Perth

Day 1 Depart: Perth  O/night: Dunsborough  Approx 265 kms
The drive to the attractive seaside town of Dunsborough normally takes a little more than three hours, but as there is so much to see along the way, the journey could take you the best part of the day. You’ll come to the Fremantle exit almost as soon as you  leave Perth. Drive on: plan to visit the historic port city at the end of your trip.

Soon after Fremantle comes Rockingham. where you could be tempted to spend the whole day on an exciting sea-kayaking trip around Shoalwater Marine Park. You’ll encounter sea lions, penguins, pelicans and dolphins while rowing near the aptly named Seal and Penguin islands. The Australian sea lion is the rarest in the world, and the species is given special protection

You can also make the trip with the Penguin Island Ferry, which departs from the Mersey Point Jetty in Rockingham daily: departures on the hour from 09.00 to 15.00 (the last ferry returns at 16.00).

Penguin Island is home to Western Australia's largest colony of little penguins (the smallest penguins in the world). Hundreds of them nest on the island, spending most of their day feeding in the crystal clear waters of the marine park. Penguin Island is open daily from mid September through to June: it is closed over the winter months to ensure the penguins are not disturbed during their nesting time.

Seal Island near Rockingham

Next up is Mandurah -- once a small fishing village, it is now a lively city with more than 130 square kilometres of inland waterways – that’s twice the size of Sydney Harbour. One-hour cruises depart every hour from 10.00 to 16.00, taking you out to the diverse marine life and myriad of birdlife to be found in Creery Wetlands Nature Reserve. Pods of local dolphins often follow the tour boats and play in their wake.

Driving on you will want to visit the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre, which is dedicated to carrying out valuable dolphin research – the first of its type in Australia. The centre faces Koombana Bay, home to more than a hundred bottlenose dolphins: groups of them regularly visit the shallow waters in front of the centre. Remember that the dolphins are wild and not in an enclosure, so there's no guarantee of getting up close and friendly: your chances are best in the morning.

Back in the 1800s, American whaling ships hunted in the area; and tall ships sailed around Koombana Bay, loaded with wool, timber and horses, sometimes heading off on a four-month journey to England. Some were ill fated. Koombana Bay witnessed no less than twenty-nine shipwrecks in those times, a dozen or so of which are still half-buried around the bay: a couple can be seen from near the Dolphin Discovery Centre.

Halfway between Bunbury and Busselton, you’ll come to the small town of Capel and the nearby Tuart Forest National Park, traditionally known as the Ludlow State Forest.

The road through Tuart Forest National Park

There are four dominant tree species to be found throughout Australia's South West: karri, jarrah, tingle and tuart. Tuart forest is one of the rarest eco-systems left in the world: the trees are a type of eucalypt found only in this region of Western Australia. Take a leisurely drive through the forest and capture its beauty. And keep an eye out for the tree-dwelling western ringtail possum: Tuart Forest National Park is home to this endangered species.

Busselton was one of the first European settlements in Western Australia. The early history of Busselton centres on the French expedition at the start of the 19th century led by explorer, map-maker and naturalist, Nicholas Baudin, He named Geographe Bay and Cape Naturaliste after his two ships.

On reaching Busselton, make for the jetty – you can’t miss it. Stretching for almost two kilometres across Geographe Bay, Busselton Jetty is home to the spectacular Underwater Observatory, Descending eight metres below sea level, the observatory offers an amazing view of highly colourful corals, sponges, fish and other creatures of the deep. With more than 300 marine species, it’s rightly described as Australia's greatest artificial reef. Recommended.

Take the popular Jetty Train to the Underwater Observatory. Admission costs A$29.50 for adults (A$14 for children up to fourteen) and includes a return train journey, an informative 40-minute guided tour of the observatory and all day jetty access. Tours are conducted on the hour, weather permitting. As it can accommodate only 40 people at a time bookings are essential.

Busselton Observatory

From Busselton continue on to Dunsborough, which overlooks the beautiful turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean and the stunning rocky outcrops of Geographe Bay.

Proclaimed as a town in 1877, Dunsborough remained little more than a few beach shacks until the mid-1950s. It’s grown since then to become a chilled out town with a great buzz – and that means a vibrant arts scene, a large canvas of well-respected art galleries and live music and market days during the summer months.

Local beaches, such as Meelup, Eagle Bay and Bunker Bay are great for swimming, snorkelling (or just lazing around in the sun). Meelup has its seasonal attractions: in spring, it’s the colourful wildflowers and migrating whales; in summer, for a few nights each month, there is a spectacular evening view of the full moon rising on the Indian ocean horizon; and in winter the whales return.

Divers will want to head for Eagle Bay to explore the scuttled HMAS Swan, the most popular dive wreck in Australia. HMAS Swan is about a fifteen-minute boat ride out to sea from Meelup Beach. One or two professional dive operators offer tours out to the wreck -- check them out at the Dunsborough Visitor Centre.

Diving HMAS Swan

Foodie directions: grab a filling ‘veggie brekkie’ at Artezan – try the the house-made baked beans with spinach, crumbled feta and toasted rye bread; sip a soy latte at the casual and colourful Evviva; head for Samutra, where it’s pancakes with bananas and cashew butter cream; and for dinner, go for the tiger prawns at Assisi,  a popular family-owned Italian restaurant.

Spend the night in Dunsborough or nearby Yallingup, eight kilometres further on. An alternative would be to stay the night in Busselton; it’s only a fifteen-minute drive short of Dunsborough.

Accommodation options: Quay West Bunker Bay Resort, Seashells Resort Yallingup, Abbey Beach Resort (Busselton).

Day 2 Depart: Dunsborough  O/night:  Pemberton  Approx 232 kms
From Dunsborough drive on to Yallingup, where you pick up Caves Road and head south to Margaret River. Caves Road is the scenic link that runs from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin at the far end of Australia's South West coast.

There’s an adventure to be had on the way to Yallingup: the 500,000-year old Ngilgi Cave. Ngilgi Cave is tied to an Aboriginal legend, a Dreamtime story that tells of a battle between a good and an evil spirit. It may not be the oldest cave in the region, but it is definitely one of the most interesting.

As you enter and the lights are switched on, thousands of massive stalactites take centre stage. Descend further into the depths of the cave and you come across eerie hollow strands of helictite extending from the walls and silk-like shawls hanging from above. Ngilgi offers a range of exciting cave tours – for some you have to be pretty fit.

Ngilgi Cave

For views of a different kind continue to nearby Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. From the top balcony you’ll get a spectacular panoramic view of the Indian Ocean, Cape Naturaliste and the stunning Geographe Bay coastline.

Beer lovers will want to stop off at Yallingup’s family run Bush Shack Brewery. It’s not your every day brewery, as you’ll discover when faced with unique brews such as Yallingup Chilli Beer, Bus Shack’s Chocolate Beer and Pharaoh's Spelt Beer, which is made with unmalted spelt wheat, mandarin peel and Munich malt. The Bush Shack Brewery is open from Sunday to Thursday from 10.00 to 17.00, and closes an hour later on Friday and Saturday.

Something to think about: along with the many wineries, there is a growing number of small breweries popping up in Australia’s South West, and usually they offer a potent brew – so it would be a good idea to have a dedicated driver as you travel on.

A small town nestled in amongst the trees along the coast, Yallingup boasts that it has given the world many of its greatest surfers. And it’s not an exaggeration. Yallingup (the name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning ‘place of love’) is surfers’ heaven. If you are a surfer check out the waves at Smiths and Supertubes beaches just to the south and Yallingup Beach and Rabbit Hill to the north. But it’s not just about surfing: Yallingup Beach also has a sheltered lagoon with calm waters for swimming.

If art is more your thing, stop by at Gunyulgup Galleries, off Caves Road just south of Yallingup, which has a diverse range of Western Australian art and design. More than 70 artists are represented at any one time; and the eye-catching displays of paintings, prints, sculpture, ceramics, glass, jewellery and textiles change regularly.

Overlooking a tranquil lake, Gunyulgup Galleries has one of Western Australia’s leading winery restaurants as a neighbour: Lamont’s, which offers a wine tasting and tapas menu from 11.00 to 17.00, Thursday till Monday.

Here’s a statistic Margaret River winemakers love to quote: while the region accounts for no more than three percent of total Australian grape production, it comes up with more than twenty percent of Australia's premium wine. There are some 200 vineyards in the region – so if wine is your passion, you should plan to add a night or two in Margaret River to your itinerary.

As you drive down Caves Road you come to a Wilyabrup, home to a dozen or so small family-run wineries. At Saracen Estates you have the best of both worlds, as it not only comes up with great wines, but also boasts an on-site brewery producing traditionally crafted German beers. The Duckstein Brewery has gained a reputation for its hearty traditional German food as well – think schnitzel, bratwurst and eisbein.

A little further on is Brookland Valley, a highly regarded winery that regularly walks away with awards for its stylish wines. The cellar door overlooks Wilyabrup Brook, a pretty fresh water stream that runs into the nearby Indian Ocean. The proximity of the ocean has a resounding effect on local climatic conditions, which, in turn, intensifies the character of the grapes.

Wine tasting at Margaret River

After Brookland Valley comes Cullens, the first winery to introduce the merlot grape to Margaret River, and a pioneer of biodynamic wine production. And then you reach the doyen of Margaret River’s wine world: Vasse Felix, a modern state-of-the-art winery with striking architecture and fine manicured grounds. Vasse Felix has an enviable worldwide reputation, having come a long way since starting out as a humble two-acre business back in 1967 as Margaret River’s first vineyard and winery.

If you visit no other winery, it should be Vasse Felix, not just for its wines, but also for its notable restaurant, where fine food is matched to fine wines. There is also an art gallery, which, with the restaurant, shares sweeping views of the magnificent vineyard landscape.

A little trivia: the Vasse part of the winery name came from a French sailor named Thomas Vasse who was lost overboard off the nearby coast in 1801 while serving on Nicholas Baudin’s Naturaliste: Felix is Latin for ‘fortunate’ -- which can hardly be said about poor Thomas Vasse.

A little further on by the town of Margaret River, Xanadu also has a track record of regularly producing wines of distinction since opening in 1977. Xanadu also boasts one of the most awarded restaurants in the region. Another Margaret River winery known for its cuisine is Voyager Estate: foodies will not want to miss the excellent six-course degustation menu.

The region’s thriving culinary scene does not end with the restaurants dotted among the vineyards. The Margaret River Chocolate Company at Metricup and the Fudge Factory in Margaret River are a couple of extra calorific treats that will prove hard to pass up on. There’s also a pretty full calendar of farmers’ markets throughout the region.

Just as you leave the town of Margaret River, you come to another of its wine ‘giants’ -- Leeuwin Estate. Its history, like all wineries in the area, is young, dating back to 1972, when the legendary Californian winemaker, Robert Mondavi, identified what was once a cattle farm, as a great place to produce wines. And he was right, of course.

It’s not only the wines that sets Leeuwin Estate apart: it is also known around the world for its spectacular yearly alfresco concerts; staged in the winery’s picturesque grounds. The concerts have attracted an eclectic mix musicians and entertainers, including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Ray Charles and Tom Jones.Visitors from all over Australia turn up for this annual event on the winery's sprawling lawns.

The world’s surfing elite also descend on Margaret River in March each year to take on the big waves at Surfer's Point: the week-long Margaret River Pro Surfing event is Western Australia's biggest surfing competitions; and once of the most important events for surfers from around the world. For the rest of the year, the easily accessible main is popular for snorkelling and swimming.

From Margaret River travel south on the Bussel Highway until you reach Karridale, where you turn left on State Route 10 and head for Pemberton. From Karridale the drive will take a little less than a couple of hours, much of it through beautiful state forests.

An alternative when reaching Karridale would be to continue further south on the Bussel Highway to Augusta, a fishing town near Cape Leeuwin. The main attraction is the historic Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, which sits at the point where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. After visiting the lighthouse, and gaining boasting rights for visiting the most south-western point of Western Australia, you would need to backtrack to Karridale to continue on to Pemberton. From Karridale to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is a 45-kilometre round trip.

If you did decide to make the detour down to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, you would be better off adding an extra day to your journey, staying in Margaret River overnight (foodies would enjoy that) and starting out the next morning.

Accommodation options (Margaret River) The Comfort Inn Grange on Farrelly, Vintages Accommodation, Australis Margaret River. (Pemberton) Karri Valley Resort, Old Picture Theatre, Best Western Pemberton Hotel

Day 3  Depart: Pemberton  O/night: Denmark  Approx 186 kms
Pemberton is nestled in a valley lush with green pastures and vineyards, surrounded by magnificent karri forests. The town enjoys a growing reputation for its wine and food, and is appreciated by foodies-in-the-know for its river trout and the local marron (a small freshwater crayfish).

But food and wine are not front and foremost in Pemberton – that privilege goes to the nearby Gloucester Tree, a giant karri tree in Gloucester National Park, just three kilometres from the town. Back in the middle of the last century, a series of fire lookouts were constructed in the top of the region’s most majestic karri trees -- an ingenious way of spotting fires in such tall forest.

The Gloucester Tree  is 61 metres high, one the world's tallest fire-lookout trees, another being the Bicentennial Tree, in nearby Warren National Park, which is ten metres taller. Thrill seekers can climb up to a platform in the upper branches of these trees for a spectacular view of the surrounding karri forest.

There is nothing more jaw-dropping than standing next to an ancient, towering karri tree and gazing up into its lofty crown. Nothing perhaps, except peering down from the top of such a giant.

If you decide to make the climb, focus on what is above you, you’ll relax as you get into the rhythm of the climb. It’s a thrill seeker’s dream, but not for the faint hearted. The relief that you feel as you make it to the steel and aluminium cabin is followed by exuberance as you peer out over the vast karri forest.  Karri trees are the third tallest trees in the world and being able to conquer the Gloucester Tree and stand above them with a bird's-eye view of the rest of the forest gives you an awesome feeling.

The Gloucester National Park is also home to The Cascades -- tranquil in mid-summer, a raging torrent in winter. At the right time of year, its rocky rapids are a great place for a picnic and a leisurely stroll.

The towering Gloucester Tree

Back in town, Pemberton’s long timber heritage is highlighted in the unique handcrafted wood sculptures found in the local galleries. Worth browsing before driving on as they make great souvenirs.

From Pemberton you head for Walpole and The Valley of The Giants, which gets its name from the large red tingle trees in the area. It’s home to another of Australia’s great nature experiences – the amazing Tree Top Walk.

Before getting to Walpole, about half-an-hour after leaving Pemberton on State Route 10, you’ll come to Northcliffe, which is close to the extensive and unspoilt coastline of the D'Entrecasteaux National Park. You might be tempted to make a detour south of Northcliffe to the tiny settlement of Windy Harbour, the only point on the south coast between Walpole and Augusta that can be reached by conventional vehicles.

You will have to return to to Northcliffe to continue the drive to Walpole and Denmark, but it’s worth it for the spectacular views of the rugged southern coastline -- the limestone cliffs at Point D'Entrecasteaux. The drive from Northcliffe to Windy Harbour is 27 kilometres each way.

Windy Harbour is good for snorkelling (head for Salmon Beach) – and judging by all the boats and fishing gear, it also seems to be synonymous with great fishing.

Most treetop walks around the world use suspension bridge structures that tend to wobble – they were not built for those who get nervous when it comes to heights. That’s not the case with the amazing Tree Top Walk near Walpole. The walkway was constructed as a series of 60-metre, lightweight steel trusses built on steel pylons to form a secure ramp. It means everybody can experience the excitement of exploring the canopy of the tingle forest, not just Indiana Jones wannabes. The highest point in the 600-metre loop is about 40 metres.

Tree Walk at Walpole

The drive up to the Tree Top Walk from Walpole is an experience in itself as it passes through the breathtaking Valley of the Giants and its formidable karri and tingle trees. The walk is not long, or strenuous: allow about twenty minutes to complete it  -- it’s a slow but steady incline until you are at the very top of the tingle trees. The highest point in the 600-metre loop is about 40 metres.

Back on the ground, be sure to walk through the Ancient Empire Walk (you can walk this for free if you do not want to pay for the tree walk). It’s a boardwalk that runs alongside the Tree Top Walk, taking you through a grove of aged tingle trees. They are huge: some of the trees in the Ancient Empire are up to sixteen metres in circumference at their base.

The Tree Top Walk is open every day of the year except Christmas Day (09.00 to 17.00, with last tickets sold at 16.15). The only other time it may close is during extreme weather conditions. The admission fee for adults is A$10.00 (children under fifteen at half price), and there is a family ticket (two adults and two children) at A$25.00.

Situated between Walpole and Denmark, the extraordinary William Bay National Park is home to Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks, where rounded granite boulders (shaped like an elephant) form a reef that stretches about a hundred metres out to sea. Greens Pool is wonderfully sheltered and a great place to swim. There are a dozen other beaches around Denmark, all with their own attractions, including surfing, bird-watching and hang-gliding.

Denmark has no romantic Scandinavian or Hamlet connection, but was named after a naval surgeon by a fellow surgeon who explored the local coastline. Once a timber-milling town, Denmark provided much of the wood that adorned 19th-century London. Now it carves out a reputation for eco-tourism.

Accommodation options: Karma Chalets, Chimes Spa Retreat, The Cove

Day 4  Depart: Denmark  O/night: Albany  Approx 68 kms
Surrounded by hills and karri forests, Denmark spreads along the western bank of the lower Denmark River and the Wilson Inlet to Ocean Beach. The town’s slogan is ‘where the forest meets the sea’ and a rugged coastline with great beaches and sweeping headlands provides much of its scenic beauty.

