{"id":1863,"date":"2010-02-10T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-10T07:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/?p=1863"},"modified":"2010-02-10T07:20:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-10T07:20:00","slug":"australians-across-the-great-war-anzac-day-2010-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2010\/02\/australians-across-the-great-war-anzac-day-2010-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Australians Across the Great War \u2013 Anzac Day 2010 Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With interest in Australia\u2019s wartime history at the forefront following the discovery of the Centaur hospital ship and the reburial of the Australian dead in a new Commonwealth war cemetery at Fromelles in northern France, specialist French travel agency France @ Leisure and Tour Escort Kieran McCarthy are pleased to offer a boutique tour to France to retrace the steps our Australian soldiers took in The Great War.<\/p>\n

Following the highly acclaimed maiden tour in 2009, Brisbane family lawyer and military history aficionado, Kieran McCarthy and France @ Leisure\u2019s Christian Blondeau once again take to the battlefields of France to retrace and commemorate Australia\u2019s invaluable contributions in WW1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn no other theatre or conflict have Australians played such a decisive role, yet paid such a harrowing price, as on the Great War battlefields of The Somme and Flanders,\u201d Tour Escort, Kieran McCarthy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCulminating in the 2010 Anzac Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux, this tour will retrace the steps of nearly 300,000 Australians \u2013 the ordinary and extraordinary, who answered a young country\u2019s call to the colours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will visit places redolent of a \u2018distant grief\u2019 \u2013 Fromelles, Pozieres, Polygon Wood, Bullecourt \u2013 and those synonymous with the long march to victory \u2013 V.B., Le Hamel and Mont St Quentin.\u201d<\/p>\n

A boutique tour such as this provides the opportunity for travelers to tailor their trip to include personal experiences such as visits to the graves of family members.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn last year\u2019s tour, we watched as the granddaughters of one digger walked the road between two villages where the man met his end from strafing German planes, and later visited his grave at Villers-Bretonneux,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also visited the grave of a young doctor who had done his training at the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital Brisbane prior to the onset of the war. His great nephew, a Brisbane solicitor, was the first member of the doctor\u2019s family to visit his grave \u2013 93 years after his death when a shell hit his Regimental Aid Post.\u201d <\/p>\n

It is these special moments that McCarthy believes sets the France @ Leisure Anzac Day 2010 tour apart from the more mainstream travel package offerings.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year at Queant Road Cemetery, near Bullecourt, we read tributes prepared by the school children of St Joseph\u2019s Bardon, in memory of the dead of the 14th Battalion \u2013 \u201cJacka\u2019s Mob\u201d. For many this was the most moving experience of all,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n

There is an additional option available this year for an extension tour to the Normandy beaches of WWII. <\/p>\n

It was McCarthy\u2019s voracious passion for military history that formed the partnership with long time acquaintance, Christian Blondeau of France @ Leisure.<\/p>\n

\u201cKieran has travelled with us through France @ Leisure and in the course our continued association I began to realise what an incredible guide he would make,\u201d Blondeau said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see that his specialised knowledge and enthusiasm, which had taken him to the Somme, Flanders and beyond well before our first tour, coincided well with my commitment to providing highly personalised and boutique service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blondeau established France @ Leisure, Queensland\u2019s first and only accredited travel agency specialising in French travel for Queensland. As a native of France, Christian has been committed to giving Queensland travellers experiences of France unique to his local contacts around the country and his emphasis on personalised, blue-chip service.<\/p>\n

TOUR DETAILS:<\/p>\n

Tour commences in Paris on 22nd April and concludes back in Paris on 29th April. The tour cost is $3,800 per person twin share. Inclusions are accommodation, transport, breakfast, some lunches and dinners.<\/p>\n

Air fares are additional and can be booked through France @ Leisure at group rates (if applicable).<\/p>\n

For more information, visit http:\/\/www.franceatleisure.com or phone 07 3220 2200.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With interest in Australia\u2019s wartime history at the forefront following the discovery of the Centaur hospital ship and the reburial of the Australian dead in a new Commonwealth war cemetery at Fromelles in northern France, specialist French travel agency France @ Leisure and Tour Escort Kieran McCarthy are pleased to offer a boutique tour to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}