6 DAY FULLY INCLUSIVE TOUR
TUESDAY 22ND TO SUNDAY 27TH DECEMBER 2020
Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, We Wish you a Merry Christmas…
Whichever is your favourite, chances are you’ll get to hear it or even sing it on this tour.
“Christmas with O’Shannessy’s is like celebrating Christmas with family” is a quote we hear again and again.
Come away with us and enjoy some of your favourite Christmas carols, indulge in some delectable traditional Christmas fare with all the trimmings. Hop on board our luxury coach, relax, sit back and stretch your legs while we take care of everything for you and whisk you away for a few days of R & R and celebration.
TOUR INFORMATION
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TOUR HIGHLIGHTS Sir Reginald Ansett Transport Museum, Campes Motor Museum, Volcanoes Discovery Centre, Maritime Discovery Centre, Portland Cable Tram Depot, Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre, Lambley Nursery and Garden, Creswick Woollen Mill, Forest Glade Garden, Top of the Range Tea Rooms. MULTIPLE NIGHT STAYS 4 Nights in Hamilton |
PRICE Twin Share Room: $2895 pp Twin Share Repeat Traveller 2 - 10 Tours: $2870 pp Twin Share Repeat Traveller 11 - 20 Tours: $2845 pp Twin Share Repeat Traveller 21+ Tours: $2820 pp Single Room Supplement: $340 pp Deposit: $200 per person upon booking O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours will match single travellers who wish to twin share with another single traveller of the same gender. However, if this is not possible, you shall be provided with single accommodation at the twin share fare (no additional cost). All prices are from Melbourne. Please contact our office for a price from your capital city. |
TOUR MAP
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WHAT'S INCLUDED IN YOUR TOUR
- Complimentary chauffeur driven transfers. Pick up from and return to your home from Greater Melbourne, Bendigo, Torquay, Ballarat, Geelong, the Bellarine and Mornington Peninsulas, Phillip Island and selected areas of Gippsland.
- O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours Touring Coach. Travel by O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours Luxury Touring Coach. Features include comfortable reclining seats with ample leg room, arm and foot rests, seat belts, large panoramic windows with blinds, overhead parcel shelf, onboard rest room, Road Cam TV Screens which display the view ahead in real time, a kneeling (coach lowering) device, a second door for ease of entry and disembarkation and full air suspension for a smooth and quiet ride.
- Tour Director. Dedicated O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours tour director and coach captain on board to ensure your travel experience is memorable.
- Best Available Quality Accommodation. Ensuite motel accommodation each night.
- Attractions. All tours and interest venues as per itinerary.
- All Meals. Full cooked breakfasts, morning tea lunches and two course restaurant dinners daily.
ITINERARY
DAY 1: Tuesday 22nd December, 2020
HAMILTON
There’s a tap on the door this morning from our chauffeur who’s here to take us to join our O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours coach and crew for our exciting Advent Adventures in Hamilton tour! Skirting Port Phillip Bay we head inland to Camperdown for lunch at Madden’s Commercial Hotel before travelling back to the coast to Port Fairy - a charming village rich in maritime history. Its colonial character has been faithfully preserved. Seaman’s blue-stone cottages rub shoulders with gracious commercial and administrative buildings. Its fine antique shops, pubs and restaurants are all housed in original Victorian buildings - The National Trust has classified 50 of them. We take in the sights before continuing to Hamilton, home for the next 4 nights.
OVERNIGHT: Comfort Inn Grange Burn, Hamilton
There’s a tap on the door this morning from our chauffeur who’s here to take us to join our O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours coach and crew for our exciting Advent Adventures in Hamilton tour! Skirting Port Phillip Bay we head inland to Camperdown for lunch at Madden’s Commercial Hotel before travelling back to the coast to Port Fairy - a charming village rich in maritime history. Its colonial character has been faithfully preserved. Seaman’s blue-stone cottages rub shoulders with gracious commercial and administrative buildings. Its fine antique shops, pubs and restaurants are all housed in original Victorian buildings - The National Trust has classified 50 of them. We take in the sights before continuing to Hamilton, home for the next 4 nights.
