By John Rozentals.
Gladstone has welcomed a Mantra hotel to a central business district location with the opening of Mantra Gladstone.
Formerly the Mercure Gladstone, this stylish and modern hotel has won a raft of awards, including the accommodation and resorts category of Gladstone’s Best in Business Awards for five consecutive years.
To strengthen the hotel’s position as Gladstone’s premier hotel, Mantra Gladstone has undergone a number of upgrades and enhancements as part of the rebrand, including transforming 33 of its 60 guestrooms into spacious open plan self-contained apartments — suited to holidaying couples and corporate travellers who are seeking greater space and self-contained amenities.
Mantra Gladstone is ideally located near the CBD and adjoins the Yaralla Sports Club.
The hotel features many amenities, including fitness centre, food and beverage options and the soon to be opened swimming pool, in terms of choice and quality in the region.
To celebrate the launch, Mantra Gladstone is offering overnight stays from $120 per night in a hotel room and from $135 per night in a refurbishment apartment room.
Visit all.accor.com.
Rediscover natural foods, forage in the forest and taste bush-tucker in Central NSW with new food trails, events and farm tours in 2021.
Orange has launched Country Food Trails and The Orange Wild Weekend, Parkes’ Outback Lamb is offering Farm Tours, and Oberon’s Field to Forest Festival in April is a mushroom forager’s delight.
Central NSW is perfect for a foodie road-trip, located two-hours’ drive from Sydney it includes Oberon, Bathurst, Orange, Blayney, Lachlan, Cowra, Canowindra, Grenfell, Parkes and Forbes.
From 9-18 April, Orange’s Food Week is celebrating 30 years as Australia’s longest-running regional food festival with six signature events and over 90 satellite events hosted at local restaurants and cellar doors.
There’s the Sampson Street Lunch with some of Orange’s gastronomic icons, Meet the Producer workshops and a Producer Market and Brunch, across a COVID-safe format.
Visit www.orangefoodweek.com.au.
The Ritz Hotel, Geelong, a heritage-listed building in the heart of the city, which has sat dormant for 40 years, has had an extensive makeover and will open its doors to the public on 1 March.
Formerly known as the Belle-Vue Hotel and built circa 1854, The Ritz has undergone a transformation and will launch with 128 rooms and apartments over nine floors, with views over Geelong’s north facing waterfront and city skyline.
Located a five-minute walk to Eastern Beach, Ritz Hotel Geelong offers visitors a 4.5-star full-service hotel experience with hotel rooms, one and two bedroom self-contained apartments, pet friendly apartments and a 24 hour reception.
All guest rooms are air-conditioned and have LCD TV, free high-speed wi-fi, free cable channels, refrigerator, espresso machine, room safes and laundry facilities.
Visit www.ritzhotelgeelong.com.au.
Cruise Traveller has released a package for August 2022 that pairs free business class flights and hotel stays with an ultra-luxury voyage exploring the wild, rarely visited places and islands along almost the entire Western Australian coastline between Darwin and Perth.
The 19-night fly-stay-and-cruise package with Silversea – ‘Wild Western Australia and the Kimberley’ – offers two departure dates – August 2, 2022, from Darwin to Perth and August 19, 2022, in the other direction from Perth to Darwin.
The centrepiece of each package is a 17-night all-inclusive cruise between Darwin and Perth aboard the luxurious. 144-guest, all-suite expedition ship, Silver Explorer, which offers complimentary adventure excursions, beverages, gourmet cuisine, wifi and personal butler service.
As a special exclusive offer, Cruise Traveller is offering free business class flights across Australia at the start and end of the trip as well as a free hotel stay before and after the cruise for bookings made before this March 15.
The 17-night voyage aboard Silver Explorer features a range of wild, remote and rarely visited places along the WA coast such as the Abrolhos Islands — scene of the infamous Batavia shipwreck in 1629, Dirk Hartog Island, pristine Ningaloo Reef near Exmouth and the birdlife sanctuaries of the Montebello and Lacepedes Islands.
Also featured are the ancient rock engravings in the Dampier Archipelago, the pristine Buccaneer Archipelago where guests can speed on Zodiacs through the gushing tidal phenomenon, Horizontal Falls, the spectacular waterfalls, soaring sea cliffs and abundant wildlife of the World Heritage Kimberley region and Wyndham where a complimentary scenic flight over the breathtaking Bungle Bungle Ranges is offered.
The 19-night ‘Wild Western Australia and the Kimberley’ package is available from A$16,290 per person, twin-share, including business class flights, hotel stays, adventure excursions and onboard beverages.
Visit www.cruisetraveller.com.au.
Woody Island, one of the 105 islands in the Recherche Archipelago located just 15 kilometres off the coast of Esperance, has recently welcomed the addition of four glamping tents to its accommodation offering.
Operated through Woody Island Eco Tours, the four new tents are all individually styled with decking and supreme ocean views of Shearwater Bay, and start from $250 per night.
Other accommodation options on the island include safari huts, furnished tents and camping sites, as well as a kiosk with food, drinks, a fully equipped camp kitchen and equipment for hire.
Guests will enjoy the natural and unique island environment, with opportunities to swim, snorkel, fish, and hike; or simply just relax on the beach.
The town of Esperance is located a 7.5 hour drive south-east from Perth, in WA’s Golden Outback region.
Victory Cruise Lines has launched its 2022 Alaska program featuring its new exploration ship, Ocean Victory, which will offer deep-nature, all-inclusive expedition voyages.
Cruise Traveller is offering savings of up to US$2000 per couple for bookings made by March 31.
The season will feature 14 one-way voyages lasting from 10-12 nights between Vancouver in Canada and Sitka in Alaska between May and September, 2022.
Each voyage will showcase Alaska’s cliff-lined fjords, thundering waterfalls, mighty glaciers soaring peaks, dense fir forests and wildlife such as humpback whales, orcas, dolphins, bear, deer, moose, mink, otters and sea lions.
Only 104m long, weighing just 8500 tonnes and with a shallow draft of 5.1m, Ocean Victory will take guests to a range of more distant destinations in Alaska and British Columbia including Kake, Petersburg, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Misty Fjords, Frederick Sound and Tracy and Endicott Arms.
Fares for a 10-night Alaskan cruise in 2022 are available from US$4516 per person, twin-share, for a stateroom with a French balcony.
Fares include one night pre-cruise hotel stay, all onboard meals, onboard beverages, comprehensive shore excursions, port charges and on-board gratuities.
Visit www.cruisetraveller.com.au.