Cleland before opening
Inside Cleland Wildlife Park before the public, with a dedicated host, ending in a private session with a koala keeper.
Perth to Hobart
Across southern Australia in 18 nights, from the Indian Ocean to Tasmania.
- 18 nights
- Six stays
- Australia
- Couples, food and wine, wildlife
A slow journey east across southern Australia, from Perth and Margaret River to the Adelaide Hills, the Barossa, Melbourne and Tasmania. Koalas at Cleland before the gates open, Grange tasted at Penfolds' original winery, your birth-year wine drawn from the barrel at Seppeltsfield, and James Turrell at Mona; a seaplane and a private charter cover the long distances.
- Length
- 18 nights
- Pace
- Six stays
- Style
- Couples, food and wine, wildlife
- Route
- Perth to The Adelaide Hills to The Barossa to Melbourne to The Mornington Peninsula to Hobart
- PerthFour nights
- The Adelaide HillsThree nights
- The BarossaThree nights
- MelbourneTwo nights
- The Mornington PeninsulaTwo nights
- HobartFour nights
01
Days 1 to 5 · four nights
Perth
A two-hour private walk through the city, a day on Rottnest Island by ferry, and a private seaplane south to the wineries of Margaret River. In Margaret River, an Aboriginal guide can lead a walk foraging native bush foods, with traditional flavours tasted from the campfire. Four nights leave time between the outings. At Vasse Felix, Margaret River's founding estate, a private tour behind the scenes with a winemaker can be arranged, ending in a tasting of the Vasse Felix Collection.
Where you stay
COMO The Treasury
COMO The Treasury fills the historic State Buildings on the corner of St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street, 20 minutes from Perth airport. Kerry Hill designed its 48 rooms and suites, and Wildflower, Post and Cape Arid Rooms share the building with a pool and a wellness centre.
02
Days 5 to 8 · three nights
The Adelaide Hills
A flight to Adelaide. Cleland Wildlife Park before it opens to the public, with a host: hand-feeding kangaroos and emus, then time with a koala keeper among koalas rescued from the Kangaroo Island fires. At Penfolds Magill Estate, two hours through the original winery, vineyard and underground drives end in a private tasting with Grange at its centre. A day in McLaren Vale beyond the cellar door can also be arranged with a well-connected local, through the ancient landscapes of Onkaparinga Gorge to a private tasting with the winemakers in the 1840s homestead of their vineyard estate, then lunch on the clifftops and rare release wines in a private cellar on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Walks or e-bikes in the hills fill the rest.
Where you stay
Sequoia Lodge
Sequoia Lodge keeps 14 suites for adults on Mount Lofty, 20 minutes from the centre of Adelaide, built around a sequoia tree some 150 years old. Its 30 acres run into the botanic gardens on one side and national park on the other, with three thermal hot pools and wallabies outside the balconies.
03
Days 8 to 11 · three nights
The Barossa
A private day through the Barossa's wineries, with lunch. At Seppeltsfield, home to fortified wine dating back to 1878, you taste the wine of your birth year straight from the barrel. The Louise can also arrange an afternoon with the artist Janelle Amos in her studio on her family vineyard, or Shiraz from the barrel with the winemaker at Gibson Wines.
Where you stay
The Louise
The Louise stands on Seppeltsfield Road at Marananga in the Barossa, where villa-style suites open onto private courtyards and look out across the vineyards. Dinner is at Appellation, a Barossa winemaker leads a tasting on Friday evenings, and guided sessions tell the stories behind the lodge's private art collection.
04
Days 11 to 13 · two nights
Melbourne
A full-day private charter from Adelaide that follows Australian wagyu from paddock to plate, landing in Melbourne, then a half-day walk through the city.
Where you stay
The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne
The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne occupies the top of an 80-storey tower on Lonsdale Street, with rooms and suites on floors 65 to 79 looking towards the Dandenong Ranges and Port Phillip Bay. Atria serves modern Australian food, Cameo is the cocktail bar, and the spa on level 64 has an infinity pool.
05
Days 13 to 15 · two nights
The Mornington Peninsula
Free days for the bay beaches, and an afternoon at the Peninsula Hot Springs.
Where you stay
Jackalope
Jackalope stands among the LL Vineyard on the Mornington Peninsula, with 44 rooms and two Lair suites, the Vineyard Rooms looking across the vines and the infinity pool. Doot Doot Doot serves breakfast and dinner, there is a heated spa and infrared sauna, and the hotel takes guests aged 12 and over.
06
Days 15 to 19 · four nights
Hobart
A flight to Hobart. A seafood cruise around Bruny Island, a day on Maria Island and in the Coal River Valley, a day on the east coast, and the ferry to MONA. A day there can run from the ferry to a five-course lunch at Faro and James Turrell's Event Horizon, or to a winery tour for no more than eight, ending in Moorilla's underground tasting room. Or a full day on a farm in the Derwent Valley at the Agrarian Kitchen, foraging, harvesting, cooking and eating Tasmanian produce. Or a flight past Federation Peak to land at Melaleuca in South West National Park, for the orange-bellied parrots and a cruise on Bathurst Harbour.
Where you stay
The Islington Hotel
The Islington is a historic hotel in South Hobart with views of Mount Wellington, a few minutes from Salamanca Market, Battery Point and the waterfront. Its refurbished rooms have fireplaces, guests can sit in the lounge or the gardens, and the restaurant cooks from Tasmanian land and sea.
Arranged on request
Grange at Magill Estate
Two hours through Penfolds' original working winery, the Grange Cottage and the underground drives, then a private tasting led by Grange; daily at 11 a.m., up to 10 guests.
Your birth year at Seppeltsfield
The estate holds a collection of fortified wine back to 1878, and guests taste the wine of their birth year direct from the barrel.
Janelle Amos's studio
Time with the artist in her studio on her family vineyard on the Barossa's Western Ridge.
Mona in full
A guided day at Mona with a host, a five-course lunch with matched wine at Faro and access to James Turrell's Event Horizon; for those 18 and over.
A day at the Agrarian Kitchen
A full-day cooking class on a farm in the Derwent Valley: foraging, harvesting, cooking and then eating Tasmanian produce.
Subject to availability.
Ways to make it yours
- Three nights in the Flinders Ranges for bushwalks and outback wildlife.
- Kangaroo Island, for the sea lions at Seal Bay and the island's oysters, then a private jet from Southern Ocean Lodge to The Louise.
- Three nights on Satellite Island in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, reached by sailing boat from Hobart with a picnic on a secluded beach on the way, the island yours alone to walk, fish, snorkel and kayak, with a private chef, a bonfire at the water's edge and a private lunch at the local salmon and oyster farm.
This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.
Made around you
Most travel is bought. This is designed.
Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.
The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.
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