From surprise phone call to European adventure: Meet the winner of Avalon’s Rhine cruise giveaway

When Tracey Walker noticed a missed call from the River Cruise Collective, she almost ignored it. After all, it was the day of the nationwide Telstra outage, and the voicemail hadn’t come through immediately. By the time she finally listened to the message, she had no idea it would lead to the holiday of a lifetime.

“I don’t win things… certainly not to this extent,” she said.

“So when Andrew from River Cruise Collective called me and said, ‘You’re our lucky winner,’ I actually thought it was a marketing call. I just went blank.”

In fact, Tracey is the winner of the River Cruise Collective‘s latest competition with Avalon Waterways. She will be embarking on an eight-day Romantic Rhine river cruise for two, valued at more than $19,000.

The prize includes return economy flights from Australia, an eight-day cruise aboard Avalon Vista, airport transfers, all onboard dining, regional wine and beer with meals, daily Happy Hour, a choice of included shore excursions, gratuities and port charges.

For Tracey and her husband, Leigh, the prize represents far more than a luxury holiday. It marks a return to Europe four decades after Tracey first visited the continent as a backpacker in her early twenties.

“I was a poor backpacker back then,” she laughed. “I never imagined it would be another 40 years before I’d go back.”

Like many Australians, life had other plans. “In recent years it’s been kids, mortgages and everything else that comes with raising a family. We’ve travelled to Fiji, Bali and Singapore, but we never ventured any further.”

Now, after 30 years of raising their family, Tracey and Leigh have recently become empty nesters, making the timing feel especially meaningful. Leigh, who works in sales, was the very first person she told after receiving the news.

“Coincidentally, we’d already booked long service leave in November for a road trip around Tasmania,” she said. “That’s been put on hold now.” Instead, the couple will be swapping Australian highways for the castles, vineyards and riverside villages of the Rhine.

Although neither has experienced a river cruise before, Tracey admits they’re already dreaming about what’s ahead.

“We’re probably going to be fish out of water,” she said. “We’re certainly not used to luxury on that scale.”

After exploring the itinerary and included excursions, the pair are already leaning towards the more active experiences. “We’ve had a look through the excursions and we’re thinking the hikes will really suit us. Everything is going to be brand new.”

They’re equally excited about spending time onboard Avalon Vista, with its spacious Panorama Suites and panoramic views that have become a hallmark of Avalon Waterways’ European fleet. “We’re going to be spoiled in the cabin,” Tracey said, especially after hearing how the Avalon cabins are configured to have the beds facing the windows.

While Tracey admits she’s not much of a wine drinker herself, she expects Leigh will happily sample the Rhine’s famous reds. “I’m more of an occasional cocktail person,” she laughed.

For now, however, the couple are still coming to terms with their incredible luck. “We actually haven’t told anyone yet,” she said. “It only happened yesterday and we’ve been cautious because we still can’t quite believe it’s real.”

It wasn’t until another follow-up call from the Cruise Passenger team that the reality of their prize finally began to sink in.

“That was when it started to feel real,” she said. “A holiday on this scale is something we never would have been able to do ourselves.”

Come November, instead of winding their way around Tasmania by car, Tracey and Leigh will be sailing one of Europe’s most iconic rivers, creating memories on a journey neither of them ever expected. And for Tracey, the unexpected phone call that almost slipped through the cracks of a telecommunications outage has become something she’ll never forget.