Denmark has a wide range of landscapes that include granite outcrops, tall eucalypt forests, wildflowers in spring, endless pristine beaches, mountain views and the beauty of Wilson Inlet. All are accessible by walk trails and paths, many of which start in town.

The Bibbulmun Track is close to the town. Named after the Aboriginal Bibbulmun, who inhabited some of the areas on the south coast through which the track passes, it is one of the world’s longest walking tracks and stretches for around a thousand kilometres. Experience a small part of it while in Denmark.

Top tip: locally based Wilderness Getaways will put together a walk that fits your schedule and level of fitness and supply a very knowledgeable guide. Wilderness Getaways has advanced certification from Eco-tourism Australia – the seal of good housekeeping for nature lovers. Highly recommended.

Wine lovers will want to check out the several family-run wineries that are spread out in Denmark’s hilly surrounds. There are more than twenty wineries offering tastings in the area. One not to miss is award-winning Forest Hill, a cool-climate vineyard that boasts the oldest Riesling vines in Western Australia.

After stretching your legs on the Bibbulman Track, or taking time out at Denmark’s wineries (or maybe both) continue on to Albany, which is a short drive of less than an hour.

Accommodation options:The Rocks, The Beach House at Bayside, Dog Rock Motel

Day 5  Albany
Albany, a thriving coastal city, had a strange beginning: it was founded at the beginning of 1827 as a military outpost of the then New South Wales colony -- part of a plan to frustrate French ambitions in the region. Its settlement as a town predates that of Perth and Fremantle by a couple of years, and some fifty colonial buildings remain in its historic centre, including the convict-built jail.

While it is Albany’s history that attracts many visitors, the dramatic coastline on which it sits is its biggest draw. Nearby Torndirrup National Park on the west side of King George Sound has many impressive rock formations, including include the Gap, Natural Bridge and the Blowholes, all shaped from the local granite.

Pushed up from deep beneath the earth and pummelled constantly for centuries by the powerful Southern Ocean, the granite shore has become an impressive gallery of giant natural sculptures The Gap is a 24-metre drop to the sea where the ocean rushes into a large cavern in the rocks. Natural Bridge is a rock formation sculpted into a bridge shape by the Southern Ocean.

Torndirrup National Park’s rugged rock formations are what were left behind when Gondwanaland, the super continent of Antarctica and Australia, broke apart some forty-five million years ago.

For many years Albany was an important whaling port. The whalers have long since gone, but their history lives on. Whale World offers an informative interactive journey through the last operating whaling station in Australia. It’s located on the site of the old Cheynes Beach Whaling Station, which stopped whaling operations towards the end of the 1970s.

Up close with a visiting whale

Whale watching has replaced whaling: there are a couple of tours that take you out to watch the whales in King George Sound. One of them is offered by Albany Whale Tours, whose catamaran Sail-A-Way is located on the Albany waterfront, just in front of the entertainment centre: the other is Albany Ocean Adventures, which also has a catamaran Silver Star II that sails from Albany New Marina.

Humpback whales come up to King George Sound from Antarctica then travel from east to west until reaching Cape Leeuwin, where they head north all the way up to Broome in Western Australia’s wild Kimberley region, where the cows give birth. You will see humpbacks off Albany between June and late August, and again during their return journey to Antarctica in November.

Southern right whales also travel from Antarctica but stay along the south coast in many of the sheltered bays until mid to late October. Bulls congregate in sizeable numbers and wait for the cows to arrive. The giant southern right whales tend to get very curious and at times come up right up close to Albany’s whale watching boats.

A foodie tip: the Squid Shack is a rustic beachfront little beach restaurant (it really is a shack) known for its fish and chips and salt and pepper squid. Popular with Albany locals, which is a good sign. Wine glasses are kept in the fridge, so bring a bottle of wine that you have picked up along the way.

Day 6  Depart: Albany   Arrive: Fremantle  Approx 417 kms
This is the longest day of this itinerary’s driving, taking close to five hours north along the Albany Highway (State Route 30).

There’s not that much to see on this stretch of your journey, though there are one or two wineries around Mount Barker, which you’ll reach about forty-five minutes after leaving Albany. The town is also home to The Banksia Farm, which is said to have one of every known species of banksia, an Australian bush plant. The farm has has wildflower gardens and there is also a cafe. The agricultural area surrounding the town is rich with old farmhouses, sheds and machinery that has often seen better days. It’s a little bit like driving through America’s rural homeland at times.

When you get to Kojonup, take the time to explore The Kodja Place. It’s a local attempt to tell the story of country Australia: sit in the school bus, drive the farm ute, walk the boards of the shearing shed, wander around a maze of Australian roses and hear Aboriginal stories from Noongar people. On a good day The Kodja Place lives up to its promise.

It’s another three hours from Kojonup to Fremantle: spend the night and explore the next day before the half hour drive back to Perth.

Freo, as the locals call it, really lives up to its claim of being a multi-cultural city -- and has a definite charm of its own. In many ways, it is a much more livelier city than Perth; while also boasting one of the best preserved examples of a 19th century port architecture in the world, with heritage maritime buildings that go hand-in-hand a fascinating convict history.

Park the car and enjoy one (or more) of the Fremantle Walking Trails. There are eleven of them, and each one takes from two to four hours: whether you enjoy history and take the Convict Trail or fancy a little retail therapy at the end of your road trip with a Fashion Trail, the trails are a great way of exploring the city. Recommended.

Fremantle Prison is a UN World Heritage-listed site. Built by convicts in the 1850s, it was kept in use for almost 140 years. You can ‘do time’ with experienced guides on a Prison Day Tour, which takes an hour-and-a-quarter and gives a good overview of what it was like to be a convict in Fremantle’s early days.

On a two-and-a-half hour Tunnels Tour, you’ll trek through sections of a disorienting labyrinth of tunnels deep below the prison, then board replica convict punts to explore submerged passageways, which are accessible only by boat. And there is also a Night Tour by Torchlight, guaranteed to make your hair stand up and send a shiver down your spine.

If you have a love of the sea, enjoy sailing boats of old, or are intrigued by the rich local maritime history and naval traditions, head for the WA Maritime Museum – amongst other things it’s now the home of the winning America's Cup yacht, Australia II; an Oberon class submarine; and several other iconic vessels.

Lunchtime in Fremantle

For foodies: Cicerello’s is a Fremantle icon, a ‘must’ for lunch or dinner, located on the harbour. Not just traditional fish and chips, but also tasty seafood chowder and battered scallops. Competing with Cicerello’s is the nearby Kailis Fish & Lobster Market Cafe, a casual, canteen-style restaurant that has been in business since 1928 and has a great reputation with seafood lovers -- try the chilli crab with sourdough bread.

Accommodation options: Esplanade Hotel, Bannister Suites Fremantle, Quest Harbour Village Apartments

Alice Springs from Anzac Hill

Day 1  Arrive Alice Springs
We set out from Adelaide after a couple of days exploring the Barossa Valley and its wonderful wineries and were headed for Darwin before returning home. We wanted to see something of the Outback, the vast region the Australians call the Red Centre, but did not fancy the idea of driving all the way. We did not want to fly (you see very little from a plane) so we decided to go by train, take the Ghan to Alice Springs, where we would rent a car, stay a few days to discover the town sitting in the middle of Australia and some its surrounding scenery on day trips, then continue by road to Darwin, the Northern Territory’s capital. It turned out to be an excellent plan.

The Ghan leaves Adelaide twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday (there will be changes in 2012) and arrives in Alice Springs around lunchtime the following day. The name of the train comes from the Afghan cameleers who traversed central Australia’s wilderness in the pioneering days. Wild camels, descendants of beasts brought to Australia many years ago, still roam the region.

Right at the end of our train journey, the flat desert landscape changed as one of the oldest mountain ranges on the planet came in sight: the red and purple hues of the magnificent MacDonnell Ranges, rolling and twisting across the hazy horizon.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZZx-mq3jd4

Before leaving for ‘the Alice’, as locals call it, we also did some research into accommodation: we quizzed one or two travellers we had met who had passed through Alice Springs, took a look on-line at TripAdvisor and one or two other websites, and eventually decided on the Desert Palms Resort (the alternatives being a chain-hotel, which did not seem to offer an Outback experience; and a conference-style hotel that looked to us to be a ‘casino with rooms: not our style. It turned out to be an excellent choice.

The Desert Palms calls itself ‘an oasis in the desert’ – and that’s about right: we would not argue with that. It’s got a great location (close to the casino if you did want to try your luck, and right next to the Alice Springs Golf Club, it you wanted to play a few holes, or enjoy the club’s restaurant). The Desert Palms does not have its own restaurant, but all of its air-conditioned rooms (referred to as ‘studio villas’) have kitchenette facilities, and there are several places to eat nearby. The studio villas are surrounded by palm trees and have their own verandahs, trailing with brightly coloured bougainvillea. Very inviting.