OVERNIGHT: Comfort Inn Grange Burn, Hamilton
DAY 2: Wednesday 23rd, 2020
HAMILTON/PENSHURST/DUNKELD
This morning we’ll enjoy the sights of Hamilton, including the historic bluestone churches, early settlers homes, Lake Hamilton and the Botanical Gardens designed by Guilfoyle
(who designed the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne). Included in the morning’s tour is a visit to the Sir Reginald Ansett Transport Museum and Campes Motor Museum. The Ansett Museum tells the story of a very determined Reginald Ansett who built his empire from a passenger service between Hamilton and Ballarat (road) and Hamilton and Melbourne (air) in the 1930s. Local identity Glen Campe also has a museum here with more than 80 vintage and veteran cars, trucks and motor bikes on display. Lunch today will be a highlight as we are off to Dunkeld at the foot of the Grampians for lunch at the famous Royal Mail Hotel.
This is an award winning hotel set in extensive gardens and overlooking the Southern Grampian Ranges. This afternoon we tour south to Penhurst before returning to Hamilton. There is a very interesting Volcanoes Discovery Centre here. This area was covered in active volcanoes thousands of years ago and The Centre shows us how they were formed, their geology and their history in the Western District. It will be a fun day!
OVERNIGHT: Comfort Inn Grange Burn, Hamilton
This morning we’ll enjoy the sights of Hamilton, including the historic bluestone churches, early settlers homes, Lake Hamilton and the Botanical Gardens designed by Guilfoyle
(who designed the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne). Included in the morning’s tour is a visit to the Sir Reginald Ansett Transport Museum and Campes Motor Museum. The Ansett Museum tells the story of a very determined Reginald Ansett who built his empire from a passenger service between Hamilton and Ballarat (road) and Hamilton and Melbourne (air) in the 1930s. Local identity Glen Campe also has a museum here with more than 80 vintage and veteran cars, trucks and motor bikes on display. Lunch today will be a highlight as we are off to Dunkeld at the foot of the Grampians for lunch at the famous Royal Mail Hotel.
This is an award winning hotel set in extensive gardens and overlooking the Southern Grampian Ranges. This afternoon we tour south to Penhurst before returning to Hamilton. There is a very interesting Volcanoes Discovery Centre here. This area was covered in active volcanoes thousands of years ago and The Centre shows us how they were formed, their geology and their history in the Western District. It will be a fun day!
OVERNIGHT: Comfort Inn Grange Burn, Hamilton
DAY 3: Thursday 24th December, 2020
PORTLAND
We are off to Portland this morning – about an hour away on Victoria’s West Coast. Portland was the site of Victoria's first permanent settlement back in 1834, with the town quickly prospering due to fishing, pastoral and agricultural industries. As the only deep-sea port between Adelaide and Port Phillip it is a major exporting centre for the produce of south-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia - principally wool, grains and secondary manufactures made in Portland itself. On arrival we head to the Portland Visitors Centre to collect our local guide who will show us the sights of the town. Returning to the Centre we have some time to wander through the Maritime Discovery Centre. The museum’s permanent display documents the region’s maritime history including whaling, shipwrecks and the local fishing industry. The centrepiece of the museum is the 1858 Portland lifeboat, famous for its role in the ‘Admella’ rescue of 1859. The lifeboat is one of the oldest remaining unrestored, intact vessels in Australia – possibly the world! Next we enjoy a light lunch at the Portland RSL before heading to the Portland Cable Tram Depot for our tram tour. The scenic track runs along Henty Beach, giving a close up view of the working, natural deepwater harbour, before climbing to the cliff top giving panoramic views of the bay. It then passes alongside the historically significant 'ploughed field' on the way to the World War II Memorial Lookout Tower. While cable trams were originally propelled by gripping underground cables, these trams are driven by a concealed diesel engine in an original and otherwise authentic cable tram.
