Monkey Mia Reserve—on the western coast of Australia in Shark Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site—is one of the world’s most reliable places to see dolphins in the wild. For decades, bottlenose dolphins have been paying regular visits to the clear, shallow waters right off the beach, much to the delight of visitors who make the trip from Perth.
With a legacy dating back to 1824, Cascade Brewery is Australia’s oldest continually operating brewery, founded by English settler Peter Degraves. The historic brewery, set in Hobart at the foot of Mount Wellington, welcomes guests to its brewhouse and restaurant, and offers tours and tastings.
Cairns Botanic Gardens is a horticultural oasis that’s home to more than 4,000 species of flora from around the world. The lush grounds are ripe with thick ferns and brilliant foliage. Tall palms and towering shade trees cast cooling shadows across the lawn, great for escaping the midday sun.
Central Adelaide’s most important square, Victoria Square is known to the Kaurna people as “tarntanyangga” (red kangaroo dreaming). A special-events space and popular lunch spot for local workers, it’s home to statues, lawns, gum trees, and the 1960s Three Rivers Fountain. Nearby landmarks include St. Francis Xavier Cathedral.
The 130 feet (40 meter high Stockton Sand Dunes, located at Port Stephens on Worimi Conservation Lands, are a setting for fun sandboarding, quad bike, four-wheel-drive, horseback, and even camelback tours. Or, visitors can simply admire the enormous dunes on a casual beach walk or while fishing off the coast.
A pocket of subtropical rainforest overlooking the misty peaks of the Glass House Mountains, Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve proves that there’s more to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast than suntans, surfboards, and shoreline. A living museum of native flora and fauna, the reserve is ideal for walking, picnicking, and wildlife-watching.
Whether you want to sample Gippsland’s cool-climate wines or tuck into delicious seasonal cuisine amid verdant farmlands, Phillip Island Winery is the perfect spot to relax and unwind. The island’s oldest winery and one of only two cellar doors, the family-run business produces a range of boutique wines and ciders.
Occasionally overshadowed by neighboring Adelaide Oval, the Gothic Revival spires of St. Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide are an architectural landmark. The leading place of worship for the city’s Anglican community, it was built between 1869 and 1911 from local sandstone. English craftsmen contributed much of the stained glass.
Accessible by a dirt road off of Hog’s Bay Road on Kangaroo Island’s southeast coast, remote Pennington Bay is blissfully free of development (there is one lone vacation rental). The crescent-shaped beach is popular among surfers due to consistent swells, while the bay is known for fishing and whale and dolphin spotting.
Sprawled across the ground floor of the Market City complex, Paddy’s Market offers everything from street food and fresh produce to souvenirs, fast fashion, and jewelry in the heart of Sydney’s Chinatown. Eclectic and more affordable than many Sydney shopping options, it’s a fun place to browse with a great food court upstairs.
A Melbourne icon located in Port Phillip Bay, Brighton Beach boasts golden sand and 82 distinctive bathing boxes. The brightly painted, timber-framed huts date back to the Victorian ages and serve as one of the city’s most photogenic backdrops.
Far less crowded than popular Uluru/Ayers Rock, Kata Tjuta (the Olgas is where the Aboriginal Anangu people still practice cultural ceremonies. Walpa Gorge offers visitors the shortest and easiest trail in Kata Tjuta. For what it lacks in length, however, it makes up for in dramatic views overlooking some three dozen sandstone domes.
With a history dating back more than 150 years, Adelaide Central Market has long been at the center of Adelaide’s foodie scene. It remains one of Australia’s largest covered food markets, with about 80 stalls stacked with fresh, seasonal produce.
One of the 12 stops along the Australian Overland Telegraph Line, the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve is a great place for a picnic. The reserve has walking paths, swimming holes, a bicycle path, and shady spots to rest. There are also free electric barbecues.
In bustling Circular Quay, Customs House stands on the spot where modern Australia was founded. This is where, in 1788, the First Fleet came ashore to establish a British penal colony in a faraway land. Built in 1845 in a classically Georgian style, the building is exceptionally well preserved, and the exterior is a sight in itself.
