We wrap up winter in the August edition of ‘Have You Heard Y.E.T?!’

Welcome to the August edition of ‘Have you Heard Y.E.T?!’

This month features tour highlights from the tail end of our Melbourne Winter and our experience of the month is Shore Excursions. We’re also sharing news of some new certifications we’ve earned, we ask you to keep your fingers crossed for us, and we explore Kylie Rees’ bucket list.

What’s happening at Your Exclusive Tours?

It is hard to believe that August is nearly over and Father’s Day is this weekend. It has been either feast or famine with our various private tours across the month with little or no consistency of a trend. Our lead time from enquiry to booking to touring has been as little as 4 hours to 90 days, and longer in some cases. 

Furthermore, Melbourne is living up to its famous four seasons in one day, and each of our tours has experienced days like these. I personally believe the best touring days are when we experience a combination of these four seasons in one day, as they change the landscape, vistas, environment, and light, capturing some amazing photographic memories.

Some of our highlights included:

The day started out as cold and overcast along the Great Ocean Road. As the day progressed the sun broke through the cloud to take the chill off the temperature and produced a magical sunset at the 12 Apostles.

A celebration of Christmas in July in the Yarra Valley for this business networking group. It certainly was a wet day and cold day with guests well rugged up whilst wearing their best Christmas attire.

Y.E.T gains Quality Tourism and Sustainable Tourism Certifications

This month YET was officially granted the Victorian Tourism Industry Council (VTIC)’s Quality Tourism and Sustainable Tourism Certifications. We are very proud to have received both certifications – it’s a testament to the way we choose to operate YET, especially because it’s no easy feat for a company that runs vehicles to operate in a sustainable fashion!

YET enters the Victorian Tourism Awards

The YET team have been hard at work over the last few weeks preparing our entry into the 2024 Victorian Tourism Awards. Crafting the award response has provided us with the opportunity to truly analyse what we do and how we do it and writing our company history showed us how far we’ve come from our initial “Wouldn’t it be great if….” conversations around the dining table, when YET was nothing but an idea, up to where we are today. 

The Victorian finalists are announced in October of this year, with the gala dinner in November – keep your fingers crossed for us!

Review of the Month

This month’s feature review is from Travel Advisor Sascha McRae. Sasha entrusted her clients to us, booking The Wildlife Adventure to Phillip Island experience and as you can see, her guests had a great day with us. Thankyou Sasha for sharing the feedback they sent. .

Experience of the Month – Shore Excursions

When people picture the Great Ocean Road, it’s generally like this – warm weather, cracking sunshine and hats, shorts and sunnies on!

Our Shore Excursion experience allows guests on short stays to explore the best of Melbourne, whether their wish is to:

• Visit Melbourne’s famous sights and sounds
• Visit friends and family
• Go shopping in the Melbourne’s retail precincts
• Eat at any of Melbourne’s leading restaurants
• Experience one of our many exhibitions at National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, Australian Centre for Moving Images, or Melbourne Museum.
• Explore Melbourne Gardens

We show the best of Melbourne’s City & Surrounds, or we can also take you further afield, including:

• Sampling an array of wines in either the Yarra Valley or on the Mornington Peninsula at award winning wineries, or even a gin, rum, and/or whiskey.
• Meeting some of our iconic wildlife from Koalas to Kangaroos, Wombats to Dingoes, Kookaburras to Owls, and if you are brave enough, a Snake!
• Taking a ride on Victoria’s own Puffing Billy Railway through the lush and beautiful Dandenong Ranges.

Some of our favourite Shore Excursions include:

• Melbourne Sights & Surrounds
• Wildlife and Wine / Distillery Private Experience 
• On Demand Concierge services – creating fully customised experiences for our cruise ship guests 

Guests can immerse themselves in a Shore Excursion whilst their Chauffeur Guide shares the history, adventures, tales & stories of destinations.

If you, or one of your clients, is cruising into Melbourne this summer, why not let us create a Shore Excursion experience that won’t be forgotten.

Bucket List Destinations

Last month we launched our new ‘getting to know you’ segment with Bucket List Destinations, starting with Rob Rees. This month we’re looking into Kylie’s bucket list – where would she go if money, time and logistics were no barrier?

1. What is your YET bucket list destination / experience and why?
   My Favorite YET bucket list destination is the amazing Yarra Valley.  With all the amazing food and outdoor activities, there is something special about this destination.  You can start with a fantastic hot air balloon ride, taste some fabulous food and wine, go for a beautiful walk in the forest and end your day with chocolate.  What more can anyone want???

2. What is your personal bucket list destination / experience? 
   As someone who as always loved horses and currently owns a Thoroughbred, I could think of anything more fun than doing a cattle drive in Montana (US). Beautiful views and area…. what more could a girl like?

Stay tuned for more news in our next edition of ‘Have you heard Y.E.T?!’ where we feature MAPS team member Sarah, and in the meantime, if you haven’t yet subscribed, you can do so here: