The Enchanted Adventure Garden is a family-friendly park on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. General entry includes access to hedge mazes, giant brain-teaser puzzles, a canopy walk, tube slides, and more. They also offer a “tree surfing” high ropes course, and ziplining. There are attractions here for all ages and abilities.
Widely considered one of the world's top diving sites, the SS Yongala provides a fascinating and colorful array of sea life alongside an interesting history. In March 1911, the SS Yongala sank off Cape Bowling Green, near Townsville, in a cyclone. All 122 people on board died, and the ship settled at a depth of 49–82 feet (15–29 meters).
From movie-themed thrill rides and 4D movie experiences to spectacular stunt shows and star-studded parades featuring everyone from Shrek to Scooby-Doo, Warner Bros. Movie World is one of Australia’s coolest theme parks. Various seasonal events keep it exciting year-round, while the site lives up to its promise of bringing Hollywood to the Gold Coast.
Set amid the rolling vineyards of Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm is a family-owned farm that also grows raspberries, cherries, and blueberries. The farmstead is also home to a cafe that serves decadent strawberry desserts and a gift shop where you can buy jam, ice cream, and freeze-dried fruit.
Rising from the coastline of western Tasmania like soft, shapeshifting mountains, the Henty Dunes comprise a series of wind-sculpted pinnacles with sweeping views of the shoreline. The dunes extend for some 9 miles (15 km along the coast, and the tallest reach heights of nearly 100 feet (30 meters.
With exhibitions focusing on natural history, anthropology, and cultural heritage; the Queensland Museum is a celebration of everything that makes Queensland unique. Fun and engaging for all ages, it’s crammed with interactive exhibitions, while the adjoining Sciencentre offers a hands-on approach to discovering science.
Perth’s principal Anglican cathedral, St. George’s Cathedral was consecrated in 1888 and sits on St. George’s Terrace in the Perth Central Business District (CBD. The red brick and limestone Gothic Revival structure is an architectural heritage landmark as well as an active church that attracts both locals and visitors.
With a maze of mine shafts and tunnels descending to depths of up to 748 feet (228 meters), the Central Deborah Gold Mine is Australia’s deepest underground mine tour. Visit the former gold mine to experience the below-ground world and to gain insight into Australia’s historic gold mining industry.
With more than 150 species from Australia and beyond, Wing's Wildlife Park is a great place to see wildlife up close. Here, you can learn about meerkats, watch Tasmanian devils devour their lunches, feed fish—or wombats—and go on a personalized guided tour led by a ranger.
Located on Australia’s southwest coast, Fitzgerald River National Park is a National Heritage Site and UNESCO biosphere reserve that’s known for its diversity of native plant species that can be found nowhere else in the world. Remote and often overlooked for Australia’s bigger-name attractions, the park is a great place to get off the beaten path.
Completed in 1997, the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) is one of the largest athletic centers in the southern hemisphere. Host of the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2007 FINA World Swimming Championships, the center caters to both serious swimmers and recreational users—it’s home to aquatic facilities ranging from indoor and outdoor Olympic swimming pools to a steam room and sauna, and has other sports facilities as well.
Experience Cairns like a local by visiting Rusty’s Markets, a farmers’ market that’s considered one of the best in Australia. What started in 1975 as a sparse handful of stalls has ballooned into a long-running and beloved weekend marketplace. Every Friday through Sunday, more than 180 vendors gather to sell a range of goods.
Linking Adelaide city center to the historic beachfront suburb of Glenelg, the Glenelg Tram is a relic of a public transport network that once spanned the entire city. Attractive red heritage trams are available for charter and occasionally during special events, but almost all trams that run the scenic route are modern.
With sprawling grounds that include a lake, grotto, children’s garden, fernery, and orchard, the Rippon Lea Estate is a beautiful Victorian enclave, mansion, and farm created by the Sargood family. You can tour the elaborate home, stroll the gardens, have lunch in the tea room, and shop the nursery and gift shop.
As Australia’s biggest waterpark, WhiteWater World boasts more than 140 rides, slides, and attractions. Highlights include the Cave of Waves wave pool; the Pipeline Plunge splash zone; The Rip family raft ride; and The Wedgie, a 5-story power slide that runs along a translucent pipe and barrel.