The pool at Desert Palms Resort

Another plus point was the resort’s pool, large enough to boast a small ‘island’ and waterfall. The pool area is surrounded by tropical gardens and palm trees -- the oasis bit. There’s also a handy laundrette (at three dollars a bag it beats paying ludicrous hotel laundry bills) and a gas-fired barbecue area (for those who enjoy rustling up a steak or some sausages – ‘snags’, as the Australians call them). The best point about the Desert Palms was its pocket-friendly rates: we got a ‘stay four nights, pay three’ deal, which we were told is available at certain times throughout the year (worth checking out).

After doing the paperwork for our hire car, once again negotiating a good deal for a Darwin drop-off, we set off for Anzac Hill to get a late afternoon look at the impressive surrounding scenery.  Anzac Hill is one of the most visited attractions in Alice Springs (or so we were told) – it really is the best spot to get a panoramic view of the town. There is a memorial at the top of Anzac Hill, which was unveiled between the two world wars: a tribute to all those who served in the defence of Australia during wars in which Australia has participated. Anzac Hill is also significant for local Aboriginal people, and visitors should always respect their culture and customs by staying in the viewing areas at the lookout, and not wandering off into bushland.

A quick word about car hire: if you want to be really adventuous and go off the beaten track (or paved roads) while visiting Alice Springs, you will need a 4WD, which can be considerably more expensive than a regular vehicle: you will also need to have some basic skills in handling a 4WD (a little more than just basic knowledge if you  are planning a real off road adventure). We decided on a regular 2WD vehicle – a 4WD not being absolutely necessary for what we had in mind. We were grateful for some of the tips we got from a friendly person manning the Desert Palms’s reception desk.

A couple of other things we learned: Alice Springs is the only major town and service centre for an area that's almost the size of Texas. It’s the only town in Australia (and maybe further afield) that has a yacht club with no lake or ocean to sail on – and the only town to have an annual yacht race on a dry river bed. And if that was not quirky enough, Alice Springs is the only place in the world to have a film festival devoted entirely to bicycles, and another that celebrates ornate knitted beanies.

From Anzac Hill we drove down to Todd Mall and called in at the Gondwana Gallery, with its wonderful collection of Aboriginal art, before having dinner at the Red Ochre Grill. (We have since heard that the Gondwana Gallery has closed after many years, the owner had been unwell: but a new gallery called Talapi, run by a former curator at the highly acclaimed Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs, has opened its doors). Alice Springs is a good place to seek out top quality Aboriginal art -- but do not buy it from people selling it on the street: go to a gallery

Aboriginal art exhibited in Alice Springs

Dinner at the nearby Red Ochre Grill was definitely a new experience for us – we shared a ‘combo plate’: a selection of crocodile, kangaroo and camel meat, and the Northern Territory’s favourite fish, barramundi. There is a veggie option that includes grilled egg plant, artichokes, capsicum, semi-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, olives and grilled pitta bread. At the advice of the receptionist at Desert Palms we pre-booked our dinner and arrived before 19.00, which got us twenty per cent off the total food bill. Very much appreciated.

Something else we appreciated – the Desert Palms is a gated resort, which means just that little bit of extra security at night. We slept well, the train journey to Alice Springs had been a satisfying experience, but I guess we were not cut out to sleep on trains, even one with comfortable sleeping berths.

Day 2 The Desert Park, Aruluen Arts Centre, Royal Flying Doctor museum
We started the morning early with coffee on the verandah and then set off for Alice Springs Desert Park, just a short drive from the Desert Palms.

We had planned to spend a couple of hours at the Desert Park, but ended up spending more than half a day. It reminded me somewhat of the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, which we had visited some time ago. The Desert Park unfolds the four main habitats to be found in the Red Centre (sand country, woodland, desert rivers and mulga).

Our visit started with a twenty-minute film called The Changing Heart that took us four-and-a-half billion years of desert evolution: it was very well put together. The park’s variety of plant and animal life from the surrounding desert was both surprising and well-presented. We particularly enjoyed watching the majestic birds of prey that fly free in the nature theatre, and what is said to be the the world’s largest nocturnal house, with its fascinating array of strange nocturnal creatures including wallabies, bettongs (also called rat kangaroos) and bilbies (an endangered species that look like bandicoots with big ears).

The bilby -- and endangered species seen at the Desert Park

The all-inclusive entry fee at Alice Springs Desert Park is $20 (Australian) and worth every cent. Easy to operate audio guides are available to all visitors and are available in English, German, French and Japanese.  A tip: the park opens at 07.30 – try to get there early, before the tour buses and (in summer) before it gets too hot.

We stopped of at the park’s Coolamon Cafe before leaving the park. It serves sandwiches, salads and one or two hot dishes. Remember while in Alice Springs (and other parts of the Outback) to keep a supply of bottled water in a shoulder bag, and keep drinking it.

From Alice Springs Desert Park we drove to the Araluen Arts Centre, which among other things houses the Albert Namatjira Gallery, devoted to the works of one of Australia’s most famous Aboriginal artists. Namatjira’s work is vastly different to traditional Aboriginal paintings: he is best known for his water-colour landscapes of the Macdonnell Ranges. It gave us a taste of the landscape we would see for ourselves the next day:

If you into Aboriginal art, which is one of the oldest surviving art forms still practiced today, you should plan to be in Alice Springs in September, when the Araluen Arts Centre stages the annual Desert Mob Art Show. Art collectors and art lovers from all over the world turn up to see works by Aboriginal artists from the remotest areas of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia – and there’s the Desert Mob Market Place, a large outdoor market with stalls selling affordable Aboriginal arts and crafts and other products. It’s popular with both locals and tourists and offers the opportunity to pick up some excellent bargains.

We just had time to visit the third place on our agenda for that day, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which has an interactive museum where you learn about the incredible history of the iconic RFDS, and see how it works today.

The Royal Flying Doctor

The RFDS Visitor Centre tour starts with a film with some amazing footage of the doctors in action, and follows with a tour of the museum: discover what it's like to be inside one of the RFDS aircraft, and better still, test your skills in a flight simulator. Can you imagine what it was like to communicate before telephones were invented? Find out by using an original Traegar Pedal Radio to talk to visitors at the Alice Springs School of the Air (which was another ‘must visit’ on our list of things to do in Alice Springs). Tours at RFDS Visitor Centre run every half-hour from 09:00 to 16.00.

That evening we went to the aptly named Bunkers Restaurant at Alice Springs Golf Club for dinner: think large grilled steaks and giant home-made beefburgers. We enjoyed the friendly atmosphere, and met several interesting locals. As one of them put it: Alice Springs does not sell itself as a golfing destination – that’s for places like Melbourne and Queensland’s Gold Coast to fight over. However Alice Springs Golf Club is rated in the in the world's top ten desert courses. It is also one of the most remote golf courses in the world, located some 1,500 kilometres in either direction from both Darwin and Adelaide.

It was an easy stroll back to the Desert Palms for an early night. We intended to start off around seven o’clock the next morning for a day out in the West MacDonnell mountains, or the ‘West Macs’ as people in ‘the Alice’ call them.

Day 3. Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek
The West MacDonnells is home to several great natural attractions that are easily accessible by road from Alice Springs. They include Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek, Serpentine Gorge, the Ochre Pits, Ormiston Gorge, Redbank Gorge and Glen Helen Gorge. We decided to go just as far as Ellery Creek, explore a little of the Larapinta Trail on foot, have a swim in the creek and enjoy a picnic before returning to Alice Springs.

The list of walking options in the West MacDonnells is excellent, and you don’t have to be super fit; your choice depends on your level of fitness -- and just as important, the temperature of the day. That’s why it is best to set out early in the morning, as it can get too hot later for hiking in the early afternoon.

Drive west along Larapinta Drive from Alice Springs and in minutes you find yourself in the awesome West MacDonnells National Park. After about 45 kilometres on Larapinta Drive you take a right turn onto Namatjira Drive. Ellery Creek is about 90 kilometres from the Desert Palms Resort (Glen Helen is a further 45 kilometres)..

Along the way we wound in and out of the national park and passed several small Aboriginal communities. In dry weather, most of the ‘must see’ natural attractions in the park can be accessed by a regular 2WD car.

Along the way to way to the national park we stopped off a Flynn's Grave, a memorial to the far-thinking Reverend John Flynn, who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Then came Simpsons Gap, which is about seventeen kilometres outside Alice Springs, a sacred site to local Aboriginal people.

The Gap is located some six kilometres from the intersection with Larapinta Drive. As you drive in you'll come to a ranger station and a small visitor's centre. Stop here and read about the park. Another few kilometres on and you'll reach the Gap itself.

A short stroll takes you down to the Gap and a waterhole: you can't swim in it, but it's a great place to catch a glimpse of the small black-footed rock wallabies that live around the rocky slopes on both sides of the creek. They use nature’s camouflage and blend in with the rocks, but if you're patient you'll spot them.

