Pacific Coastal Discovery

Eighteen nights from Sydney to Brisbane in a motorhome, up the New South Wales coast at a leisurely pace, with the flights included.

Sydney takes the first three nights in a hotel, with a guided tour of the Opera House, the bridge climb optional, Bondi and a day in the Blue Mountains, before the motorhome is collected. The Hunter Valley follows for two, the oldest wine region in Australia, with over a hundred and fifty cellar doors and a reputation for semillon.

Port Stephens comes next for two nights, with dolphin watching, the climb up Mount Tomaree and sandboarding on the Stockton dunes, then Port Macquarie on the Hastings River. Coffs Harbour takes two nights, with snorkelling and kayaking in the Solitary Islands Marine Reserve, then Evans Head, and Byron Bay for two by way of Lennox Head, with the lighthouse on the most easterly point of the mainland and surfing available. Brisbane closes the route with two nights and a catamaran out to Tangalooma, where wild dolphins are hand-fed at the jetty in the evening.

Flights, three nights in a four-star Sydney hotel, the Opera House tour, twelve nights of maui River motorhome hire sleeping up to six with zero-excess insurance and the Tangalooma dolphin trip are included. Nineteen days for a coast this short is a genuinely slow pace, with two or three nights nearly everywhere. The dolphin feeding is managed, timed and limited in numbers, and no sighting can be promised. Whales pass close inshore on this coast between May and November, which is worth knowing when picking dates.