OVERNIGHT: Comfort Inn Grange Burn, Hamilton
We are off to Portland this morning – about an hour away on Victoria’s West Coast. Portland was the site of Victoria's first permanent settlement back in 1834, with the town quickly prospering due to fishing, pastoral and agricultural industries. As the only deep-sea port between Adelaide and Port Phillip it is a major exporting centre for the produce of south-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia - principally wool, grains and secondary manufactures made in Portland itself. On arrival we head to the Portland Visitors Centre to collect our local guide who will show us the sights of the town. Returning to the Centre we have some time to wander through the Maritime Discovery Centre. The museum’s permanent display documents the region’s maritime history including whaling, shipwrecks and the local fishing industry. The centrepiece of the museum is the 1858 Portland lifeboat, famous for its role in the ‘Admella’ rescue of 1859. The lifeboat is one of the oldest remaining unrestored, intact vessels in Australia – possibly the world! Next we enjoy a light lunch at the Portland RSL before heading to the Portland Cable Tram Depot for our tram tour. The scenic track runs along Henty Beach, giving a close up view of the working, natural deepwater harbour, before climbing to the cliff top giving panoramic views of the bay. It then passes alongside the historically significant 'ploughed field' on the way to the World War II Memorial Lookout Tower. While cable trams were originally propelled by gripping underground cables, these trams are driven by a concealed diesel engine in an original and otherwise authentic cable tram.
OVERNIGHT: Comfort Inn Grange Burn, Hamilton
DAY 4: Friday 25th December, 2020
CHRISTMAS DAY!
Happy Christmas!! The coach will conduct some transfers this morning to local Church Services before our Christmas lunch at the hotel. It will be a relaxed day with some free time in the afternoon before a light supper.
OVERNIGHT: Comfort Inn Grange Burn, Hamilton
Happy Christmas!! The coach will conduct some transfers this morning to local Church Services before our Christmas lunch at the hotel. It will be a relaxed day with some free time in the afternoon before a light supper.
OVERNIGHT: Comfort Inn Grange Burn, Hamilton
DAY 5: Saturday 26th December, 2020
BALLARAT AND THE GOLDFIELDS - TO CRESWICK
This morning we head to Ararat, originally founded by a group of Chinese immigrants who discovered one of the world’s richest alluvial goldfields here in the 1800’s. We visit the unique Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre, a world class cultural, education and tourist attraction that brings to life the history of the immigrant miners on the Victorian Goldfields in the late 1800’s. After lunch at the Ararat Golf Club we move on to Ballarat for a look around this iconic Gold Town. Last stop of the day is David Glenn's Lambley Nursery and Garden, set around an old farmhouse in the wind swept plains of the central Victorian Goldfields. Lambley's complex of gardens is a must-see for anyone planning a garden in the Australian climate.
OVERNIGHT: RACV Goldfields Resort, Creswick
This morning we head to Ararat, originally founded by a group of Chinese immigrants who discovered one of the world’s richest alluvial goldfields here in the 1800’s. We visit the unique Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre, a world class cultural, education and tourist attraction that brings to life the history of the immigrant miners on the Victorian Goldfields in the late 1800’s. After lunch at the Ararat Golf Club we move on to Ballarat for a look around this iconic Gold Town. Last stop of the day is David Glenn's Lambley Nursery and Garden, set around an old farmhouse in the wind swept plains of the central Victorian Goldfields. Lambley's complex of gardens is a must-see for anyone planning a garden in the Australian climate.