From Simpsons Gap we continued to Standley Chasm, which is also on Aboriginal land: there is an entrance fee, which you pay at a kiosk. The chasm was cut by surging flood waters over thousands of years. It runs through rugged sandstone, with impressive deep red slopes rising high on both sides.

Standley Chasm

The chasm is at its most dramatic an hour either side of noon on a sunny day, and at midday that the desert sun is perfectly aligned, Standley Chasm is drenched in a shower of brilliant red reflected sunlight. That’s something we only found out when we arrived – we were a little too early, and reluctantly decided we did not have the time to stay for ‘the show’.

We did, however, follow the main chasm walk that leads from the carpark, a fairly easy half hour return hike that took us along a creek bed filled with cycads, ferns, tall gum trees and other native flora, and spring-fed pools that had attracted a variety of wildlife. Well worth the effort. It was then on to Ellery Creek.

Located a couple of kilometres off the main road, it’s the high red cliffs, large waterhole and a gum tree fringed sandy creek that make Ellery Creek one of the most popular picnic spots in the West MacDonnell Ranges. Having said that, it was not overcrowded.

Ellery Creek  is recognised as an internationally significant geological site. We took a look for ourselves on the fairly easy three kilometre Dolomite Walk, a wonderful escape into the bush that took us a little over an hour. The walk follows a marked, unsealed path with some steady inclines and loops that break away from the Larapinta Trail. Whatever you do, don’t mistakenly continue along the Larapinta Trail that extends westwards, or you’ll be in for a long hike. The plants along the  Dolomite Walk are unique, and there's always the chance of coming across unusual birdlife or reptiles.

Ellery Creek

Remember to wear a shady hat, sunscreen and suitable clothing and footwear – and carry plenty of water.

We returned to Alice Springs in the late afternoon, it had been an exhilarating day. Before we left the creek we caught up with a group of four Germans who had made the round trip from Alice Springs to Uluru, or Ayers Rock, over three days – and they were exhausted. We were glad we had decided on basing ourselves at the Desert Palms in Alice Springs for a few days, taking it easy to discover the town and ‘the Macs’ at a holiday pace.

Day 4  School of the Air, Telegraph Station Historical Reserve, Gemtree
We set out to discover a little more of Alice Springs intriguing history before continuing to Gemstone, where we hoped to find gemstones. Out first stop was the School of the Air, which gives a good insight into the remoteness of the Outback.

Times have changed since the School of the Air was set up in Alice Springs more than sixty years ago. In those days school materials were sent to children living in far flung communities, often on vast cattle stations where it was delivered by a Flying Doctor, and a teacher sat in the School of the Air in Alice Springs with a two-way radio and talked the children through their lessons. The last radio link took place back in 2005: lessons are all done over the Internet today.

An interesting short film is available that tells the history of the school and how it operated. Live lessons can then be viewed (on school days), and you learn more about how high-frequency radio lessons were conducted: the school now uses satellite broadband internet to broadcast lessons to students.

If you are in the teaching profession and would like to see a specific class taking place you can contact the School of the Air in advance. The Visitor Centre is open seven days a week (08.30 to 16.00 from Monday to Saturday, with a later opening hour at 13.30 on Sunday and public holidays).

From the School of the Air we drove on to the nearby Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve, located about four kilometres north of Alice Springs. It’s the best preserved of the twelve stations that stretched 3,200 kilometres along the old Overland Telegraph Line from Adelaide to Darwin, and marks the original site of the first European settlement in Alice Springs back in 1872.

Alice Springs Telegraph Station relayed messages via the Morse code wire line for 60 years, and later served as a school for Aboriginal children. In its time, the Overland Telegraph Line assured fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world – fast by standards of those distant days. Worth a visit in this age of instant communication. The Alice Springs Telegraph Station Reserve is open between 08.00 and 21.00 every day of the year.

Fossicking for gemstones at Gemtree

Our next stop was to be Gemtree, in the Harts Range, a drive of around two-and-a-half hours: continue up the Stuart Highway (or ‘travel up the track’ as the locals say)  for about 70 kilometres, and turn right when you get to the Plenty Highway, from where it’s about another 70 kilometres. The Plenty Highway is sealed along this stretch, but becomes a rather rough 4WD route as it continues on in to Western Queensland.

The big attraction of Gemtree is fossicking, a chance to find your own garnet and zircon gemstones: if you are lucky enough to make a strike, on-site gem cutters can polish and set your treasures into instant jewellery pieces. Something we learned: you fossick for gemstones, pan for gold and noodle for opals.

To get to the gemfields you continue a little less that eight kilometres from Gemtree Caravan Park until you reach a broken down windmill and a water tank on your right. Turn right and follow the gravel road for another seven kilometres: you will soon find yourself on ‘designated fossicking land’  You can get to the area in a regular 2WD vehicle in dry weather (do not attempt it if it has been raining hard). You can join also a tag-along tour (driving your own vehicle behind a guide).

Other activities at Gemtree include a nine hole par 34 bush golf course and a short nature walk. The also play paddy melon bowls at Gemtree, unique Outback sport using paddy melons instead of regular bowls; but that’s only on Saturday nights between May and September. For the trip to Gemtree you need to take your own picnic lunch and lots of water.

We did not strike it rich while at Gemtree, but it was a great Outback experience, something we could talk about for some time to come.

Arriving back in Alice Springs after an eventful day; we bought a large pizza and took it back to our Desert Palms studio villa. The next day we were to start the next leg of our Northern Territory adventure – continuing the drive up to Darwin, with stops at the old gold town of Tennant Creek, Daly Waters pub (the oldest pub in the Northern Territory), Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park and Kakadu National Park along the way.

John Taylor is a much-travelled executive who has spent considerable time travelling in Australia and Europe. He prefers to drive whenever possible and says flying is ‘like crossing a country with a bag over your head, you see nothing’.

The old port of Marseille

Day 1. Marseille
Let’s cut straight to the chase with a couple of important “do’s and don’t’s”. If you are hiring a car locally, as we did, discover Marseille first, then rent the car: if you arrive in your own car lock it up in a safe parking lot while exploring the old city. Do not make this trip in the height of the summer season, when the Cote d'Azur becomes a bumper-to-bumper driving experience. April to June, and September-October are the best times, especially when driving along the coastal roads of the French Riviera.

We started off our stay in Marseille on foot with a visit to the Vieux Port (or ‘old harbour’), which has been around for much of the city’s 2,600-year history: Marseille is not only the second biggest city in France, it is also the oldest. The old harbour is shaped like a horseshoe, with the Quai du Port and Quai de Rive Neuve making the uprights and the Quai de la Fraternité  (formerly the Quai des Belges) the bend: much of it has become a giant yachting marina, with shoulder-to-shoulder brasseries and restaurants.

Marseille's bustling fish market, the Quai des Belges Market, sits on the water's edge at the Vieux Port. The market runs from 08.00 to 13.00 every weekday. I was travelling with an ardent film buff who was in his element as the fish market was an important location in French Connection II – though the film is not something the local tourist office really wants to talk about, or so it seemed.

My movie geek friend was also eager to explore another location featured in the film, a quartier called Le Panier (panier means basket in French). The area once had a very unsavoury reputation -- it has cleaned up its act, but still has an edgy air about it. Back in the Seventies, Le Panier was where heroin was purified in illicit backroom factories by the local mafia and shipped to the United States – ‘the French connection’.  You begin to understand the tourist office’s reluctance to discuss the ‘film connection’.

Le Panier is one of the oldest parts of Marseille, but what you see today is only a shadow of its historic self.  During World War Two, thousands of Jews and others sought by the Nazis took refuge in Le Panier’s maze of medieval streets. In a bid to flush them out, Hitler ordered the whole district to be dynamited, giving its inhabitants twenty-four hours to leave before blowing it up.

We stopped off for lunch (of sorts) at one of the typical local bars: refreshing mint tea, a colourful, crunchy North African salad and a tasty warm baguette. Four locals played dominoes and drank pastis at a marble-topped table. The bar owner watched a cycling race on a fuzzy television screen. But there was no sign of Gene Hackman’s New York cop, ‘Popeye Doyle’, who staked out the area in French Connection II.

The Vielle Charite, a centuries-old almshouse, is situated in the middle of Le Panier: it now hosts the excellent Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology and the Museum of Art of Africa, Oceania and Amerindia, both set to be a big attraction when Marseille becomes the European Capital of Culture in 2013. The museums are open daily, except Mondays and public holidays.

Later in the day we enjoyed the distinct north African souk-like atmosphere of the Marche des Capucins, situated just off La Canebiere, Marseille’s main thoroughfare.Think cous-cous and herb stalls, a cacaphony of languages and dialects, the air thick with the fragrant smell of spices – but watch your belongings, because they could attract the omnipresent nimble-fingered pickpockets (having said that, overall the city is fairly safe: no need for paranoia).

