We begin our far-ranging Ozian jaunt with an afternoon tour of Melbourne, topped off with a visit to one of its beautifully restored theaters—good fun, but just the barest hint of what Mark Twain called Australia’s “surprises and adventures, and incongruities and incredibilities.” An afternoon charter flight takes us to famous Kangaroo Island, southwest from Adelaide at the entrance to the Gulf Saint Vincent. Our day and a half on Kangaroo is an eye-pleaser; the island is rich in wildlife (including, naturally, Australia’s signature koalas, wallabies, and kangaroos, and beach-lolling sea lions). Then we’re off by charter flight across the Great Ocean Road’s coastal majesties to an Outback sheep station, where we’ll enjoy a champagne sundowner with our hosts before embarking on a wombat tour and dinner under the vast starry night of the Southern Hemisphere. After a morning of sheep-stationy activities (Tom, the station’s chief sheep musterer, is a local legend), we fly north to the Flinders Ranges, South Australia’s highest and most beautiful mountains, where we’ll stay in the Prairie Hotel in the little town of Parachilna (official population: seven). And the next day we fly farther north, deep into the Outback, to Coober Pedy, a fascinating old opal-mining town, and the magnificent monolith of Uluru, or Ayers Rock, which rests on the desert sands like the mothership of some extragalactic civilization (which the local Pitjantjapjara and Yangkuntjatjara people essentially thought it was).

Our final taste of the island continent’s incredibilities comes at Cairns, in northern Queensland, where we’ll overnight at a private rain-forest retreat and explosively rich botanical museum before driving to Port Douglas for an excursion to the Great Barrier Reef on a luxurious 12-passenger catamaran for snorkeling, diving, or just basking in the sun as we float above the largest formation ever created by living beings. We return home via Sydney after a day experiencing this great city, including a morning’s sail in its famed harbor.

Day 1: arrive in Melbourne, afternoon at leisure, evening at the theater • Day 2: afternoon charter flight to Kangaroo Island • Day 3: full day on Kangaroo • Day 4: fly via Great Ocean Road to Outback sheep station, dinner under the stars • Day 5: sheep-station life, afternoon charter flight to Flinders Ranges • Day 6: charter flight to Uluru, with lunch at Coober Pedy • Day 7: exploring Uluru with private guide and driver • Day 8: fly to Cairns, drive to private rain-forest retreat, cocktails and dinner with owners • Day 8: catamaran excursion to Great Barrier Reef • Day 10: fly to Sydney, dinner with local friends • Day 11: morning private harbor sail, afternoon at leisure • Day 12: depart Sydney.

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