The first thing to say about Hervey Bay on Queensland‘s Coral Sea is that it has ferry access to the stunning Fraser Island. Whether you go on your own steam in a 4WD vehicle or let an experienced guide take the reins, Fraser Island needs to be in your plans. But the tourist-friendly seaside city …
Cosmopolitan Bunbury is in the south-west of Western Australia at the northern tip of Geographe Bay. This is the City of Three Waters, so-called for the bodies of water that surround it on three sides. These are the Indian Ocean, the massive Leschenault Inlet and the shallow, sheltered waters of Koombana Bay. Bathing in Koombana …
On the tropical Central Queensland Coast, Mackay is at the mouth of the Pioneer River and a springboard for the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. On the mainland there are more than 30 beaches to track down in the region, and within range are places that will leave you lost …
Set just in from the Central Queensland Coast, Rockhampton is one of the oldest cities in the state, developed on the banks of the Fitzroy River from the 1850s. In the CBD there’s a lot of architecture surviving from Rockhampton’s first decades, especially on Quay Street on the River Front. Much of this was paid …
High in NSW‘s Central Tablelands, Orange is a city with a cool, temperate climate, at odds with a latitude further north than Sydney. Towering to the south-east is the extinct volcano, Mount Canobolas, which is often dusted with snow in winter, and Orange has earned the nickname “Colour City” for its russet autumn foliage. Much …
As you travel up to the cool Southern Highlands from Sydney, the first major town you’ll enter will be Mittagong. This is the sort of place where you can pass an afternoon hunting for antiques and taking high tea, and the area is full of wineries and cellar doors that have cropped up in the …
Ninety miles from the nearest city, Dubbo stands alone in the Orana Region of western New South Wales. Since 1881, Dubbo has been a transport hub with the extension of the Main Western Railway, but there’s preserved European architecture going back as far as 1841. What puts the city on the map for modern visitors …
At the base of the elongated curve of Geographe Bay, the town of Busselton is recognised by its record-breaking jetty. Going back to the 1860s, this is the longest in the Southern Hemisphere, and after outliving its industrial purpose is a magnet for visitors. From September to November you can see humpback whales passing by, …
The small town of Bowral is roosted in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, where the climate is cool and humid. Crops and flowers from temperate zones love Bowral’s mild weather and the range’s fertile volcanic soils. In times past, Sydney‘s upper class would flee to this town in the summer, building themselves posh …
A comfortable climate, endless sandy beaches, big-time visitor attractions, stylish resorts, tracts of rainforest and striking mountains: The Sunshine Coast’s strengths are many, and there’s so much more than you could ever fit into a single holiday. If you’re a fearless adventurer you can scramble down humid rainforest valleys, conquer mountains and make for the …