OVERNIGHT: RACV Goldfields Resort, Creswick
DAY 6: Sunday 27th December, 2020
CRESWICK TO HOME
This morning we visit the Creswick Woollen Mill. With over 65 years of history to draw upon, it’s now the only remaining Woollen Coloured Spinning Mill of its type left in Australia. Continuing on we head up to Mt Macedon. Here we visit the Forest Glade Garden where we have plenty of time to look around. The original garden is over 100 years old. It now covers about 12 acres including 2 aviaries, a magnificent laburnum arch, a peony walk highlighted with climbing roses together with numerous pergolas, fountains, ponds and statues. After time for a wander we head for lunch at Top of the Range Tea Rooms. This afternoon we continue home, where as always, our chauffeurs will be waiting to take us straight to our very door – a delightful way to finish our time away and all part of the great O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours service!
This morning we visit the Creswick Woollen Mill. With over 65 years of history to draw upon, it’s now the only remaining Woollen Coloured Spinning Mill of its type left in Australia. Continuing on we head up to Mt Macedon. Here we visit the Forest Glade Garden where we have plenty of time to look around. The original garden is over 100 years old. It now covers about 12 acres including 2 aviaries, a magnificent laburnum arch, a peony walk highlighted with climbing roses together with numerous pergolas, fountains, ponds and statues. After time for a wander we head for lunch at Top of the Range Tea Rooms. This afternoon we continue home, where as always, our chauffeurs will be waiting to take us straight to our very door – a delightful way to finish our time away and all part of the great O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours service!
"A stylish provincial city located at the centre of Victoria’s southwest, Hamilton offers a variety of experiences for visitors"
From the Visit Grampians website
CONDITIONS OF TRAVEL
These terms and conditions form the basis of the contract between You and O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours (O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours “We”, “Us”, or ”Our” contract). It is important that You read these terms and conditions carefully and that you understand your rights and obligations. By agreeing to participate in a tour arranged by Us, You are deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions in full.
Any special requests, dietary/personal must be notified to Our office at the time of booking. All efforts will be made to accommodate any special requests. It is your responsibility to advise O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours of any pre-existing medical conditions that may affect your ability to participate on the tour.
No passenger will be permitted to embark on or continue the tour while their physical or mental condition is, in the opinion of any representative of O’Shannessy’s Quality tours, such as to render them incapable of caring for themselves, or whereby they become objectionable to other passengers or they become a hazard to themselves or other passengers. Whilst on tour with O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours should a passenger require medical attention, discharge papers must be provided to a representative of O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours before you are able to re-join the tour.
O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours has a passenger code of conduct. O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours representatives/crew or any associated carrier, reserves the right at its discretion to exclude from a tour or to terminate the travel arrangements of any person during the course of the tour without refund, of anyone who:
- Presents on the day of the tour departure as ill or unwell in any way, including but not limited to: cough, runny nose, sneezing, vomiting or temperature above 37.5 deg C
- Resides in an Australian suburb, which is the subject of a lockdown order by Your state government, Your request to book on one of Our tours may be denied
- Is incapable of caring for themselves without a minder/carer
- Is unable to cope with the requirements of the tour or who may need or require services or facilities that are not available
- Fails to comply with the reasonable instructions of O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours crew
- Engages in undesirable behaviour or interferes with the enjoyment of other passengers
- Is a hazard to themselves or other passengers and/or is likely to become objectionable to other passengers, O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours staff and or third party suppliers
If you are bringing a mobile device on tour, for the safety of all passengers and crew, we highly recommend that the Official Government COVIDSafe App is downloaded.
You must notify our office if you have returned from overseas in the last 21 days or if you have been in contact with anyone who has returned from overseas in the last 21 days.
This is NOT a complete list of O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours Conditions of Travel. A complete list will be provided upon invoice, alternatively they are available via the below link.
PAYMENT AND CANCELLATION POLICY
Balance due on invoice approximately 30 days prior to departure.
Deposit is fully refundable until 31 days prior to departure date.
Prices include GST and all taxes.
Cancellation 30 to 8 days before tour departure date, 20% Refund of Tour Cost
Cancellation within 7 days of tour departure date, No Refund
On or after tour date departure, No Refund
Travel Insurance is not compulsory, however we highly recommended you take out comprehensive travel insurance with a reputable insurer at the time you pay for your tour.