NewsBite

Advertisement

Best travel experiences of 2023: Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific

This article is part of Traveller’s Best Moments in Travel for 2023.See all stories.

Beechworth, Vic
Thursday, 19 January, 10.30am

Riding the Murray to Mountains rail trail.

Riding the Murray to Mountains rail trail.

Coasting down the Murray to Mountains rail trail in north-eastern Victoria, there’s a blissful, 16-kilometre downhill run from Beechworth to Everton. The sun is already strong, but the canopy of eucalypts folds over the trail, granting me a shady spin. The only sounds are the shush of my pedals, the crackle of gravel beneath my tyres and the zing of a trio of crimson rosellas, who swoop before me for a quintessentially Australian moment. See ridehighcountry.com.au
- Belinda Jackson

Lake Dunstan, Central Otago, NZ
Monday, January 30, 10am

I’m cycling along a snaking section of cantilevered wooden boardwalk that has been bolted directly into the vertiginous rock face of Cromwell Gorge above Lake Dunstan. Opened to great fanfare in May 2021, the Lake Dunstan Trail is a spectacular 55-kilometre track along the striking, teal-coloured lake, which last year became New Zealand’s newest Great Ride. Part of a fabulous guided cycling trip around Central Otago with Adventure South, it’s the highlight of a five-day itinerary that delivers daily doses of snow-capped mountains, dense pine forests and raging mouthwash blue rivers. See adventuresouth.co.nz
- Rob McFarland

Fiordland, NZ
Friday February 3, 10am

I’m skimming over the cobalt blue surface of Lake Te Anau during a helicopter transfer from Te Anau to Luxmore Hut, the starting point for a 16-kilometre hike to the summit of Mount Luxmore. Today, I’m tackling a section of the 60-kilometre Kepler Track as part of an innovative NZ Great Walks taster package offered by local operator Trips and Tramps. After a 400-metre scramble up a steep gravel path to Mount Luxmore’s summit, I bask in a sweeping 360-degree panorama that includes the dramatic Murchison Mountains and a snaking, fog-filled arm of Lake Te Anau. See tripsandtramps.com
- Rob McFarland

Matamanoa Island, Fiji
Saturday February 11, 1.24pm

Matamanoa Island, Fiji – voices are like a warm hug.

Matamanoa Island, Fiji – voices are like a warm hug.Credit: iStock

Even before stepping onto Matamanoa Island Resort’s sand, a welcome song wafts my way. Staff have gathered at the wrack line to sing to us as we transfer from the ferry to this cosy adult-only dive resort in the Mamanuca Islands. Their voices are like a warm hug – and it’s a vibe that continues throughout my stay. I’m here to do my first scuba dives. You may imagine that I’d reminisce about that leopard shark resting on the ocean floor, the shoals of jewel-like fish flashing this way and that and other underwater sights. Instead, I remember the personal welcomes and farewells at dinnertime and jaunty songs strummed on guitars late into the night. See matamanoa.com
- Katrina Lobley

Advertisement

Auckland, NZ
Sunday, February 12, 2pm

I’m sampling Sneaky Snacky’s hot chicken donut burger, a piquant, deep-fried chicken thigh smothered in dill mayo that’s wedged between two iced donuts. Located in an anonymous Asian food court on Auckland’s notorious K’ Road (Karangahape Road), it’s one of the highlights from this year’s wonderfully eclectic Iconic Eats list, an innovative annual program that invites Aucklanders to nominate their favourite dish. The verdict? A sticky, spicy, sweet and salty taste grenade. See iconiceats.co.nz
- Rob McFarland

Bernier Island, WA
Monday, March 27, 2pm

My Coral Expedition cruise up Western Australia’s Coral Coast has provided abundant opportunities to snorkel, but the waters off Bernier Island are the most wonderful yet. The tender’s engine is silenced, I tip myself into the blueness and suddenly I’m weightless and drifting through an alternate universe. Multi-coloured fish pout and pirouette, clams gape open to reveal purple flesh, hard and soft corals erupt in red and orange and green. Rocky outcrops allow the unusual experience of snorkelling with coral reefs to either side, rather than only below. Sunlight dapples sea caves. Then a giant potato cod lumbers out of the shadows, giving me a grumpy look. See coralexpeditions.com
- Brian Johnston

Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Tuesday, April 18, 12.30pm

Pick your lunch spot: One Foot Island in Aitutaki Lagoon, Cook Islands.