The George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens offer a portal into the diverse wilderness and tropical ecosystems of Australia’s Top End, all without having to leave the city. There are more than 104 acres (42 hectares to explore, including palm-lined walkways, a rainforest gully, and a vast variety of exotic plants and flowers.
The Royal Flying Doctors Service is the largest air medical response team in the world. The doctors fly an average of 40,000 miles (65,000 kilometers) a day attending to sick people in the remote outback of Australia. They have 53 aircraft operating out of 21 bases and 964 staff members who attend to around 750 patients a day.
Located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, the historic village of Berrima is a welcoming destination for visitors looking to experience the charms of small-town Australia. It boasts Georgian sandstone buildings, historic pubs, vineyards, local shops, small boutiques, and a variety of accommodation options.
Yacht-filled Cullen Bay attracts landlubbers with its collection of shops, restaurants, bars, and day spas in one of Darwin’s sleekest neighborhoods. The marina has space for 250 vessels, as well as an assortment of upmarket accommodations where visitors enjoy sea views and easy access to the ferry terminal.
Australia’s largest coastal lagoon, Lake Macquarie is twice the size of Sydney Harbor—it offers adventure and relaxation in equal measure. This popular vacation spot is great for kayaking, surfing, fishing, and sailing. Hike in the nearby hills or along the shoreline and keep your cameras charged for some beautiful views.
Jutting out into the ocean at the southwestern tip of Kangaroo Island, the windswept Cape du Couedic is among the many highlights of the Flinders Chase National Park. The rocky headland is famous for its landmark Cape Du Couedic Lighthouse, its colony of fur seals, and the natural wonder of Admirals Arch.
Built in 1755, decades before the First Fleet brought colonizers and convicts to Australia, Cooks’ Cottage lays claim as Australia’s oldest building. Surprisingly, it wasn’t even constructed in Melbourne: In the 1930s, an industrialist by the name of Sir Russell Grimwade shipped the brick cottage over from Yorkshire, England, where it was once home to explorer Captain James Cook’s parents.
One of the most popular visitor attractions of Geographe Bay and part of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, Ngilgi Cave is an expansive natural wonder. The series of underground caves and tunnels are filled with dramatic stalactites, helictites, shawls, and shimmering deposits of calcite crystal.
Watching over the west end of Fremantle from atop its staircase, the Round House is a lasting piece of Fremantle’s colonial heritage as its oldest surviving public building. Coastal paths and a stone staircase lead up to this 12–sided building, which now hosts displays of its history inside small rooms that once housed prisoners.
Set in the heritage tin mining town of the same name in Far North Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands, Historic Village Herberton is a living museum featuring more than 60 lovingly restored period buildings. Enjoy shops, a pub, a bank, a grocer’s, a printer, a garage, and more, with antiques, memorabilia, retro vehicles, and even working exhibits.
Short but spectacular, North Stradbroke Island’s Gorge Walk loops around a rugged headland with views of clear blue ocean and golden sands. The bush is home to koalas, kangaroos, and wallabies, while the ocean hosts migrating humpback whales (in season), dolphins, manta rays, and sea turtles. A blowhole sometimes emits howling sprays of mist and water.
One of Australia's most stunning stretches of coastline, Cape Leveque, located on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula, has been home to Aboriginal communities for some 7,000 years. Visit to see the area’s brick-red cliffs, pearl-white sand, and clear blue water, explore the remote landscape, and learn about the local Aboriginal communities.
Mengler Hill Lookout is a popular stop during Barossa Valley wine tasting excursions, providing a scenic panorama of the famed valley below. Mengler Hill Lookout was named for one of the area's early wine growers, and since 1988 has the added attraction of large granite and marble sculptures at the adjacent Barossa Sculpture Park.
In the northeastern corner of Western Australia, the Bungle Bungle Range is a top natural feature in Purnululu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The beehive-shaped striped sandstone domes for which the area is now famous were known only to the local Aboriginal people until they were “discovered” by a film crew in the 1980s.
A light, modern, tropical building with an airy, ocean-view setting, Darwin’s Parliament House is quite the contrast to the heavy, neoclassical style of so many state legislatures. The seat of government of the Northern Territory, Darwin’s answer to a state capitol, it opened in 1994 on the site of a famous World War II Japanese bombing attack.
