BUBBLY REWARD FOR SINGAPORE SHOPPERS

YOUR WEEKLY TRAVEL COLUMN “travellers good buys” DAVID ELLIS

Week beginning 9 July 2007

travel tips: with david ellis

BUBBLY REWARD FOR SINGAPORE SHOPPERS

STAY four-nights in Singapore’s luxury Shangri-la Hotel for a Lion City shopping spree, and back at the hotel when you need to revive with some canapés, a beer, soft drink, a glass of wine or even Moet & Chandon Champagne, all you need do is ask – between 11am and 10.30pm daily it’s all included in the price. Travel Associates is selling this unusual offer until August 31 for travel up to October 31; four nights twin-share costs from $1215pp and includes Welcome Chinese Tea, a fruit bowl, and unlimited beverages including beer, wine and Moet & Chandon; air travel is extra. Phone 1800 044 066 or visit www.travel-associates.com.au

VICTORIA’s Falls Creek is boasting its best early-season snow in years, with the white stuff over a metre deep across the mountain and all fourteen ski lifts now operating. A spokesman described conditions last weekend as “almost perfect” after several days of non-stop snowfalls at what is Victoria’s largest alpine resort. To check conditions and make bookings phone 1800 45 35 25.

REAL adventure awaits on a Dragoman 19-night package from Rio de Janeiro to Salvador (or vice-versa) that also comes with a saving of over $270pp if booked through Adventure World by August 31 for travel until February 2008. The tour travels through the Brazilian Highlands and the Atlantic coast, and goes into Chapada Diamantina, with prices starting from $1543pp including hotel, hostel and camp stays, local guides, Dragoman crew and safari truck, and all camping equipment. A local fee of $630 is also payable on arrival and airfares are additional. Phone 1300 302 591 or visit www.adventureworld.com.au

THIS year’s annual festival that welcomes the arrival of scores of humpback whales to Hervey Bay in Queensland as they escape the Antarctic winter, will also include a Teddy Bears’ Picnic, Blessing of the Fleet and an Illimuninated Street Parade. Flight Centre Hotels has accommodation during the August 10 to 12 Festival from $153 per room per night at the Kondari Resort. Phone 1800 005 125 or check www.flightcentrehotels.com.au

THAILAND’s colourful Koh Phangan Full Moon Party is an annual festival of music, dancing, eating and drinking, with 5-night party packages through Student Flights including twin-share at the Drop Inn Club, breakfasts daily, return transfers from Koh Samui Airport to the pier and ferry to Koh Phangan, and Festival entry. It’s priced from $345pp and on sale to August 31 for travel on August 24, September 22 and October 23; air is additional. The Full Moon Party celebrates the setting of the and the rising of the moon; phone 1800 069 063 or check www.studentflights.com.au

TRUE: Staff aboard legendary QE2 that retires next year after nearly 40 years at sea, say the most often-heard phrase on board is: “He would have wanted me to enjoy myself…”