up-to-date with Australian travel product with a bi-monthly turn-the-page on-line publication for the travel industry. Make sure you get your online edition by going www.sellingdownunder.com or sending an email to register@sellingdownunder.com

New ferry for South Australia

The much-anticipated Sea SA car and passenger ferry service linking the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas in South Australia has started operation, saving visitors around 350 kilometres in travelling between the two popular tourism regions.

Crossing between Wallaroo on the Yorke Peninsula and Lucky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula, and using the interim vessel Seaway , the new ferry service will take just under two hours each way to complete the journey.

Seaway will be replaced at the end of February by the purpose-built, luxury vessel Sea Scape, a 49-metre ropax drive-through catamaran that has much larger capacity and will complete a one way crossing in 100 minutes.

As well as the ferry service, Sea SA will also be offering a range of holiday packages including accommodation, adventure tours and cruise/drive tours.

The toughest thing about a trip to Yorke Peninsula is dragging yourself off the beach. But there's plenty to see "on-shore" -- such as wandering through time in historic copper mining towns; tasting the produce along the Yorke Peninsula Home Grown Trail; strolling along coastal trails and hiking through rugged bushland at Innes National Park.

The Yorke Peninsula is also home each May to to Kernewek Lowender the world's largest Cornish festival: the name means 'Cornish happiness' in the Cornish language.

With more than 600 kilometres of coastline and a host of sunny seaside towns, Yorkes, as it is known to South Australians, has an array of great beaches -- all within a couple of hours drive from Adelaide.

Yorke Peninsula also has many diverse accommodation styles, from luxury resorts to beach bungalows to backpackers to camping facilities.

Eyre Peninsula also promises a holiday tailor-made to every need, with a relaxed and tranquil atmosphere and Mediterranean climate.

It's an area covering over 2,000 kilometresm of spectacular coastline, ranging from towering limestone cliffs, sweeping surf beaches, sheltered coves and bays, changing to a hinterland of rolling hills and farmland, remarkable rocks and rugged ranges.

There's so much to do on the Eyre Peninsula - from great fishing from beach, rock, jetty or boat, an exciting range of tours, cruises, yachting, fishing charters and 4WD safaris -- including swimming with sea lions or dolphins or waking up under the stars and exploring the ancient Nullarbor Plain and Gawler Ranges.

Eyre Peninsula is often called the seafood capital of Australia and also produces some award winning local wines. For gourmet travellers interested in learning about the region’s excellent seafood, participation in Australia’s Seafood & Aquaculture Trail is a must. This Trail extends around the Peninsula and provides unique opportunities to see and sample an array of local product direct from the suppliers.

*Selling Down Under keeps you up-to-date with Australian travel product with a bi-monthly turn-the-page on-line publication for the travel industry. Make sure you get your online edition by going www.sellingdownunder.com or sending an email to register@sellingdownunder.com

New ECO Certified operators

More and more visitors to Australia are looking for eco-friendly experiences as they travel around the country – using operators that are members of Eco Tourism Australia.

Newly certified at Ecotourism level, Cape York Motorcycle Adventures offers a thrilling off road experience exploring the rugged Cape York landscape in Tropical North Queensland on the back of a motor bike.

Providing ecologically sustainable tourism with a primary focus on experiencing natural areas, Cape York Motorcycle Adventures conduct organised tours throughout some of the region’s remote and hard to reach landscapes – and all within easy reach of Cairns.

Synergy Reef Sailing is a luxury operation set off the coast of tropical Port Douglas that has recently been certified at the Ecotourism level for its operation, which fosters environmental and cultural understanding, appreciation and conservation of the surrounding environment.

Synergy Reef Sailing offers full day luxury sail and snorkel cruises with a maximum 12 passengers aboard Synergy II. In addition to a private charter services the operator employs fully qualified gourmet chefs.

The Cairns Dive Centre is an Scuba Schools International (SSI) training centre with five star facilities. Ecotourism certification acknowledges the company’s efforts to boost conservation awareness while offering extensive dive training courses. The Cairns Dive Centre is set in one of the world’s premier diving locations.

Set in the Hinchinbrook Shire, the award winning Noorla Heritage Resort is now also certified at Ecotourism level due to its efforts to provide a sustainable tourism experience for guests to the area. The 2006 Queensland Tourism Award winner is a stunning boutique hotel and stately country club set on a spacious property just minutes from Wallaman Falls, the highest single drop waterfall in the Southern Hemisphere.

*Selling Down Under keeps you up-to-date with Australian travel product with a bi-monthly turn-the-page on-line publication for the travel industry. Make sure you get your online edition by going www.sellingdownunder.com or sending an email to register@sellingdownunder.com