GREAT Southern Railway is offering a special tour in March (RIGHT) which retraces the steps of Jeannie Gunn, author of the best selling novel, We of the Never Never. The book recounts Jeannie's journey across the Australian outback and her life at remote Elsey Station, 400km south of Darwin.

Guide Mike Keighley is the only tour guide granted access to this area and enjoys introducing guests to his friends from the Aboriginal community. The tour departs from Sydney on 10 March 2007 and from Adelaide on 11 March and finishes in Darwin on 20 March.

www. trainways. com. au.

Baltic exchange

AER Lingus is to commence direct scheduled flights to Lithuania for the first time with a thrice weekly Dublin to Vilnius service starting in May. Aer Lingus will also commence services to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain from next March operating twice weekly, making it the 14th Spanish destination to be served by the airline.

Having a Canary

SUNWAY has departures from Cork, Shannon, Knock and Dublin to Lanzarote for 13/14 January for seven nights self catering for 299 and half board at the Fariones Hotel for 665.

Book on www. sunway. ie or phone Sunway 01-2886828.

Gulet . . . the best a boat can get

FANCY a sailing holiday in Turkey or Croatia? Budget Travel's 2007 brochure introduces gulet cruising.

Gulets have an experienced crew on board and can accommodate up to 30 guests. They incorporate traditional design with comfortable, motorised sailing. Prices to Turkey start from 484 (includes return flights, seven nights Gulet cruising, meals, accommodation and airport transfers) and to Croatia from 984.

www. budgettravel. ie The west awakes you

FROM 26 February to 1 March Westport's hotels and spas will celebrate personal health and wellbeing with a week of mind and body activities and treatments. For more information visit www. destinationwestport. com.

Looking after Mini-Me

SELF-CATERING specialist Keycamp plans to make family holidays even easier with the launch of Mini World . . . a selection of sites specially tailored for babies and toddlers.

All Mini World sites have a Mini Fun Station and a children's pool and offer supervised play areas, and are suitable for children under the age of three.

Keycamp has 15 Mini World sites across Europe.

For more information visit www. keycamp. ie or call 021-425 2300.

January deals from Falcon

FROM Dublin: Fuerteventura, 13 January, seven nights, from 310pp.

Egypt, 18 January, 14 nights, B&B, from 589pp. Flight only Egypt, 18 January seven nights, 409pp. For more information visit www. falconholidays. ie.

Diddley och-aye

GLASGOW'S Celtic Connections Festival celebrates the connections that can be made through traditional music. This event is not only recognised as the premier Celtic music festival in the UK but also as one of the largest winter music festivals of its kind.

Celtic Connections features artists from around the globe alongside the very best Scottish talent. A major event in the folk and world music calendar running from 17 January to 4 February, book your tickets by logging on to www. celticconnections. com.

In association with Abroad magazine and www. abroad. ie