Melbourne’s Scienceworks is a family-friendly attraction that offers hands-on science and technology activities and live demonstrations. Highlights include the Melbourne Planetarium and the Lightning Room, capable of generating 2 million volts of electricity.
Perched along the wild and rocky south coast of the Wilsons Promontory National Park, this 19th-century lighthouse is a historic landmark and a beacon for ships crossing the Bass Strait. It’s also the southernmost settlement of mainland Australia. Accessible only on foot, you'll take an overnight hike to reach the remote Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse, where spectacular views await.
Jervis Bay National Park, on the South Coast of New South Wales, is a beautiful crescent of white sand and turquoise sea. Visitors come to enjoy a picnic, swim or snorkel, go fishing, walk the coastal tracks, and watch migrating humpback whales in the winter.
If you’re looking for the most popular hike in the Stirling Ranges National Park, look no further than Bluff Knoll. Tackling this rugged peak can be done on a day hike, earning you the bragging rights of scaling the park’s highest mountain, along with sweeping views across the mist-capped mountain range and its wildflower-coated valleys.
Just 7 miles (11 kilometers) from downtown Adelaide, the seaside suburb of Henley Beach offers more than just a long, safe, sandy beach and scenic jetty. Feast at the area’s spectacular seafood restaurants; paddle, swim, or fish at the beach; hike or bike along the coast; or watch the sun set over the Southern Ocean.
Named after the hilltop flagstaff that signaled ships into Melbourne port, Flagstaff Gardens is the city’s oldest park, having been established in 1862. Since it’s just north of the Central Business District (CBD), on a nice day you’ll see plenty of office workers lounging on the lawns during their lunch breaks. And given the park’s prime location next to Queen Victoria Market, it’s easy to have a picnic in one of the city’s favorite green spaces.
Learn about Western Australia’s long and unfortunate history of nautical disasters at the WA Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle. This destructive heritage is illustrated through exhibits with reported accounts and recovered items, including coins and cannons, as well as the remains of the VOC ship Batavia, whose reconstructed stern fills an entire museum gallery.
Whether you’re a die-hard gamer looking to dive into the video game archives or just fancy playing some classic games from your childhood, the Nostalgia Box in West Perth, Western Australia, is your portal to the history of gaming. Featuring game consoles like the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey and Nintendo 64, this part-museum, part-arcade guarantees a good time.
A lush, green, heritage-listed city square dominated by Queensland’s state war memorial, Anzac Square pays tribute to the men and women who have served their country since 1899. The circular, colonnaded, Greek-style Shrine of Remembrance houses an Eternal Flame, while three memorial galleries cover World War I, World War II, and conflicts after 1945.
The Australian National Botanic Gardens reimagines natural environments from around the country in its 86 acres (35 hectares) of former bushland on the lower slopes of Black Mountain. Home to 75,000 plants from more than 6,000 species, it's the world’s most comprehensive display of native Australian plant life.
Pitt Street Mall offers some of the most exciting shopping in Sydney, in a pedestrianized area in the heart of the Central Business District. The retail hub comprises several flagship stores, more than 500 retail spaces, plus an arcade and separate shopping centers—which range from couture and classic fashion to electronics and the latest in athletic wear—all housed in some of the most expensive commercial real estate in Australia.
Launceston City Park, a historic patch of green in the town’s heart, was developed by the local horticultural society in the 1820s. Today, the gardens are a tranquil oasis of European and native trees, with a duck pond, Victorian fountain, conservatory, playground, bandstand, and a Japanese macaque enclosure gifted from Japan.
Founded in 1991, the Justice and Police Museum is dedicated to the history of crime and the underworld in Sydney. Housed in three 19th-century buildings that served as the Water Police Station, Water Police Court, and Police Court, the museum sheds light on the dark and violent side of the city in the mid-to-late 1800s.
Set inside an old heritage-listed psychiatric hospital, the Fremantle Arts Centre looks quite traditional from the outside. But inside, its rooms are home to an ever-changing roster of innovative, expressive, and thought-provoking exhibitions created by resident artists using different media.
Tree-lined and shady, Hastings Street is the bustling core of Noosa Heads. Bakeries, cafés, and boutiques make it an ideal spot for wandering and you’ll find plenty of benches for people-watching. Whether you want to shop till you drop or just enjoy a classic Australian flat white, Hastings Street is the place to be.