Pick your lunch spot: One Foot Island in Aitutaki Lagoon, Cook Islands. Credit: Cook Islands Tourism

Quinton, the skipper, asks me where I’d like to go for lunch. Aitutaki Lagoon has 15 islets, or motu, 14 of them entirely uninhabited. I’m on a full-day boat charter – and Quinton’s told me already I can go anywhere I want on a lagoon so big it’s four times the size of Aitutaki. I opt for One Foot Island, it’s barely 500 metres long and 200 metres wide, and as far out from land as we can go. We motor into a beach and I jump straight into the water. While I’m still swimming, I’m handed a tray of sashimi from a yellow fin tuna Quinton caught last night. See wetnwild-aitutaki.com
- Craig Tansley

MacDonnell Ranges, NT
Friday, April 21, 11am

We hike in silence through Ormiston Pound, a vast natural amphitheatre surrounded by a dramatic ring of rust-red quartzite hills, on the last day of a six-day trek along the Larapinta Trail. It’s an unexpectedly moving experience, walking quietly through this beautiful boulder-strewn landscape, senses alive to the pungent aroma of curry wattle, the high-pitched trill of bellbirds and the hot, scouring Outback wind. Soon our group will return to a world of to-do lists and deadlines but, for now, there’s nothing to do except follow in the ghostly ancient footsteps of the land’s original custodians. See australianwalkingholidays.com.au
- Rob McFarland

Okarito Lagoon, West Coast, NZ
Friday, April 28, 12.30pm

My granddaughter Ellie has gone rogue, insisting on paddling her own kayak in a feisty display of pre-teen independence. Baz, the owner of Okarito Kayaks, just grins indulgently, handing over his single kayak and joining me as wingman in my double; and as we watch Ellie power ahead on the becalmed waters, he takes the opportunity to explain the importance of this wetland we’re exploring. New Zealand’s biggest coastal lagoon, framed by the snow-capped tiaras of the Southern Alps, is surrounded by pristine forest, the last stronghold of the rare Rowi kiwi, brought back from the brink of extinction by an egg-collecting program called Operation Nest Egg. See okarito.co.nz
- Julie Miller

Somewhere north of Alice Springs, NT
Sunday, May 7, 6.30 am

The view from the Ghan.

The view from the Ghan.

I am a morning person. Up with the larks, dressed and ready to face the day. But not this day. From the lower bunk of my twin cabin onboard the Ghan I watch as the sky erupts from purple ink to vivid orange. I’ve deliberately slept with the blinds open for just this moment. As we barrel through the desert the picture-window becomes a moving frame to a near alien-universe; one moment the scene is flat and stark, the next a fireball sun pours molten gold into my cabin. My only plan for the next few hours is to stay propped on pillows and soak it all in. See journeybeyondrail.com.au
- Kerry van der Jagt

Uluru, NT
Wednesday, May 10, 6.45pm

I thought I was done with Uluru. Over many visits as a travel writer, I’ve wandered through Bruce Munro’s Field of Light installation, ridden camels within sight of the monolith, fine-dined atop a nearby sand dune, encircled its base on foot, seen it from a helicopter … you name it, I’ve ticked it off. So I headed to the launch of Wintjiri Wiru thinking, “go on, impress me”. Yet this immersive year-round drone show, with an all-enveloping soundtrack and impressive laser projections that help tell an age-old Anangu story, did much more than that. It made Australia’s ancient spiritual heart feel new to me again. See ayersrockresort.com
- Katrina Lobley

Derby, WA
Monday, May 22, 5.20pm

Before driving from Broome to Derby, I check Google Maps in case my phone coverage vanishes in the wild west. I clock that the Spinifex Hotel, where I will spend the night, is at the far end of town. Derby’s not that big so, upon arrival, I simply putter around to find the pub. I overshoot but accidentally stumble upon an awe-inspiring sight. I didn’t know Derby’s wide expanse of saltmarsh houses a bold collection of sculptures by local artist Mark Norval. With works featuring a stockman, footy players and a striking Indigenous face, Sculptures on the Marsh immediately skyrockets onto my list of Australian must-sees. See australiasnorthwest.com
- Katrina Lobley

Birregurra, Vic
Thursday, June 8, 6pm

It’s one thing having the opportunity to dine at one of Australia’s best restaurants. My partner and I sit down to a long lunch at Brae, chef Dan Hunter’s famed Victorian fine-diner, and are treated to a journey through flavour and texture, plate after plate of edible works of Australian art. But the true luxury here is staying the night afterwards. Brae has a series of six guest suites on-site, each of which is decked out like the New York City apartment of your dreams. So we’re now sitting on the small terrace outside, drinking an Armagnac from the mini bar, listening to a record from the stack of vinyl supplied, watching as the light fades over the bucolic Victorian countryside, reminiscing about one of the great meals. See braerestaurant.com
- Ben Groundwater

Kakadu National Park, NT
Thursday, 29 June, 7.30pm

Camping in style at Cooinda, site of the Dird (Full Moon) Feast.