Then it was on to Cours Julien, a one-time fruit market that has transformed into an artistic colony with bars and ethnic restaurants, art galleries and boutiques: a showcase of North African fashions, cuisines from the Middle East and Asia and the pulsating music of west Africa. Cours Julien is home to several designers – check out the Oogie Lifestyle store, which offers a selection of top-end clothing brands and shabby chic vintage pieces, great sounds (looking for old vinyls?) and a busy brasserie. When the sun goes down, Cours Julien becomes one of Marseille’s favourite night spots. Recommended.

The Monte Cristo island

Before leaving Marseille the next day, we made a quick boat trip out to the Chateau d'If, located on a small island close to the harbour. The sixteenth-century castle, which was originally built to defend the city, later became a prison -- its forbidding cells are chillingly well preserved. The island is famous as the penal setting in the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo. The castle area was where the French drug boss, dubbed ‘Frog One’ by his nemesis, Popeye Doyle, holds a secret meeting to finalise a massive drugs shipment to New York in French Connection I – the film location was the main reason for our short excursion.

Chateau d'If is open daily (check for seasonal opening times) and admission costs four euros. Boats leave regularly from Quai des Belges at the Vieux Port (hourly 09.00 to 17.00, with the last return at 18.50). The journey takes around twenty minutes and costs eight euros. The views of Marseille from the island are really magnificent.

You can skip the beaches while in Marseille, they are not much to write home about – but if you are a foodie you will want to taste Marseille’s famous bouillabaisse: it’s a two-course meal -- first the soup, then the fish. Be prepared to pay fairly high prices for an authentic bouillabaisse, which has to be ordered in advance at some restaurants.

Accommodation options: Le Ryad, Escale Oceania Marseille Vieux Port, Best Western Paradou Mediterranee

Day 2. Depart: Marseille  O/night: Sanary-sur-Mer Approx: 72 kms
We left Marseille on the D559, which links Marseille to Toulon, by way of Cassis, La Ciotat and Bandol (there’s a spectacular cliff top detour with many twists and turns between Cassis and La Ciotat).

Cassis is still a small fishing port, but its fishing community now shares the harbour with sleek yachts and an array of tourist boats. It’s only half-an-hour or so from Marseille, though it took us slightly longer as the Marseille traffic was chaotic as usual. We had earlier considered staying in Cassis rather than Marseille, but visiting the city’s film locations had won the day. Incidentally, we found it slightly cheaper to hire a car in downtown Marseille than at the airport.

Cassis is a popular tourist destination – there are several fine sandy beaches in the area including a popular nudist beach. It is also famous for its stunningly steep rocky cliffs (falaises) and majestic sheltered inlets called calanques. Take a boat trip: you can cruise three calanques in little under an hour for thirteen euros, five calanques in just over an hour for fifteen euros, or all eight in two hours for nineteen euros. We took the shorter trip – we wanted some time to discover the local wines before continuing.

The calanques at Cassis

Cassis is known for its herby white wines: distinctive and full of character, most never leave the region. By the way, the wines of Cassis should not be confused with crème de cassis, which is a blackcurrant-based specialty of Burgundy. The wines, the boat trip and a mild September climate made our short visit to Cassis thoroughly enjoyable.

From Cassis we took the narrow, winding Route des Cretes to La Ciotat  (D141) – it offers magnificent views all the way as it follows the impressive Falaises de Soubeyranes, or Soubeyranes cliffs. The eagle owls, kestrels, peregrine falcons and many other species to be spotted along the route make it a bird watchers’ paradise.

La Ciotat is where the Lumieres brothers made one of the world’s first moving pictures back in 1895 -- L Arrive d’un Train en Gare de la Ciotat (The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat). Hardly a blockbuster movie, but it amazed and thrilled the audience.  The oldest cinema in the world still stands in La Ciotat -- the Eden Theatre, where the Lumieres staged the first public showing of their film.

Bandol was our next port of call, once again we were attracted by the local wines. Bandol boasts one of the oldest vineyards in France, the first vine having been planted in the area by the Romans some 2,500 years ago. Bandol is recognised as producing some of the best red wine in Provence. Stop by the Maison des Vins de Bandol for a free tasting from a selection of dozens of local wines – you’ll feel guilty if you don’t buy a bottle (or two) at affordable estate prices.

One of Bandol's wineries

Bandol is also a well-established seaside resort. Sandy beaches, cliffs, inlets and creeks surrounded by hills of pines and willows are all part of the beautiful natural environment. We were tempted to stay in Bandol, but pushed on to Sanary-sur-Mer, just a fifteen minute drive away.

Sanary sits on a bay encircled by hills. Although it is not far from the Riviera's other better-known destinations, it is not so well-known outside France: it attracts fewer tourists and has no high-rise hotels. You can chill out on the nearby beach at Port-Issol, and wander through the narrow, car-free back streets, which are lined with boulangeries, cafes and boutiques. Does it sound inviting? It is.

Sanary has strong literary connections. When Hitler came to power in Germany in the early Thirties, a great number of the country’s writers and intellectuals left and settled in Sanary – including Thomas Mann, the author and Nobel Prize laureate; and the playwright and poet, Bertolt Brecht.

Sanary had earlier appealed to several English authors. Aldous Huxley, probably best known for his Brave New World, took up residence with his brother Julian and their wives back at the start of the Thirties; and this soon drew other English writers of the day, including D.H Lawrence (Lady Chatterley’s Lover) and his German-born wife, Frieda.

The harbour at Sanary-sur-Mer

The Hotel de la Tour in Sanary has affordable rooms – and its restaurant specializes in seafood (naturally). The bouillabaisse (half the price of that in Marseille) must be ordered at least a day in advance – which is a good sign. Elsewhere, the inexpensive Café la Marine in Sanaray is one of the restaurants, once patronized by foreign literary exiles back in the Thirties.

Accommodation choices: Hotel de la Tour, Hotel Soleil et Jardin, Hotel Synaya

Day 3. Depart: Sanary-sur-Mer O/night: Gassin  Approx: 100 kms
It took us little more than half-an-hour to get to Toulon from Sanary-sur-Mer, driving on a secondary road that runs east, parellel with the A50 toll road. We were on our way to Gassin, not far from Saint Tropez, but first there were a couple of things we wanted to explore in Toulon, which boasts one of the largest harbours in Europe and one of the best natural anchorages on the Mediterranean. The French Mediterranean Fleet is based in Toulon.

I wanted to visit the Museum of the French Navy (Musee National de la Marine), which is located close to the old port, just a short walk from the Hotel de Ville (the town, or city, hall). It was for some research I was doing. Although the museum isn't large, it offers a unique look at the naval and maritime history of France. The museum dates back to the early nineteenth century, the days of the Emperor Napoleon, and, among other things, houses a fascinating collection of large eighteenth century model ships that were once used to teach seamanship.

Toulon has some interesting literary connections. It figured prominently in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables -- it is the location of the notorious prison, the Bagne of Toulon, in which Jean Valjean spends nineteen years. The prison was created in the time of King Louis XV to house convicts who had previously been sentenced to row the galleys of the French Mediterranean fleet. Joseph Conrad’s last novel, The Rover, is also set around Toulon. All that remains today of the prison is a single small building and a fragment of wall on the southeast side of the port known as Darse Vauban.

Toulon Cathedral, which can be traced back to the fifth century, has an intriguing chapter in its long history: in the mid-sixteenth century it was used as a mosque for some 30,000 crew members from ships of the Ottoman empire, at that time an ally of Francies I,  France's original Renaissance king. The inhabitants of Toulon were temporarily expelled from the city to make room for the Turkish sailors. It took a large royal bribe to persuade the Turkish fleet to leave.

The old town of Toulon, the restored historic centre located between the port, Boulevard de Strasbourg and the Cours Lafayette, is a pedestrian area with narrow streets, small squares and an abundance of fountains. The area is also home to a popular Provencal market that takes place every morning (except Monday) on the Cours Lafayette.

The cable-car in Toulon

If you are interested in military history (or just want a great spot to take a panoramic photo), take the cable car to the top of Mont Faron, which dominates Toulon. It gives direct access to the Memorial Museum of the Allied landing in Provence during World War Two. The top can also be reached by a narrow road which ascends from the west side and descends on the east side – it’s a white-knuckle drive that should only be undertaken by confident drivers.

From Toulon we continued about fifteen kilometres to the medieval town of Hyeres, located about four kilometres back from the sea and clustered around a hillside castle. Hyeres is the oldest resort on the French Riviera: its position, facing the south to the Mediterranean, makes it a popular winter tourism destination. The town is often called Hyeres Les Palmiers, which refers to the local cultivation of palm trees -- about 100,000 trees are exported from Hyeres every year.

Like other resorts along the French Riviera, Hyeres has several literary links: Robert Louis Stevenson once lived at the former Grand Hotel. He described the area as ‘sub celestial’. Leo Tolstoy, one of the giants of Russian literature, also enjoyed the climate of Hyeres; as did the Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Edith Wharton, who spent her winters in Hyeres every year for almost two decades and did much of her prolific writing there. Hyeres also has a royal connection: Queen Victoria stayed at the Albion Hotel for three weeks in the late 1800s: at the time when a British influence was very strong in the south of France.

