Australia has come a long way since Captain Cook stumbled ashore to find an aboriginal way of life that went back for thousands of years. Even the outdated images of Crocodile Dundee-types swilling beer around the Opera House have long been replaced by a forward-looking attitude embracing Australia’s Pacific Rim location. A growing reputation for first class cuisine and high fashion is notable in this cosmopolitan, twenty-first century metropolis, Sydney.

The high quality of life in the country’s effervescent largest city is enhanced by one of the world’s great harbours, but there is far more to Australia city-wise than just Sydney.

Sydney's big rival, Melbourne, is blessed with a more European ambience, with trams and pavement cafes as much a part of the experience as the buzzing sports and cultural scene, while coastal Darwin, Perth and Brisbane offer other worlds to explore.

Away from the cities, Australia’s stunningly diverse landscape boasts everything from vast, barren deserts, where kangaroo and emu bound through the arid surroundings, to tropical rainforests, rugged mountains and pristine beaches (such as world-class Bondi, Cable Beach and Whitehaven).

There’s the epic monolith of Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Great Barrier Reef, where another undiscovered world opens up beneath the surf, and the Kuranda Tropical Rainforest with lush greenery and a vast array of plant and wildlife. 

With tourist numbers up and interest in Australia never higher, this is the perfect time to discover the real Australia.

Testimonial:  "As with the last two tours arranged by you, I cannot fault anything that was arranged for us; it was exemplary!  Thank you."  Tour Manager

One of the great advantages Australia has over many of its destination rivals is the quality of the infrastructure. The coach companies are fantastic, and none more than Murray’s. They are a large organisation but they are still family run, very efficient and very personal.Rules regarding coach travel are similar to ours where school children must use seat belts. No eating or drinking allowed on board and we only use air conditioned coaches.

Testimonials: "Qantas are easily the best airline I have flown with on internal flights.  The group check-ins work really well and our party are totally block-booked together.  Tour Manager

"We had fantastic drivers in Australia - always willing to give local knowledge about areas we were visiting and recommended places to see and eat.  Very helpful."  Tour Manager

Australia has been a major market for us since we sent Epsom College there in 1987. We send more tours there per year than all our competitors combined. Right from the start, we sought to develop an  excellent collection of fixture contacts in every major sporting area.

Our thinking behind this was quite specific. We recognised  the importance of this sports-mad country especially as we had been arranging (and continue to arrange) a significant number of inbound tours from that country. We wanted to have the very best of local knowledge and contacts who would be in the best positions to provide you, our customers, with the best matched opposition.

Helen Gibney, a native Melbournian, used to work with us in Twickenham in 1994 and has been associated with us ever since.  She now looks after all our business in Victoria.  She was born in the city, went to school and university there and is now married with two young children.  As she is one of nine and very competitive, she might look to have an entire Australian team yet!  Looks after our people extremely well. 

The father and son combination of Ken and Andrew Grover look after our tours in Sydney.  They re both highly professional and we’ve been dealing with them for more than 15 years. They run a similar organisation in Australia to ours in the UK, and arrange more outgoing school sports tours from Australia than any other company. Our reciprocal arrangements are extremely important to both companies.

Another person who is in the same business as us is a very old friend, Warwick Melrose. You may remember him playing for the Aussies in the 80/90’s, and we arranged a gap year for him in the UK when he was coaching here.  It was a perfect fit when he went into the travel business.  Warwick now looks after all our groups travelling to Brisbane.

Testimonials:  "I would recommend all our host schools in Queensland without reservation.  Our fixtures were at the right level and their hospitality was excellent."  Tour Manager

"All our fixtures were fantastic and I would recommend all of them to anyone!  The sports venues were excellently situated and efficiently organised by all".  Tour Manager

Our primary accommodation in Australia is billeting. This is a system which has been particularly well established for very many years because it works extremely well. We have recently found that the tremendous popularity of British and Irish schools who want to visit Australia has put a strain on some resources in Australia to the extent that less experienced tour operators have failed to honour their contractual obligations to their customers. We continue to obtain contracted billets.

When you are in sightseeing locations like Cairns, you will always be accommodated in the best value centrally located accommodation we can find. Invariably, we will have been using this accommodation longer than anybody else.

A classical example is the Cairns Colonial Club. Such is our success with the exceptional operation, our competitors have chosen it as well. It is particularly suitable for school sports tours as it provides the best combination of facilities you could want.

In Sydney we have a choice of several hotels but the Travelodge Wynyard has proved very popular.  Situated in close proximity to all the city has to offer, its location is perfect.  In Melbourne, the Carlton Crest is adjacent to the world renowned Albert Park Lake and its leisure and sporting facilities.  In a few minutes you can walk to the Botanical Garden, and you are not far from the city centre, St. Kilda and Port Phillip Bay.

Australians are proud to serve visitors. It is continually refreshing to have warm, friendly, smiling faces saying "G’Day". It’s the same in restaurants, as well.

Testimonials:  "Our billet hosts in Queensland were both excellent, especially as we arrived late at one due to a delayed flight."  Tour Manager

"Our billet hosts were very efficient with smooth changeovers, and the hospitality provided by them was fantastic at all destinations.  They have amazing homes!."

"Australia has the best range, quality and price of accommodation I have consistently experienced in my travels. Australia is a fantastic combination of brilliant cities, superb sport and exciting attractions." Edwin Doran