MELBOURNE TO GRIFFITH

Welcome to our tour to the Griffith Spring Festival. With chauffeured pickup from home, we are transferred to meet our O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours coach and crew. This morning we travel north until we arrive in Koonoomoo and visit The Big Strawberry. Anything you can think of that has strawberries in it, they make it here - jams, ice creams, liqueurs, milkshakes - you name it! After enjoying lunch, we cross the Murray River and drive onto Griffith, located in the heart of the Riverina. Row upon row, farm upon farm of oranges, grapes, peaches and other delights boldly announce we have entered one of Australia’s most magnificent food and wine-producing areas. Basing ourselves here we are in for a treat as we spend the next couple of days exploring this bountiful region during a most festive time of year.

OVERNIGHT: Kidman Wayside Inn, GRIFFITH

EXPLORING GRIFFITH

We start our day at the Griffith Visitors Centre for an introduction and then a local specialist joins us on the coach for an entertaining and informative guided tour of Griffith. We’ll get to know the town whose local produce has made them synonymous as the Riverina’s Food Bowl. Be rewarded with interesting tales of the locals who have called this town home. We’ll farewell our guide and head out Catania Fruit Salad Farm. Catania is a family-owned farm producing a variety of fruits and nuts which we can sample on our tour. We’ll learn about how the irrigation system delivers water to the farms and how crops are grown and harvested. After lunch here we’ll make our way to see one of the Festival’s large expansive gardens unique to the Griffith region.  Some are set amongst the citrus orchards or the vineyards, others located close to town.  Experience the genuine country hospitality from their local garden owners, who love visitors coming to enjoy their space. We’ll meet so many people who love gardens while supporting local charities along the way. We make our way back to the motel in time to relax a little before re-grouping for dinner at the motel.

OVERNIGHT:  Kidman Wayside Inn, GRIFFITH

SPRING FESTIVAL GARDENS AND CITRUS SCULPURES

During springtime thousands of traveller’s flock to Griffith to view and admire the magnificent Real Juice Company Citrus Sculptures. More than 70 larger than life, 3D sculptures adorn the main street of Griffith. Created using more than 100,000 oranges, 100,000 rubber bands, a dedicated project manager and an army of volunteers these sculptures are most impressive and unique to Australia. Our destination for lunch today is De Bortoli Winery. We’ll be treated to Emeri’s Garden Tour and Wine Tasting Experience where we explore the superb native billabong gardens, and meandering pathways spread over the properties 14 acres followed by a wine tasting and delicious antipasto platter. The remainder of our day will be spent immersing ourselves in more Private Festival Gardens. After a wonderful fun filled day of colour, we make our way back to the motel for dinner.

OVERNIGHT:  Kidman Wayside Inn, GRIFFITH

MORE OF GRIFFITH AND SURROUNGS

Following breakfast, we head directly to Pioneer Park Museum where we step back in time exploring some 40 historic buildings set amongst picturesque bushland. We’ll meet a dedicated team of volunteers passionate about preserving the history of Griffith and its surrounds. Late morning, we leave the park for lunch at Rivadestra Café. This afternoon, we take a drive to Whitton where we visit Southern Cotton for a cotton gin tour. This is an informative and engaging tour designed to educate us on the local cotton industry, as well as the cotton ginning process. From when the bales are brought in, cleaned and packed ready to ship out, Southern Cotton’s specially-built observation walkways allow us to witness these stages first-hand in a safe environment. We’ll head back to Griffith late afternoon for our last evening meal together at the motel.

OVERNIGHT: Kidman Wayside Inn, GRIFFITH 

GRIFFITH TO MELBOURNE

After a wonderful 4 night stay, we farewell our hosts and start the journey home. We travel via Hay and the Hay Plains to Deniliquin before crossing back into Victoria. We enjoy lunch in the river port town of Echuca before a leisurely drive back to Melbourne where our chauffeurs will be on hand to take us straight to our door - all part of O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours superior service.