Central America Rainforest jungle visits Trips

Our tour of Costa Rica was amazing! We saw so many animals and plants on our nature walks and boat rides. The people of Costa Rica were so welcoming. Each resort we stayed at got better and better. Best of all was our guide Becky. She was organized and very knowledgeable. Her love of her country was obvious to all. I loved the size of our group, 23. Our tour bus was brand new and had air conditioning, which was a welcome relief from the heat and humidity.

We were looking for a trip that would allow us to maximize our first visit to Australia and the Australian Highlights tour did just that. We were able to tour four popular destinations over 13 days - Melbourne, Uluru, Cairns and Sydney. I must mention that our Tour Director (Christin) was absolutely outstanding. Through her great experience and skill we experienced ZERO issues on our tour. That’s a pretty amazing feat. Our tour started in Melbourne. On our first full day in Melbourne, the Melbourne city tour introduced us to some of the city’s laneways and arcades. Later that day we traveled to Phillip Island to see the penguins returning to their burrows that evening. On our second day in Melbourne, we toured The Great Ocean Road, the world’s largest war memorial, and home to several prominent landmarks, including the Twelve Apostles limestone stack formations. Our next stop was Uluru and Kata Tjunta. June was a great time for our visit. I found Uluru to be spiritual and moving. It is certainly something that must be seen. Kata Tjunta and the surrounding landscape were amazing. The sunsets at these location were truly awe-inspiring. From Uluru, we traveled to Cairns. We spent our first day riding the Scenic Railway to Kuranda and returning on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. The train ride up provided several breathtaking views. Due to a rainy afternoon, the cableway wasn’t as spectacular as we hoped, but still provided some great views. Afterwards, we journeyed to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures where we were introduced to some of Australia’s interesting wildlife. Our second full day in Cairns was spent at the Great Barrier Reef. Though I’m a non-swimmer, I found this tour to be an absolute must. During the boat ride out, we saw a sea turtle on our stop at Green Island before continuing to a purpose-built pontoon. We spent the next several hours observing an amazing array of reef animals. We enjoyed the underwater observatory and the semi-submarine. Watching other guests snorkel and scuba dive was enjoyable. Listening to their observations and reactions, fresh from their activities, was insightful and rewarding. After Cairns, we headed to our final destination - Sydney. On arrival, we stopped by Bondi Beach to learn about the area and take photos. On our first full day in Sydney, we had a very informative tour of the Sydney Opera House. Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious lunch and wonderful views of the city on a Sydney Harbor Lunch Cruise. Our second day in Sydney was filled with a wonderful adventure to the Blue Mountains. Our first stop was the Sydney Zoo with many Australian, Asian and African animals. We stopped for lunch in Leura where we discovered and enjoyed Australian meat pies at Bakehouse on Wentworth. After lunch, we headed to Scenic World. We stopped at several observation points which provided views of the Three Sisters, Orphan Rock, Mt Solitary and Katoomba Falls. At Scenic World, we rode Scenic Skyway, the Scenic Railway (with a thrilling 52 degree incline), walked the Scenic Walkway, and then rode the Scenic Cableway. On our final day in Sydney, we had a guided tour of the Art Gallery of NSW and then a farewell lunch for the tour. Late afternoon, we participated in a pub crawl. We visited 4 of Sydney’s oldest pubs and heard several stories, myths, and legends of the area. Very enjoyable ending to our final day of the tour.

Our tour manager was excellent. She had a great eye for spotting large and small native flora and fauna. We felt like we saw the best of Costa Rica in a little over a week.

It was a most enjoyable trip. Coming back home everyone was anxious waiting to hear about this trip. Costa Rica is a beautiful country, with friendly people, and clean delicious food. Incredibly fortunate I was able to have this experience. The Arenal volcano, the hanging bridges, the beach, it was great!!!

We wanted to see Christ the redeemer, iquazu falls, the gauchos, and machu pichu. This was achieved as well as much good food, Maras salt ponds, Cusco, and many llamas and alpacas.

This was our first Collette tour and there is no reason we would not consider another. Our tour leader was superb and hotels and tours were great. I do not have a favorite experience as everything was varied and enjoyable.