Reef, rock, harbour and the Great Ocean Road — with a headline day tour included in every single centre.
The trip in a nutshell
Most multi-centre trips give you the flights and hotels and leave the experiences to you. This one includes a proper full-day tour in each of its four destinations, which is why it reads like a bucket list rather than an itinerary.
You start in Cairns with an all-inclusive day on the Frankland Islands — kayaking, paddleboarding, a guided island walk and snorkelling straight off the beach. Then Uluru for sunrise with breakfast on the dune and the Mutitjulu Waterhole rock art. Then five nights in Sydney including a whale-watching cruise on the harbour. And finally Melbourne, with a small-group eco tour down the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and Gibson Steps — spotting wild koalas on the way.
“Everything is arranged. Every flight, every transfer, every hotel, every big-ticket experience. All you have to do is turn up at the airport.”
Cairns Harbourside Hotel (3 nights, B&B) · Desert Gardens Hotel, Uluru (2 nights) · Holiday Inn Sydney Potts Point (5 nights, B&B) · The Savoy on Little Collins, Melbourne (4 nights)
Live availability on Travelodeal's site · low deposit · ABTA & ATOL protected
Our signature calculation
The brochure tells you what this trip costs to book. This is what it costs to take — the price plus every meal the package doesn't cover, per person.
A reasonable gap. Budget for the meals and there should be no nasty surprises.
Meals priced at mid-range Australian rates: breakfast £14, lunch £20, dinner £38. We don't count the 2 days you spend in the air. How we calculate it · See every trip ranked
vs £257/day on the brochure · +20%
The moments you'll remember
Kayaking, paddleboarding, a guided island walk, snorkelling over coral, plus morning tea, buffet lunch and afternoon tea.
Watch the sun come up over the rock with a light breakfast laid on, then visit the sacred Mutitjulu Waterhole and its rock art.
Out through the Heads with breakfast or a BBQ lunch aboard, and a very good chance of humpbacks in season.
Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and Gibson Steps, with wild koala spotting and rainforest trails — in a small group, not a coach.
One of only a handful of properties inside the national park resort, with some rooms looking straight at the rock.
The longest city stay on the site — Potts Point, walkable to the harbour and the best restaurants in town.
Cairns → Uluru → Sydney → Melbourne, all arranged.
£3,849 against £5,273, with all transfers and checked baggage included.
Coral fish, koalas, whales and — if you're lucky on the dune at dawn — dingoes.
Where you'll go
Every stop below is included — with all internal flights, transfers and ground travel arranged for you.
4 stops, with every internal flight and transfer between them arranged for you.
CairnsUluruSydneyMelbourne
Day by day
Tap any stage to open it. Meals included at each stage are marked in green.
Fly to Cairns and settle in at the Harbourside. Your all-inclusive Frankland Islands day tour includes kayaking, paddleboarding, an island walk, snorkelling and three meals.
3 breakfasts, lunchInternal flight to Ayers Rock and two nights at the Desert Gardens Hotel. The sunrise tour includes a light outback breakfast, the Mutitjulu Waterhole and its Dreamtime rock art.
BreakfastFive nights at the Holiday Inn Potts Point. Your included whale-watching cruise heads out through the Heads with a meal on board; the rest of the time is yours for the Opera House, Bondi and the Blue Mountains.
5 breakfastsSouth to Melbourne and The Savoy on Little Collins. The small-group eco tour runs the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and Gibson Steps, with koalas and rainforest walks. Fly home from Melbourne.
Itinerary summarised from the operator's published programme and correct at the time of writing. Order of stages can vary by departure date — confirm the exact schedule for your date on the operator's site.
Photo tour
Photography from Wikimedia Commons contributors under Creative Commons licences — full credits here.
The detail
Before you fly
On a 15-day trip departing from London Gatwick, parking is a serious line item — and a policy that caps single trips at 31 days would leave you uninsured for none of this one.
Not sure this is the one?
Here's how this compares with the other multi-centre holidays we rate. See all 20 holidays →
| Tour | Days | Australia | New Zealand | Cook Islands | From (pp) | True Cost / day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perth, Rottnest & Margaret River | 11 | ✓ | — | — | £3,339 | £351 | View |
| Sydney, Alice Springs & Melbourne | 9 | ✓ | — | — | £3,429 | £413 | View |
| Sydney, Brisbane, Whitsundays & Cairns | 15 | ✓ | — | — | £3,499 | £292 | View |
| Sydney, Uluru & Melbourne | 13 | ✓ | — | — | £3,639 | £320 | View |
| Australia Bucket List Adventure You're viewing this | 15 | ✓ | — | — | £3,849 | £308 | View |
| Singapore & Queensland multi-centre | 16 | ✓ | — | — | £4,019 | £304 | View |
| NZ South Island & Stewart Island | 16 | ✓ | ✓ | — | £5,879 | £420 | View |
| Ultimate East Coast Explorer | 21 | ✓ | — | — | £7,249 | £400 | View |
Before you book
No — and this is the main difference from an escorted tour. Flights, hotels, transfers and any named day tours are booked for you, but there is no group and no guide accompanying you between destinations. You have far more free time and rather more independence.
These operators publish a brochure price and sell at a discount on selected dates. The saving is real in the sense that it is what you pay, but treat the higher figure as a reference point rather than a price anyone was recently charged. Judge the trip on the price you would actually pay.
It means the operator books you into a property of the stated standard in that location, but does not name it in advance. It keeps the price down. If knowing your hotel matters to you, choose an itinerary where they are all named.
Departures run from October 2026 through to September 2028. Long-haul escorted tours of this length sell out early — the best-value departure dates and preferred room types typically go 9–12 months ahead, so it pays to secure your place sooner rather than later.
Return flights are included from your chosen UK airport. Regional departures are available on most dates, sometimes for a small supplement — you'll see the options for your date when you check availability.
Yes — this is a fully escorted small-group tour with a Travelsphere Holiday Director travelling with you throughout. They handle the logistics, the check-ins and the local know-how, so your job is simply to enjoy it. Groups are typically modest in size and overwhelmingly British.
British passport holders need an Australian ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) and an NZeTA for New Zealand where applicable — both are straightforward online applications. Your passport should have at least six months' validity remaining. Always check the latest FCDO and official government guidance before you travel.
Live availability, departure dates from your local airport and current offers are on the operator's booking page. Deposits are low, the balance isn't due until much later, and every booking is ABTA and ATOL protected.
Check dates & prices for Australia Bucket List Adventure →Keep looking
Four nights in Sydney, a guided Outback adventure through Kings Canyon and Uluru, then four nights in Melbourne.
Nine days, two cities and the full Uluru and Kings Canyon guided adventure — flying from Manchester.
Break the journey in Singapore, then work your way down the Queensland coast — reef, rainforest and the Whitsundays.