Australian Destinations Guide
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City/town destinations:Sydney: superb setting, vibrant and dynamic yet still laid back, with excellent shops, restaurants, beaches and action galore, Sydney is Australia's capital in all but name. See Sydney pictures
Tropical, lively Cairns, tourist destination #2 in Australia. Cairns:
tourism central, meeting point, superb salt-water swimming lagoon and party town. It 's a primary stop off to the Great
Barrier Reef - though GBR is not exactly close and pretty
well-worn around there - Kuranda, Daintree Tropical
Rainforest and Atherton Tablelands.
Some of the remaining Twelve Apostles, Great Ocean Road, not far from Melbourne.
Melbourne: less sunshine than other cities, but Melbourne is a city of charm, culture and greenery, with some of Australia's best restaurants and greatest nightlife. It has good beaches not far away and is gateway to the famed Great Ocean Road and some great hiking areas. See Melbourne pictures and the Great Ocean Road Canberra (the capital city): not many travellers visit this administration centre. The National Galleries are here and some people recommend a visit. Not us.
Adelaide, Hunt St, Australia Adelaide: another possible entry point to the Great Ocean Road [tho there're a few hundred kilometres before GOR starts], Flinders Range [hiking and wildlife] and the Outback, Adelaide is green, spacious and surrounded by mountains, the sea, vineyards and parks. Culture vultures are well catered for with some fine museums, galleries and old Victorian architecture, while nightlife, music and food thrive in the city and a couple of beaches keep the kids busy.
Brisbane's delightful, free lagoon. Brisbane: a relative newcomer to sophistication, the capital of Queensland is a lively city with street cafés, a busy nightlife and regular cultural events. The climate is good, the museums and galleries are superb, the artificial swimming lagoon/beach is fantastic, it's close to both the bush and only an hour from Gold Coast attractions and prime theme parks.
Alice
Springs: authentic Aussie drinking holes, steak houses and
aboriginal cultural offerings in a small modern, and franky speaking, not an interesting or attractive town. Darwin, Northern Territory:
Bars, beaches and markets.
Perth's favourite weekend spot, Rottnest Island.
Perth, Western Australia:
the most isolated city on earth, Perth is a land of skyscrapers,
19th century facades, endless sunshine and sand. Sand for camel
safaris, sand scattered with bizarre pinnacles and coastal sand
for propping up surfboards - the city has nineteen beaches. Hobart, Tasmania island: Tasmania's capital is a small, green, riverside city with a mountain backdrop. There's a pleasant harbour area where cafes congregate and the eclectic and popular Salamanca Market appears on Saturdays. 2
weeks: 3
weeks: 4/5
weeks:
A Tasmanian Devil growls welcome in Adelaide's Cleland Wildlife Park. Best non-city destinations:-
East
Coast: Sun, sea, surf in abundance, but also great rainforest
and outback walks and scuba or snorkelling on the GBR [see below]. -
Blue Mountains: panoramic vistas suspended in a blue haze
with stunning rock formations, waterfalls and lookouts.
The Great Barrier Reef off Cairns. -
Great
Barrier Reef: 18 million years old and stretching for
2,300km this fragile, natural wonder is a major snorkelling, scuba
and glassbottom boat experience, tho' not as impressive as it sounds as the water is often murky and the reef itself is more about quantity than quality - in this over-dived area near Cairns anyway. Serious scuba-doobies should head elsewhere, further north being highly recommended.
Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Islands.
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Whitsunday Islands: A group of 74 pine-clad islands ideal
for sailing through clear, turquoise waters; Airlie
Beachstarting point is well set up for travellers with lots
of competitive cruises and a sensational salt-water lagoon [better
than Cairns].
Fraser Island's Lake McKenzie. - Fraser Island: this World Heritage site is the largest sand island in the world, with pristine freshwater lakes, turtles, giant lizards, rainforest, creeks, dunes and beaches; ideal for camping and trekking and lake swimming, but sea swimming may invite unwelcome attention from numerous uglies. Accessed mainly from Hervey Bay, but also Rainbow Beach and Noosa.
One of many oversize promotional signs in Australia. This is in Daintree. - Daintree Rainforest: from clichéd tours with a backdrop of Enigma music to profound natural travel in this ancient wilderness. Enter via Cairns or Port Douglas. - Uluru and surrounds: The enigmatic and stunning red rock in the Red Centre [1-2 days minimum required], Uluru [previously known as Ayers Rock] is smack in the middle of the wizard land of Oz, with excellent hiking but needs an expensive flight [via Alice Springs] or lots of time to get there, and flies can be a total eye-sucking nightmare. Not far away are more red rocks, The Olgas. - Kakadu National Park: Crocodile Dundee territory, an immense terrain of canyons, wetlands, birds, animals, bloody great crocs and Aboriginal rock art. 150kms [100mls] east of Darwin in north-west Australia. - Kimberley: the ultimate Australian wilderness if the regular outback is not tough or empty enough for you. This 'last frontier', magnificent and unforgiving tablelands and forests is usually accessed via Broome.
The Olgas, near Uluru, Red Centre. - Western Australia: offers fantastic beaches on 3,000 km of pristine Indian Ocean coast - dive Ningaloo Reef, try Cockatoo Island and Margaret River; The Pinnacles desert featuring stunning limestone pillars; Monkey Mia in Shark Bay for swimming with wild dolphins and to spot dugongs, whales and turtles; Esperance to see a pink lake, seals and penguins in Woody Island wildlife sanctuary; finally, view the striking blue ocean meeting the red desert at Broome on the edge of this final frontier. Perth is the entry point for all this excitement. |
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