Hyeres is also the jumping off point for the islands of Porquerolles, Port Cros and Le Levant. Porquerolles is the largest of the three islands, and it’s best toured by bicycle, available for rent as you step off the ferry. Levant is a favourite with nudists. Port Cros, the smallest of the islands and the hilliest and wildest of the three is mostly a nature reserve, and is located between Porquerolles and Levant. The islands can be visited year round, the best time being between April and June when the flowers are in bloom.

From Hyeres we continued on to Gassin, passing Bregancon, which boasts a fort that serves as an official retreat for French presidents. The fort is built on a small island, connected by a short pier to the mainland. Then came Le Levandou, with its twelve magnificent beaches, and Cavalaire-sur-Mer, which is located on the most southerly bay of the region. Cavalaire boasts a superb three-kilometre beach, with the impressive Pradels mountain range as a backdrop.

From Cavalaire, we turned inland for the short drive to Gassin, which is perched high on a rock overlooking the vineyards, woods and the sea below.

The presidential retreat at Bregancon

The reason for our slight detour to Gassin was that somebody had recommended the Bello Visto hotel-restaurant, and  we were not disappointed. We had an enjoyable set-menu dinner, with a choice from five starters and five main courses, for no more than 28 euros each (plus wine, of course). The rooms at Bello Visto were not large, but pleasant – and better still, they were inexpensive for the French Riviera.

Acccommodation options. Bello Visto Hotel, Hotel Brin d’Azur, Hotel la Villa

Day 4. Depart: Gassin  Arrive: Cannes   Approx 96 kms
We set off for Saint Tropez after a leisurely breakfast, driving via Ramatuelle. Think ramparts, tightly-packed stone houses, pink-tiled rooftops and ancient narrow streets. Part of the charm of Ramatuelle is that while it is next to the legendary resort of Saint Tropez, it remains (relatively) less expensive, less pretentious and less crowded. Another attraction is its fine sandy beaches, exotically named Tahiti, Bora Bora, Lagon Bleu and Mooréa.

Would Saint Tropez have reached the fame it enjoys had it not been for Brigitte Bardot? We argued that one for the ten kilometres of fairly busy road (one to be avoided in summer) leading from Ramatuelle to St Trop, as the locals call it. The truth of it is that Saint Tropez was popular with the ‘beautiful people’ way back in the Roaring Twenties, when it attracted famous figures from the French fashion world, names like Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli.

La Bardotte gave Saint Tropez a new lease of life in the Fifties, when the town was used as a setting for And God Created Woman. She gave the town another push when she turned up in the mid-Sixties with international playboy Gunter Sachs for the inauguration of the now famous Hotel Byblos (and Les Caves du Roy) – it was an international jetsetters’ event.

The way to get around Saint Tropez-style

The resort’s mojo still works, though slightly more favoured by the music world: Lamborghinis and Porches are still pimped, and Ferraris flaunted, the corks pop and champagne flows, high-priced boutiques flourish and credit cards are soon maxed out for many, if not most. Saint Tropez prices are audacious even by Cote d'Azur standards – it’s not my type of town, but it’s a ‘must’ while driving the French Riviera.

For my friend the ‘cinema geek’ (his own term), Saint Tropez had more than just the Bardot pedigree. It was also the setting for the hilarious classic French comedy of the mid-Sixties Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez, starring Louis de Funes, a film that was to spawn five sequels – a bit like the English Carry On series, but in French. As with the French Connection in Marseille, the local tourist office does not seem to enjoy being associated with the film, which in many tourist destinations would have been marked with a statue or something similar.

There is another side to Saint Tropez. On the Place des Lices elderly local men still sip pastis, smoke Gauloises and play pétanques beneath the trees, not fazed at all by the sheer ostentation that surrounds them. And every Tuesday and Saturday morning the same square fills with stalls selling a variety of local products: olives, goat cheese, honey, herbs, Provencal table linens and pottery (you might spot a celebrity looking for a bargain).

We spent very little time in budget-breaking Saint Tropez and drove on round the bay to Sainte Maxime before heading for Frejus, about a 45-kilometre drive.  A tip: the scenic route that separates the medieval Cote d'Azur town of Sainte Maxime from tinseltownish Saint Tropez  is a road to avoid in the summer, when some 30,000 vehicles a day cause massive traffic jams.

Sainte Maxime is very much ‘alive’ all year round, and is slightly (just slightly) less expensive than Saint Tropez. The old town opposite the harbour has an array of shops, markets, restaurants, bars and cafes. The Swedish royal family own a villa in the centre of Sainte Maxime.

The town dates back a thousand years, when monks from from an island off the coast at Cannes built a monastery there.  For centuries fishing was the main industry, then olive oil, wine and cork. In August 1944 the beach of Ste Maxime was at the centre of Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France.

The old town of Frejus

Frejus is a large, sprawling town originally built by Julius Caesar. During its Roman days, Frejus, which was then known as Forum Julii, was a port. Under the Roman emperor Augustus the town became an important naval base: the warships with which he defeated Antony and Cleopatra were built in Frejus. The port has long since silted over, but remnants from Roman times still stand in the old town, including parts of an arena and a theatre. An interesting section called the Cite Episcopale dates to the middle ages, and is home to one of France's oldest ecclesiastical buildings.

Frejus is a very popular summer tourist town: its long stretch of fine sandy beaches are a couple of kilometres away, between Frejus and Saint Raphael: the two are effectively one town. Saint Raphael became a fashionable hangout in the Twenties and has a strong literary connection: it's where F Scott Fitzgerald wrote Tender is the Night.

We took the winding inland route from Frejus to Cannes, driving on RN7, part of which is known as Avenue du Corps Expeditionnaire Francais en Italie (a tribute to several thousand north African soldiers, mainly Moroccan, who fought on the Italian front during World War Two). The road changes name several times as the journey progresses.

We stopped for a while at Les Adrets de l'Esterel, a pretty Provencal village with a wonderful panoramic view of the Riviera that stretches from Saint Tropez to Nice. It is situated very close to the Alpes Maritimes, in the heart of the Esterel mountains, an area covered with forests of pine trees and white heather just a few kilometres from the sea.

Cannes -- home of the world's most famous film festival

The glitzy image of Cannes makes it a very popular conference destination – and that was the reason we were both there (having flown into Marseille, we would be flying out of Nice, a little further along the coast after the conference). Meanwhile, we had  the following day to explore the city and take a boat trip out to the nearby island of Saint Honorat.

Accommodation options: Hotel de Provence, Hotel Splendid, Best Western Mondial

Day 5. Cannes
There's hardly a centimetre of sand along La Croisette's beaches that isn't covered with bronzing bodies in the summer. But it was not summer. Great weather, but summer (and the crowds that go with it) were over.

Cannes has a number of good museums.  We spent a little time at the Musée de la Castre, which has actually become of the city’s premier tourist attractions: it is home to an array of Mediterranean antiquities and archaeological treasures. The museum is located in the ruins of a medieval castle on the hills overlooking the Croisette, and belongs to the Lerins monks The monks also built a lookout tower to warn the town of pirates, which still stands next to the Musee de la Castre.

Foodies will want to explore the old quarter of Le Suquet, and check out the winding cobbled lane lined with several local gourmet restaurants At the bottom of Le Suquet on Rue Dr. P. Gayagnaire is the Marche Forville, where the market is held in the mornings and early afternoon: taste some of the mouth-watering Provencal cheeses, the region’s olives and perhaps buy a bottle or two of pickled lemons (they make great souvenir gifts).

There are one or two interesting islands off the coast of Cannes. Most visitors head for Sainte Marguerite, with its meandering, butterfly-filled forest paths that lead to Fort Royal, where the mysterious ‘Man in the Iron Mask"’was once imprisoned. You can visit his cell in the Musee de la Mer, which is housed in the former island fort. We chose, however, to take the ten-minute ferry ride over to Saint Honorat as we wanted to try the wines being produced by the island’s small group of Cistercian monks at the Abbaye de Lerins.

The monastery cellar on Saint Honorat

Cistercian monks have played an influential role in the history of French winemaking: part of their monastery on Saint Honorat is open to the public. You can see medieval relics from the monastery’s history, and also buy some of the white wines; as well lavender oil, honey a herbal liquor called Lerina,  that the monks produce (also great gift). The wines were excellent, but rather pricey, especially the much talked about pinot noir.

The monastery was created some sixteen hundred years ago and it is said that Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland once studied there. We had lunch at the monastery’s La Tonnelle restaurant – highly recommended: excellent fish at pocket-friendly prices. The restaurant is open for lunch daily throughout the year.

Remember that the ten days in May when the Cannes International Film Festival is staged, is always a period to avoid – unless you are the personal guest of a top Hollywood celebrity.

After Cannes I would have liked to have spent some in nearby Monte Carlo, Nice and Menton, and perhaps continued on to discover the neighbouring Italian coastline– but that’s for another trip – watch this space.

