As a hotel reviewer I often get asked to list the best things to do. here’s some thoughts about Australia.
1.The biggest jumping off point for those looking to snorkel and dive the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns is a favoured destination to catch a daytrip to the reef. There are various companies that offer different cruises to the Great Barrier Reef. You may choose between day-tours or overnight trips, which range widely in quality.If you arent yet qualified to scuba dive, but cant possibly go on a day cruise to the Great Barrier Reef without doing so, just about all tours will give you the option to do a resort dive, with no qualifications needed. Pretty much everyone has an ecotourism certification, which means you dont have to worry about damaging the great barrier reef while you are checking it out.
2.Generally thought to be the Hot Air Ballooning capital of the southern hemisphere, the Atherton Tableland is just a short drive from Cairns. Hot Air has a ballooning package that incorporates a 5 am pickup from your hotel, a full breakfast and champers for approximately 0 . Enjoy the awe inspiring landscape at sun up, enjoy 30 minutes flying in your hot air balloon, and is concluded with breakfast and champagne in a local resort. Checking out the gorgeous scenery from high in a balloon makes this a must do.
3.Just south of Cairns, Mission Beach is the perfect departure point for the Great Barrier Reef. The beach is a 9 mile long, perfect sandy beach, with awesome views of Dunk and a handful of other islands just within sight. There is a quaint township there, where you can learn more about activities like sea kayaking or skydiving, though many would be perfectly happy soaking up the sunlight and taking in the beautiful surrounding scenery.You can stay overnight in local accommodation, though many will be on a day trip from Cairns. If you did not hire a car or camper for your [holiday|vacation|trip}, there is a company that offers a coach transfer service called Mission Beach Dunk Island Coaches, which takes the scenic road between Port Douglas, Cairns, and the Cassowary coast.
4.Tropfest is the world’s largest short film festival and is held early in February each year in Sydney’s Domain. Tropfest also screens around the country. The aim is to ‘showcase the work of young filmmakers and to give them the opportunity to show their films for their peers in a festive environment’. For everyone else it’s a chance to watch free films while drinking beer on a hot summer’s night. Each film must contain a ‘signature item’, something inanimate the organisers decided months previously to ensure the film was made for Tropfest. The event began in 1993 when a local actor/director John Polson screened one of his own short films at the Tropicana Caf in Darlinghurst. 200 people crammed the caf. The next year 2000 showed up and chaos reigned on the caf strip. Last year it’s estimated 100,000 watched the festival in The Domain, while capacity audiences filled the interstate venues.
5.Try to play Didgeridoo and learn something about Indigenous Culture. You will find out that blowing into the carved tree is not as easy as it may seem (but you may have lot of fun, you and the guy selling it). Cultural centres of aborginal art and history are spread all around the land. You will learn stories about the Dreamtime and learn a lot of how people lived in the past and what were their values. It may change your view of the locals you may meet at some places.
6.The thing to do at Ayers Rock – climb to the top of it. Located in Central Australia aka the Outback, Uluru, one of the World’s Heritage Sites, is a large sandstone formation standing over 300 m in height and turns varying shades of bright red during the day, particularly so during sunrise and sunset. Also, Uluru is a dreaming site to the Indigenous people who also think that a curse is placed on anyone who takes rocks away with them. In the tourist information center, there is a exhibition of rocks that have been sent back from tourists who took them home. There is a long chain placed along the side of the trail that acts as a handrail for the hike up and the views from atop this magnificent site are totally stunning. The local Indigenous people do not like people climbing the rock, however this decision is your choice.
7.The oldest continuous area of rainforest in the country, the Daintree National Park is a protected area of incredible rainforest a short drive north of Cairns. The Daintree, which encompasses around 1200 square kilometers, is not only World Heritage listed, but is also home to a large variety of plant and animal lifeincluding marsupials, frogs, birds and more. Considered the oldest rainforest in the world, the Daintree forest is over 138 million years old and has more than 440 different species of bird, including 20 species that are found nowhere else in the world. There are lots of day bushwalks that allow adventurers to [see|experience|explore} parts of this incredible rainforest by themselves, as well as guided tours that can help teach you about the ecology on your way.
8.Whitehaven Beach is set amongst the 74 Whitsunday Islands along the Central Queensland coast and can be reached by sea or air. I have been to many beaches in my journeys and this is undoubtedly the most amazing, most beautiful beach I have ever witnessed. If you can think of the softest, whitest, cleanest sand, the clearest, lightest, bluest water that’s what it looks like. Airlie Beach is most often used as the base point to get to the Whitsunday Islands and Whitehaven Beach. A popular way to see Whitehaven is a sailboat liveaboard cruise. There are many sailing companies in Airlie Beach that take you there. There are also day tours to just Whitehave or including a visit to another island such as Hook Island.
9.See the amazing view of the Sydney Opera House with the unmistakable Harbour Bridge in the foreground .The Sydney Opera House is widely recognized as the symbol of Australia, as well as being one of the most famous performing arts centres in the world. The main attraction is off course the unique design. On major celebrations in Sydney history, like New Years Eve and the Sydney Olympic games, the bridge has always been the focal point. For the adventurous, it’s also possible to climb the bridge.
10.Coober Pedy is most famous for the unusual lifestyle of a large part of it’s local residents who live in disused mines. This practice came about when local resident sought escape from the intense heat before the days of modern air conditioning. Also known as the the Opal Capital of the World, Coober Pedy was first established as an opal mine in 1915. Today tourists can visit the old opal mines, visit underground churches, and stay underground in a hotel. The local golf course, with no grass, is played at night with glow in the dark golf balls. The area served as the backdrop for the post-nuclear apocalypse film titled Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome starring Australian son Mel Gibson. Find a Underground hotel and enjoy this must see highlight.
I trust these help any prospective holiday makers to Australia.