1. For wildlife: Mackay, Queensland

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

This enchanting rain forest has rivers rich enough in platypus to make seeing one nearly ensured. Your finest opportunity is at Broken River, where the seeing platform is surrounded by ferns and vines-- pack a picnic and wait a while in silence to see them.

Later on, take a hike on walking tracks through the trees, suitable for birdwatching and goanna spotting, or head back to town for a walk along the golden sands of Harbour Beach.

2. For legendary sunsets: Tower Hill, Victoria

Continue just a little more west from the Great Ocean Roadway and you'll find 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 http://edition.cnn.com/search/?text=australia centre will present you to the wildlife, in addition to to the Aboriginal history-- and you'll discover how to rustle up some bushtucker. However the sunset-- best seen from the crater's rim-- is the centerpiece. Remain afterwards and join the assisted night walk to see the fauna at its most active.

3. For incredible pictures: Devil's Marbles, Northern Territory

You'll need to devote to a long drive for this one-- but it's well worth it. Some 130km south of Tennant Creek, en path to Alice Springs, you'll discover a geological phenomenon: a fistful of rock marbles flung throughout the Wilderness.

Imagine them as the eponymous marbles, or as the eggs of the rainbow snake from the regional Aboriginal story. In any case, they're ideal fodder for the keen professional photographer.

4. For wine: Denmark, Western Australia

Let Margaret River keep its crowds of white wine tourers and head instead to Denmark on the south coast. Here you'll find an easygoing cluster of boutique wineries and hyper-local restaurants below a karri tree canopy. undiscovered australia ad Head for the hills inland and check out Castelli Estate for terrific Pinot Noir and Shiraz or struck Howard Park for white wines that integrate the best of both Denmark and Margaret River grapes.

Do not miss out on Pepper and Salt for dinner, where chef Silas utilizes the area's premium produce to produce dishes influenced by his Fijian-Indian heritage. And check out in March or April for Taste Fantastic Southern, which celebrates the region's superb regional produce.

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

Superlatives are plentiful on the Nullarbor-- it's the planet's largest single piece of limestone, the world's longest stretch of straight railway track and even deep space's longest golf course.

All that makes for one long (however legendary) drive, punctuated only 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 forest, Tasmania

Freycinet may be among Tassie's many checked out sites, however that doesn't suggest you'll bump into anybody else on a stroll here. Head out on the 31km peninsula circuit and you'll soon get rid of any fellow visitors (so bring lots of water) as you tramp anti-clockwise around the peninsula from the Hazards Beach Track to the Wineglass Bay lookout.

Outdoor camping is at Cooks Beach and there's time to climb up Mount Freycinet (the top is 620m above water level). When you're done, kick off those hiking boots and dig your toes into the pristine white sands of Wineglass Bay.

7. For unsurpassable hiking: New England National Park, New South Wales

Ancient jungle cloaks the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, much of it an unattainable wilderness that would easily pass for the Amazon. New England National forest opens up this UNESCO World Heritage jungle for visitors, providing 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, often frozen in winter. You'll eventually reach Point lookout for those scenic jungle views.