Suzanne Cantrille is a Frankfurt-based Canadian research assistant, who has an interest in European naval history. She has travelled extensively in Europe and North America and her ambition is  to visit all the islands in the Mediterranean.

Walhalla

Day 1: Depart: Melbourne  O/night Lakes Entrance  Approx: 382 kms
There’s plenty of information available about popular stopovers on this route, so I’ll focus on some of my ‘secrets’, Starting from Melbourne, the first secret is at Yarragon, which may be a little early for the first coffee.  However, it boasts an excellent art and craft gallery featuring many well-known Australian artists. It’s called Town and Country Gallery and is open 10.00 to 17.00 daily.

Yarragon has come a long way from its beginnings as a pioneering timber hamlet in the 1880s.Today its strip of shops - on the right side heading away from Melbourne – offers an eclectic array of craft, art, food, artisan and book shops and even a niche brewery. Well worth a little browsing time.

On the way to Bairnsdale you can consider two paths off the beaten track. One of them takes you to Walhalla (turn off at Moe) where you can immerse yourself in some early Victorian gold mining history.

The drive and scenery are spectacular as well, taking the return journey towards the Prince’s Highway at Traralgon. Walhalla – a sleepy town with just twenty residents- portrays life as it was in the gold rush when 4,000 miners sought their fortune.

Walhalla Goldfields Railway

No matter what time of year you pass through Walhalla, a ride on the Walhalla Goldfields Railway is a ‘must. It’s a time-warp rail trip that offers wonderful views of nature’s wonders: in spring and summer it’s the wild flowers spread out through the gorge, while around April you’ll enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the autumn trees in the rugged Stringers Creek Gorge.

There are plenty of quality B&B’s if you want to stay longer in the area. Walhalla's award-winning Star Hotel  with its twelve comfortable guest suites is another choice of accommodation. It’s a reconstruction of the original gold rush Star Hotel, which was destroyed by fire in 1951.

The other detour to consider is the Heyfield turnoff after Traralgon – drive through the small timber town of Heyfield; the dairy farming town of Tinamba; and then Maffra before reconnecting with the Prince’s Highway at Stratford. It’s a pretty drive through dairy and grazing land, and Maffra is considered to have one of the prettiest main streets in Victoria.

A little trivia: the town began as an outstation of the region's first cattle run, Boisdale, named by pioneer grazier Lachlan Macalister after a village on the island of South Uist in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.

Gippsland Vehicle Collection

Motoring enthusiasts will want to stop by the Gippsland Vehicle Collection while in Maffra. Set up following the visit to Maffra of several Grand Prix rallies over the years, it is housed in a a huge old sugar beet building known to locals as ‘the Maffra shed’.

In the heart of East Gippsland, Bairnsdale on the Mitchell River, flags the turn off to Lakes Entrance. Enjoy one of the world’s great views as you climb down Brown Mountain to the point where the Gippsland Lakes meets the Tasman Sea at Lakes Entrance.

Lakes Entrance

Situated on the northern end of the ninety-mile beach, Lakes Entrance is a fishing village, tourist haven and focal point for surf and nature based activities – and a good spot to spend the first night.

Accommodation choice: Esplanade Resort & Spa

Day 2  Depart: Lakes Entrance  O/Night: Bermagui  Approx: 383 kms
As you journey on through Orbost (where there’s a good café on the eastern outskirts) to Cann River, you could dream about the splendid isolation and amazing fishing offered by places that are signposted on the way – idyllic coastal hamlets like Cape Conran, Marlo and Bemm River.

You might even then be tempted to turn off the main road and see Mallacoota – Victoria’s eastern most town and surely its best kept secret. Tourism brochures talk of its ‘shimmering lakes, rivers, pristine forests and a turquoise sea lapping quiet beaches’ – and they haven’t got it wrong.

Mallacoota beach

The town of a thousand people swells to 8,000 holiday makers in the summer as people flock to the heart of the Croajingalong National Park. In my view, it is one of the most beautiful coastal settings in the world, combined with a wealth of experiences in which to become totally immersed.

Croajingalong National Park is bordered on the southern side by the Pacific Ocean, the western side by Bemm River and the eastern side by Mallacoota. If you fancy staying a while in the area, there is a 100 kilometre Wilderness Coast Walk that stretches the entire length of the park along beaches, through heathland and round rocky headlands – why not ‘walk on the wild side’ for a bit.

Eden is always a good place to stop for a break – but you need to turn right and go to the fishing harbour at the east of the town. Great ocean views, the smell of salt water and fish, a good coffee, and even some reasonable fish and chips are available at this point.

Further along the track, I strongly suggest turning off the highway at Pambula and taking the coastal drive through Merimbula and Tathra to Bermagui. You’ll miss Bega and the Bega Valley, but the track between Merimbula and Narooma is probably one of the most beautiful and unspoilt parts of the New South Wales coast. The 35-kilometre trek between Tathra and Bermagui is a good example, with turnoffs to incredible places like Bithry Inlet and a drive past Cutagee beach.

Bermagui is my town! A preserved and stunningly beautiful small town off the main highway, Bermagui still has a fishing village feel. It’s the closest point of Australia to the Continental shelf, one of the reasons the fishing there is legendary. If you enjoy fish, it does not get much fresher than that landed at Bermagui.

Fish arriving at Bermagui

There’s always a sheltered beach to be found at Bermagui, the golf course is excellent and there’s plenty to do. Climb Mount Gulaga, swim at the famous Blue Pool, check out Tilba (think cheese) and Cobargo; then have a glass of wine at Bermagui’s Horse and Camel wine bar and dine at the delightful Il Passagio restaurant (try the pot roasted local blue eye).

Here’s a tip: if you think Bermagui is a place you’d like to spend some quality time (as many do), check out the short term holiday apartment rentals (or even permanent accommodation for rent) with a leading local real estate dealer.

Accommodation choice: The Horseshoe Hotel

Day 3  Depart: Bermagui   Arrive: Sydney  Approx: 476 kms
Leaving Bermagui you continue to Narooma, a pretty town with a famous golf course. Narooma also boasts the best coffee on the entire trip at Montague Coffee on the northern outskirts of the town, just before the bridge. Then comes Bateman’s Bay (and its suburbs), which has become huge – partly due to its popularity with Canberrians. There’s good retail facilities, and some pretty little coves and beaches as you go south.

Just north of Bateman’s Bay, there is a roadside café at a little place called East Lynne. You simply must stop and buy a family-sized apple pie straight from the oven – or indulge in one of the pies and sausage rolls. Without argument, the best in Australia, and I’m not given to hyperbole.

Mollymook

Instead of staying on the highway at Ulladulla, take a small detour through Mollymook which adds about ten minutes to the trip. If you’re hungry in Milton, I recommend the  Pilgrims vegetarian café for some of the best fare on the south coast. Once past Nowra, the traffic builds and the trip starts to become more of an ordeal. Then all of a sudden Berry snaps you out of thoughts that you’re in the outskirts of Sydney. It’s a pretty town with a famous sourdough bakery.

It’s possible to turn off at Berry and take the home stretch through Kangaroo Valley and Bowral – it might add an hour to the trip, but it’s a beautiful drive.

Bowral was once a rural retreat for Sydney’s elite, which accounts for the many historic estates and manor houses in the district. Today, Bowral is usually  associated with the cricketer Sir Donald Bradman  who is universally regarded as the greatest cricket player of all time, and one of Australia's greatest popular heroes. He is commemorated in Bowral by the Bradman Museum and other monuments at the Bradman Oval  The town also hosts the colourful annual Tulip Time Festival every September.

The first recorded sighting by a European of Kangaroo Valley was a couple of hundred years ago, in April of 1812, by a surveyor-explorer named George Evans, who was returning north from his exploration of Jervis Bay. He spent the night on top of Mt.Tapitallee where he wrote in his diary that he had a view "no painter could beautify."

Kangaroo Valley has plenty to offer to adventure seekers, including kayaking on Kangaroo River. You can hire canoes and mountain bikes for a half or full day from a couple of local operators. For something more sedate, though still with its challenges, the Kangaroo Valley Golf and Country Resort would appeal to some.

The Grand Pacific Drive

If you decide to go through Wollongong, there is still one more decision to take – stay on the Highway or take the much slower Grand Pacific Drive, which now boasts a new road between Scarborough and Stanwell Park – New South Wales claims it as the answer to the Great Ocean Road (which is a huge over statement).

From Wollongong to Sydney is about a 90-minute drive, depending, of course, on the time of day and local traffic.

To sum up -- Melbourne to Sydney (or the reverse) with its myriad of tangents is really one of the great journeys of the world.

Ken Boundy is a former managing director of Tourism Australia, where he spent four years. He has worked in several large corporations, SME’s and small start ups and  enjoys good food and wine as well as travel. Ken also writes a personal blog 

Check out the Melbourne-Sydney Alpine route