PRE-CRUISE DAY 5: SUNDAY, APRIL 16 — SIDING SPRING OBSERVATORY: 9am – Noon

Wake up in Coonabarabran to the sound of parrots and kookaburras. We’ll have a simple country breakfast, and head into Warrumbungle National Park. We head through eucalypt forests, past the world’s largest Solar System Drive to Siding Spring Observatory, Australia’s premier optical astronomy center atop Mt. Woorut. Get the scoop on cutting edge tools and exploration at the AAO with an exclusive briefing, and visit some of the dozen other observatories on site.

We’re off, then, through New South Wales’ “New England” region, headed to Tamworth and our transfer to Perth, where we’ll board our cruise the next day.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided.

THE DAY’S ITINERARY

• Wake up in Coonabarabran
• Breakfast, 7am
• Check-out/leave hotel, 8:30am
• Arrive Siding Springs, 9am
• Depart Siding Springs, Noon
• Sandwiches on bus
• Arrive Tamworth Airport, 3:30pm
• Depart for Perth, 5pm
• Arrive Perth, 8pm
• Check into hotel and we’ll enjoy a late dinner in our pre-cruise hotel