1. For wildlife: Mackay, Queensland

Surrounded by sugarcane and with a main street well shaded by tropical foliage, Mackay is a fantastic base for checking out Eungella National forest.

This charming rain forest has rivers abundant enough in platypus to make seeing one practically guaranteed. Your finest possibility is at Broken River, where the viewing platform is surrounded by ferns and vines-- pack a picnic and wait a while in silence to see them.

Afterwards, go on strolling tracks through the trees, ideal for birdwatching and goanna finding, or head back to town for undiscover australia a walk along the golden sands of Harbour Beach.

2. For legendary sunsets: Tower Hill, Victoria

Continue just a little additional west from the Great Ocean Roadway and you'll discover this volcanic crater. Surrounded by beds of ash, it's a fertile green sanctuary that is home to koalas and kangaroos aplenty.

The guided walks from the visitor centre will introduce you to the wildlife, as well as to the Aboriginal history-- and you'll find out how to rustle up some bushtucker. However the sundown-- finest seen from the crater's rim-- is the centerpiece. Remain afterwards and join the assisted night walk to see the animals at its most active.

3. For awesome pictures: Devil's Marbles, Northern Area

You'll require to commit to a long drive for this one-- but it's well worth it. Some 130km south of Tennant http://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=australia Creek, en path to Alice Springs, you'll discover a geological phenomenon: a fistful of rock marbles flung across the Wilderness.

Envision them as the eponymous marbles, or as the eggs of the rainbow serpent from the local Aboriginal story. Either way, they're ideal fodder for the eager photographer.

4. For white wine: Denmark, Western Australia

Let Margaret River keep its crowds of white wine tourers and head rather to Denmark on the south coast. Here you'll find a laid-back cluster of store wineries and hyper-local restaurants underneath a karri tree canopy. Head for the hills inland and go to Castelli Estate for fantastic Pinot Noir and Shiraz or hit Howard Park for wines that combine the very best of both Denmark and Margaret River grapes.

Don't miss out on Pepper and Salt for supper, where chef Silas uses the area's premium produce to create meals influenced by his Fijian-Indian heritage. And visit in March or April for Taste Fantastic Southern, which commemorates the region's excellent regional produce.

5. For an amazing journey: The Nullarbor Plain, South Australia

Superlatives abound on the Nullarbor-- it's the planet's largest single piece of limestone, the world's longest stretch of straight train track and even the universe's longest golf course.

All that makes for one very long (however impressive) drive, punctuated just by lookouts over the Great Australian Bight (next stop Antarctica), dirty roadhouses and the odd pitstop to strike a golf ball, if you're so inclined.

6. For outdoor camping and climbs up: Freycinet National Park, Tasmania

Freycinet might be one of Tassie's a lot of checked out sites, but that doesn't imply you'll bump into anyone else on a walk here. Head out on the 31km peninsula circuit and you'll quickly shake off any fellow visitors (so bring plenty of water) as you tramp anti-clockwise around the peninsula from the Hazards Beach Track to the Wineglass Bay lookout.

Camping is at Cooks Beach and there's time to climb Mount Freycinet (the summit is 620m above water level). As soon as you're done, kick off those treking boots and dig your toes into the pristine white sands of Wineglass Bay.

7. For unbeatable hiking: New England National Forest, New South Wales

Ancient rain forest cloaks the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, much of it an inaccessible wilderness that would easily pass for the Amazon. New England National forest opens this UNESCO World Heritage rain forest for visitors, offering walking routes through the snow gums and lookouts from which the view stretches all the method to the coast.

Take the Eagles Nest track, a 2.2 km loop, and you'll see Antarctic beech trees covered in fungi, endemic beech orchids and trickling waterfalls, typically frozen in winter. You'll eventually reach Point lookout for those panoramic rain forest views.