Botanical Wonders of Tropical North Queensland

Arrive into Cairns where you will be transferred to your hotel for a Welcome Dinner to meet your fellow travellers. Stay: Cairns, Crystalbrook Flynn Hotel or similar (D)

This morning we will visit the Cairns Botanic Garden, including the new Flecker Gardens, which has an amazing display of tropical plants, including the giant Titan Arum, or Corpse Flower. You will also have time to stroll through a pandanus wetland to the Centenary Lakes and the Chinese Friendship Garden. We will then visit the superb Limberlost Nursery for lunch, with time to wander their collection of plants, before visiting a beautiful private garden. We will then board our ship, our home for the next eight nights. Settle into your cabin before enjoying a Welcome Dinner, as we set sail towards remote Willis Island. Stay Eight Nights: MS Caledonian Sky (B/D)

This morning, enjoy a lecture by your Botanical Guide on the plant life of Far North Queensland.

After a morning at sea, arrive at Willis Island, located just beyond the Great Barrier Reef and the only permanently inhabited island in the Coral Sea. Learn about the Australian Bureau of Meteorology weather monitoring station, which is housed on the island. Established in 1921, the station is equipped with a radio transmitter which provides an early warning service for cyclones heading toward Queensland. View the birdlife of the island including wedge-tailed shearwaters, sooty terns and common and black noddies, as well as some species of boobies. (B/L/D)

Cruise overnight to South Direction Island. Here, board Zodiacs and go ashore to walk the island's sandy beaches, or swim or snorkel on the reefs.

After a short walking tour with the expedition team and Botanical Guide, enjoy a drink as you watch the sunset. The ship will then head for Lizard Island. (B/L/D)

Enjoy a full day to explore private Lizard Island. Like many of the other offshore islands, it has distinct vegetation. Ocean-borne seeds here, such as coconuts and pandanus, grow into thickets, attracting nesting birds, which, in turn, produce more seeds. Spend today getting active, or simply relax. For the fitter walkers, perhaps make an early start on the Cook's Look walk. After about 90 minutes, reach 350 metres above sea level to enjoy the view Captain Cook had while he was searching for a way to navigate his ship through a maze of reefs. Alternatively, enjoy a medium-grade nature and history walk led by expedition staff.

Afterwards, visit the Australian Research Museum, a world-renowned marine research station working on reef recovery efforts. (B/L/D)

This morning, enjoy a lecture by your Botanical Guide on the vegetation of the Torres Straight Islands, including the agricultural methods employed by the Torres Strait people. Then jump aboard Zodiacs to visit Restoration Island, named by Captain William Bligh when he landed here in 1789 aboard his 17-foot boat during his epic journey following the famous mutiny on the Bounty. The landscape features granite boulders, closed scrub, open paperbark scrub and wind-sheared heath, and is home to David Glasheen, a former mining tycoon, who, after losing his fortune during the 1987 stock market crash, decided to live a solitary existence on the island.

Then cruise to the Piper Islands, a group of vegetated cays, home to the largest breeding population of the Black Noddy in Queensland, as well as an important nesting area for the vulnerable hawksbill turtle. The area also has a population of dugongs. (B/L/D)

At Thursday Island, learn of the history and culture of the Torres Strait people. The Torres Straight Islanders are great agriculturists and have lived here for at least 1000 years. They grow a wide range of vegetables and herbs, which are used in dishes characteristic of the region. We will visit a village garden before exploring the Gab Titui Cultural Centre to learn more about the island. You will then cruise to the tip of Australia, setting foot on its northernmost point, Cape York. Here is the perfect place to watch the sunset with a glass of bubbly in hand. (B/L/D)

This morning, enjoy a lecture by our Botanical Guide on the life and work of Sir Joseph Banks, who explored the region in 1770 aboard the Endeavour, documenting the botany of the area.

This afternoon, spend time on Davie Reef and get up close to its coral gardens while swimming and snorkelling off Davie Cay. Here you can spot barracuda swimming around the reef's edges. You'll also feast your eyes on the technicolour wonderland of the coral sites, where colourful parrot fish, blue and yellow fusiliers, neon wrasses and clownfish swim. (B/L/D)

Discover historic Cooktown, which dates to the 1870s. Walk in the footsteps of botanist Joseph Banks, who spent a number of weeks in the area while the Endeavour was being repaired. During this time he collected 141 species of plant life, which were recorded by botanical artist, Sydney Parkinson. Here we will visit the botanical gardens, which feature an incredible array of plants native to the region. We will also visit the Vera Scarth-Johnson Art Gallery. A well-known artist, collector and avid conservationist, Scarth-Johnson graphically recorded the flowering plants of this region. The gallery also houses a collection of Banks Florilegium botanical engravings, which display plants collected by Joseph Banks at the Endeavour River.

We will also visit James Cook Museum, where you will find original artefacts from the HMB Endeavour and learn of the story of Cook's landing from an Indigenous perspective. Afterwards, head up to Grassy Hill with a local guide, and take in the view of the Coral Sea and Endeavour River, where Cook and Banks first saw a kangaroo. Tonight we enjoy a Farewell Dinner. (B/L/D)

After breakfast, disembark in Cairns and transfer to the airport for your flight home. (B)