AUSTRALASIA SMALL CITIES DESTINATIONS
Australia and New Zealand’s big cities are the natural entrance hubs for first-time visitors, keen to base themselves close to the big-hitting sights of Sydney, Melbourne or Auckland. But for those heading back
to the Antipodes for a repeat visit, it may be worth going farther afield to see some smaller, less-heralded urban delights.
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ALBANY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA The original site of British settlement in Western
Australia, Albany is built around a stupendously beautiful natural harbour, and for a long time, whaling was the main industry. This is explored at the former whaling station – now part of the Discovery Bay museum complex. It pulls no punches about how grim the job was, and does so inventively, with massive oil silos hosting videos and whale skeletons. Presentation is also a strong
point at the National Anzac Centre, which looks at the story of the First World War from an Australian perspective. Then a young and naive country, it joined the war enthusiastically, with thousands of the men sent to their deaths departing from Albany. Now, thankfully, whales are
watched rather than caught, and Albany Whale Tours heads out on whale-spotting cruises between May and October. Book it: Anzcro sells a 10-day South Western Escape coach tour, which stops for two nights
in Albany, visiting the beaches, national parks and wineries of Western Australia’s south west. Prices start at £2,625 per person.
anzcro.co.uk
and historic, but it has turned rather cool in the past few years, spurred largely by the opening of Mona – an uncompromisingly saucy modern art gallery that revels in the shock factor. The city’s historic sites, which include the Penitentiary Chapel, Parliament House and Theatre Royal, come thick and fast, while the Cascade Brewery offers tours and the Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens are great for learning about native flora. There’s also an interesting
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Antarctic heritage here – Roald Amundsen told the world of his successful mission to the South Pole from Hobart – and the Mawson’s Huts Replica Museum delves into what Antarctic exploration was like a century ago. Book it: First Class Holidays has a 10-day Grand Tasman escorted tour, spending three nights in Hobart with a visit to the nearby Port Arthur convict site, starting at £2,495 per person.
fcholidays.com
3 DUNEDIN,
SOUTH ISLAND Dunedin has a strong Victorian look, with
HOBART, TASMANIA The Tasmanian capital has always been pretty
several handsome buildings sculpted out of grey and white stone. The railway station is the most photogenic of these. Other notable oddities include Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world and an absolute thigh-sapping brute to walk up. But Dunedin’s major selling point is as the base for the Otago Peninsula. This is New Zealand’s wildlife-watching capital, and Monarch Cruises offers various packages that include a trip down the peninsula to see birdlife and seabirds, the Royal Albatross Centre where albatrosses roost, and Penguin Place, where yellow-eyed penguins can be seen shuffling around. Book it: Premier Holidays offers a four-day self-drive jaunt around the South Island, which spends two nights at the four-star Quest apartment hotel in Dunedin, from £395.
premierholidays.co.uk
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FREMANTLE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA Enveloped by Greater
Perth, but a city in its own right, Fremantle brims with cafes and historic warehouses turned into microbreweries, indie shops and restaurants focusing on native ingredients. It’s a lovely place to hang out, and Fremantle Tours runs excellent walking and cycling trips that delve into the little spots and street art that the uninitiated might miss. The big-ticket attraction is
Fremantle Prison, a convict-built
Unesco World Heritage Site that remarkably closed as late as 1991. Several tours are available looking at prison life, escape attempts and even venturing into the tunnels deep below the prison. Fremantle is also the closest departure point for Rottnest Island, a car-free idyll with world- class beaches and hundreds of astonishingly cute quokkas to pose for pictures with. Book it: The Hougoumont Hotel, partly made from converted shipping containers, is themed on the last convict ship to arrive in Western Australia, with rooms styled to look like cruise ship cabins. There’s also free wine and cheese each day from 5pm-6pm. If Only offers the property from £65 per person per night.
ifonly.net
a slice of Australian history that most outsiders know nothing about. It sprang to life during the 1850s gold rush, and is regarded as the birthplace of Australian democracy, largely thanks to the Eureka Stockade, where miners died fighting for representation. But the main reason to visit
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Ballarat is Sovereign Hill, an extraordinary recreation of the 1860s mining settlement featuring mine tours, gold panning, gold pours and tradespeople such as wheelwrights and candlemakers. It’s a giant open-air museum,
4 April 2019
travelweekly.co.uk 45
BALLARAT, VICTORIA A 90-minute drive from Melbourne, Ballarat offers
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