Olympic sports and sightseeing

By Compiled from staff, wire reports

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 4, 2000

Travel offers to and through Australia are proliferating, as potential visitors consider the continent in advance of the Summer Olympic Games, which begin in late September. Here is a selection of travel opportunities; prices cited are in U.S. dollars:

Cartan Tours, the official Olympic Games ticket agent in the United States, is selling a "Blue Mountains Olympic Special" package that includes round-trip air fare from Los Angeles to Sydney, six nights lodging in a hotel 90 miles from Sydney, and a pre-selected set of Games tickets. The price is $3,349.

If you want to attend the opening ceremony, it will cost an additional $1,054, and the closing ceremony ticket is $1,160.

The company is also selling multiday packages to stay within Sydney or to travel about the country. Apart from these travel packages, Cartan is selling tickets to individual Games events. For information, call the company at (800) 841-1994; the Web site is http://www.cartan.com.

If it's Australia and not the Games that appeals to you, Qantas Airways has six packages for tours ranging from 8 to 14 days. Prices, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles to Sydney, start at $3,389. The trips coincide with the Games, but no tickets are included in these packages. For a brochure or information, call Qantas at (800) 532-6717; the Web site is http://www.qantasvacations.com.

If you've got the time, you can tour Australia by bus. Passes for the McCafferty line, for travel in one direction, include as many stops as the traveler wants, plus sightseeing tours.

Among the routes are an east coast journey between Cairns and Adelaide for $181 and valid for six months. Another six-month deal is $288 and operates through the midsection of the country between Darwin and the southern metropolises.

A one-year "Aussie Kilometre Pass," with rates from $156 to $746, provides for travel throughout the country, including western Australia. Call Goway Travel, (800) 387-8850.

ATS Tours, a member of the respected U.S. Tour Operators Association, is selling a 16-day bus tour that includes air fare from Los Angeles and starts at $2,659. That includes 13 nights' lodging, 21 meals, round-trip air travel between Sydney and Cairns, bus tours of the eastern coast, visits to three islands along the Great Barrier Reef Islands, and a cable car ride above a rain forest.

Discounted add-on fares for other departure cities are available, as are city stopovers, car rental and hot air ballooning. The package is available through August. Contact a travel agent or ATS Tours at (800) 423-2880.

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