Fly, coach, cruise rail and stay South America and Galapagos

Cruise to the Galapagos Islands on the yacht La Pinta.

A truly rare 19-night fly, coach, cruise, rail and stay package to South America and the Galapagos Islands in April of next year has an almost regal touch to it – the just-40 Australians who’ll participate in this tour will have the personal services during a private five-star yacht visit to Galapagos of the guide chosen to escort a British royal there several years ago.

Created by founder and chairman of ecruising.travel, Brett Dudley and his wife Philippa who will jointly lead the tour, it features 12-nights fully-escorted private-coach touring in Chile, Peru and Ecuador with an English-speaking guide, seven-nights private-charter on the yacht La Pinta to Galapagos with all onboard meals, drinks with dinner, daily lectures and briefings, plus sea kayaking, Zodiacs, glass bottom boats, snorkelling, a stargazing program – and  that British royal’s one-time personal guide, Francisco 'Pancho' Dousdebes.

And the visit to Galapagos will coincide with the annual frenetic breeding season of one of the world’s greatest single gatherings of bird- and sea-life.

The package also includes a full-day’s wine-tasting tour on Chile’s Cachapoal Wine Route, and a two-day visit to Machu Picchu aboard the luxury Hiram Bingham Deluxe Train with private English-speaking guides; there is also a day trip to Valparaiso and luxury hotels are used throughout.

The whole 19-nights is priced from $13,399pp twin-share from Sydney on March 31 next year; for a fully-detailed 11-page itinerary and inclusions phone 1300 369 848 or visit www.ecruising.travel

An optional 4-nights to Easter Island is available at extra cost on the way home.

-David Ellis

'Crookie' is a true veteran in the travel media game

The longest-running contributor to our weekly travel radio show, John Crook (better known as ‘Crookie’) is a veteran of Australian radio and television, most prominently, for many years as the presenter of a morning TV chat show on what was then Channel 0 in Brisbane. He also produced a popular and long-running travel series on Australian television as well as Sky TV in Europe. Now living in Geelong, Victoria, he still roams Australia and the rest of the world in his quest for interviews for our show ATW Travel Radio Australia. John also hosts brief daily travel segments on the TAB radio network throughout Eastern Australia. John is also a member of the International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association. You can hear 'Crookie' on www.travelradioaustralia.com

Beautiful Ballina is a sentimental favourite

When my children were young, we often drove across the Queensland/NSW border for a weekend stay at one of the many motels in Ballina (northern NSW). It's been a few years since the last visit, so my partner and I made the journey last weekend, purely for sentimental sake!

First impression was the improvement of the highway - what used to be a three hour trek, now took us just under two. It's a quality stretch of freeway virtually all the way - bypassing the Gold Coast, Murwillumbah, Brunswick Heads and, when the works are complete, also Ballina.

Our abode for Saturday night was the three year old Ramada Hotel & Suites centrally located in the downtown area and right on the river's edge. As usual, we booked our accommodation at bargain rates through HotelClub and we weren't disappointed.

We were provided with a one bedroom riverview apartment on the fourth floor offering great views and extreme comfort. Not one, but, count them, yes two LCD screens to keep us entertained whilst Tiger Woods was hitting the greens at Melbourne for our viewing delight. The second screen was conveniently wall mounted opposite the queen bed....nice touch!

The Ramada is fairly stark in its decoration..it's decidedly minimalistic in design...but who cares about character...we prefer comfort, cleanliness and convenience over that attribute. The Ramada certainly scored in those areas.

Just up the road is an old favourite, the Ballina RSL Club. It was always a great place to hang out with a great open plan bistro area overlooking the river. Since our last visit the club has been overhauled very tastefully and the big open plan area is still a highlight.

On Sunday morning, after checking out and enjoying a gourmet breakfast at a nearby cafe, we drove to Byron Bay, another town we haven't visited for a number of years.

Every time we call at Byron Bay more disappointment sets in. Inner town parking is limited to one hour (except for an overcrowded paid car park) and strictly controlled by an ever present parking officer with chalk ready in hand. Luckily the shopping in Byron Bay isn't spectacular, so an hour was just enough for a browse and another coffee break.

The other big attraction ...visitng the lighthouse on Australia's most easterly point was another disappointment. It costs $7.00 just to park your car within walking distance of the lighthouse precinct. Talk about a rip-off!

Maybe some of that ill-gotten parking money could be spent on upgrading the one way access road - it looks like it hasn't been touched since the last time I travelled on it! After many decades it still ranks in the 'goat track' category.

So here's the summary...Ballina is still great. It's good for family holidays with an always beautiful river, good beaches nearby and still keeping that country town feeling. Byron Bay is a tourist hot spot, that doesn't really deserve to be. Sure it's got good surfing beaches (if you can find a spare spot on them on the weekends) but the town centre is over-rated and best avoided (mainly thanks to a backward thinking local council which appears to grossly dislike progress of any type)!

-Ren Zwiers