Your Specialist for German Tours ex Cairns, Australia

Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival - June 2013

Special Tour departing from Cairns - June 2013

Important Note:

Originally, this special tour was designed to cater only for the German speaking travelers. However, having received a number of requests from English speaking persons, we will conduct a tour in English, provided there are a minimum 10 English speaking participants.

Otherwise, the English speaking persons are invited to join the German speaking group for an additional cultural and language experience on a bilingual tour.

Overview

This special tour combines the attendance of the Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival with the experience of the diversity and contrasts of the Atherton Tablelands with lush green rainforest, the dry outback and the special features of a tropical, volcanic, cultural landscape.

The Aboriginal Dance Festival is the premier celebration of Aboriginal culture in Cape York. The Festival is a biennial event celebrating & show-casing the culture of the Aboriginal people of Cape York Peninsula through song, dance ceremony and performance.

The performance and practice of Aboriginal dance & culture at the Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival is a very important element in the preservation & continuance of the unique culture of the region.

Place of Spiritual Significance

The Dance Festival Ground at Laura is the site of a very old traditional Bora ground and is a respected and sacred site to Aboriginal people. It is nestled amongst some of the oldest and most spectacular rock art in the world. Recently the rock art of the area was awarded Queensland Icon status by the National Trust in recognition of its significance to the environmental and cultural landscape.

Experience living Aboriginal Culture

Known as a “meeting” ground for the communities of Cape York, the Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival is highly regarded by many Aboriginal people as a place where families meet new and old family members, make new acquaintances and exchange and pass on family histories. In addition, many descendants of Aboriginal people whose people were removed from the area return every festival to learn of their culture and of their ancestry.

Consequently the Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival is seen as a very important event in cultural retention. The Festival enables the wider community to witness and gain insight into the uniqueness of Aboriginal culture. Festival spectators witness the story telling of Aboriginal culture through dance, language and songs.

Open – Air – Festival in the Australian Outback

As the Festival takes place in the open and far from any significant civilisation and hotels or other types of accommodation, it is only possible to visit the Festival as part of a camping-tour. Although there are improvised sanitary facilities such as toilets and showers provided by the organisers of the Festival, we will have our own toilets and showers for the exclusive use by the participants of our group.

Meals

During the last four days of the tour the food included in the tour price is reduced to a cooked breakfast. However, there are varied opportunities to purchase something along the way. During the Festival there are a large number of food stalls offering different types of food at reasonable prices.

Travel Route from Cairns, Queensland:

Day 1: Cairns – Rainforests, Green Pastures of the Atherton Tablelands and Hot Springs

From Cairns south to Gordonvale, via Gillies Highway climbing 700 m higher to the Atherton Tablelands, Cathedral Fig Tree, Morning tea with the world’s best scones at Lake Barrine Teahouse, volcanic crater lake, Twin Kauri Pines, Lake Eacham with choice of swimming or walking 3 km around the crater lake, township of Yungaburra, Curtain Fig Tree, township of Malanda, Millaa Millaa Falls, Millaa Millaa Lookout, township of Ravenshoe, Millstream Falls. Overnight stay in Innot Hot Springs.

Day 2: Atherton Tablelands – Outback – Dry Open Forest – Historic Towns – Rock Wallabies

On unsealed roads through typical Australian Eucalypt bush land to the “living” museum township of Irvinebank, township of Herberton, Hypipamee Crater, Bromfield Swamp, Lamins Hill and Boonjie Road Lookouts, Nerada tea plantation, Townships of Atherton and Tolga, plantations of peanuts and bananas, termite mounds, overnight stay at the Granite Gorge Nature Park with hand feeding of wild Rock Wallabies.

Day 3: On Outback Roads to Laura

Township of Mareeba with visit of the interesting Heritage Museum and the Italian Maloberti coffee plantation and roasting plant, via Mt Molloy and Lakeland Downs on the Peninsula Development Road to Laura

Day 4 and 5: Attendance of the Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival

2 day Aboriginal dance and culture in the outback of Queensland

Day 6: Laura - Cairns

In the afternoon return to Cairns via Lakeland Downs, Mt Molloy, Port Douglas and the picturesque coastal road.

> Itinerary & photos

	Inclusions:	Experienced speaking Driver/Guide Travel in air-conditioned 20-seater bus Morning- and Afternoon Tea and Lunch on day 1 and 2 5 x cooked breakfast Daily 3 litres of bottled drinking water per person Accommodation in 2-person tents with mattress, sleeping bag and pillow provided Exclusive use of toilets and showers for members of our group Comfortable directors chairs for the Festival Entrance fee Granite Gorge Nature Park Entrance fee Laura Festival Entrance fee museums in Irvinebank and Mareeba Fee for Quinkan Rock Paintings National Park Fees
	Departs:	June 2013 Pick-up from accommodation in Cairns 7.00am Pick-up from Palm Cove 6.30am Return to Cairns approx. 6pm
	Group size:	min. 10 / max. 20 persons per bus with a maximum of 2 buse
	Price:	appox. AUD$ 1250 per adult appox. AUD$ 950 per child (4 – 14 years) Child up to 4 years free of charge appox. AUD$ 100 surcharge for accommodation in single person tent

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