Camping in style at Cooinda, site of the Dird (Full Moon) Feast.

Sitting beneath strings of fairy lights and twinkling stars in Kakadu National Park, the language is foreign to me, but it’s not foreign to the land. Local Bininj (Indigenous) man Ben Tyler is naming the food spread before us – anaburru, namarnkol, an-kulurrudj, nabiwoh – the Kundjeyhmi words for the buffalo, barramundi, bush cabbage and native ground bee honey in tonight’s Dird Full Moon Feast. The dinners are held every month on Murumburr Country with Ben relating stories of growing up in Kakadu and acquiring the skill of foraging for this unique cuisine. See kakadutourism.com
- Belinda Jackson

Crystal Beach, Kimberley, WA
Wednesday, July 19, 6pm

Lindblad Expeditions’ ship National Geographic Orion sneaks into extraordinary places in remote destinations, but this wins the prize. Crystal Beach is a golden sliver on the Kimberley mainland, just opposite Naturalists Island but otherwise so middle-of-nowhere nothing else has a name. The Zodiacs of Lindblad Expeditions’ ship National Geographic Orion cast us away here for sunset cocktails. Ice cubes tinkle in passion fruit margaritas. We stitch footprint tracks into gritty sand littered with finger-nail-sized shells: fans and whirls and cones. The beach is tumbled with huge cubes of pink rock. Above is a strip of vivid vegetation topped by shattered cliffs, and finally a bonsai arrangement of twisted eucalyptus trees with white trunks and yellow-green leaves against a cornflower sky. See expeditions.com
- Brian Johnston

Barron Falls, Qld
Monday, July 31, 10am

I’ve finished the cheese and spinach pastry by the time my train on the Kuranda Scenic Railway approaches Barron Falls; oh, and an excellent savoury muffin containing ingredients from the nearby Atherton Tableland. Sitting on a ledge next to my carriage window is a traditional Anzac biscuit, the next complimentary item to be served in Gold Class on the journey to Kuranda; and just before the train halts at the falls, I’m handed a cup of coffee made from local beans. So I step from the train, brew and bikkie in hand, to lean against the railing with the other passengers and marvel at the water as it cascades down the rocky slope beneath us. See ksr.com.au
- Tim Richards

Broken Hill, NSW
Wednesday, August 16, 6pm

I’m in Broken Hill to attend the three-day Mundi Mundi Bash – a quintessentially Aussie music festival that takes place on a sprawling property just past Silverton. Checking into Charles Rasp Motor Inn, I’m excited to spy the takeaway shop across the road. Ragenovich Brothers Chickens is legendary for its super-crunchy chips, piled into a towering open paper bag so steam doesn’t soften them before they reach your mouth. While waiting for my chips to fry, I swivel and gasp at what’s in the fridge. It’s the fabled Broken Hill delicacy known as “cheeseslaw”. It’s kind of like coleslaw – but with grated cheese replacing the shredded cabbage. All I can say is it’s a taste sensation you won’t forget in a hurry. See visitnsw.com
- Katrina Lobley

Cook, SA
Friday, August 18, 1pm

I’m on the Indian Pacific train, and bang in the middle of the Nullarbor Plain. The train clanks to a halt and the doors sigh open. I love these moments. I step down to somewhere I’ve never been. Cook was established in 1917 to service this lonesome railway line, and once had 200 residents. Now it’s almost a ghost town. Two old jail cells, an abandoned school with chalk-scribbled blackboards, an empty swimming pool, rusting machinery. The dust is red, the trees white and straggly, the horizon flat. I could be in a Mad Max movie set, or on another planet. I take a few photos. I marvel at the silence. Then the train’s horn blows, and I scurry off. See journeybeyondrail.com.au
- Brian Johnston

Hervey Bay, Qld
Thursday, August 31, 10.30am

Whales at play in Hervey Bay.

Whales at play in Hervey Bay.Credit: iStock

Hervey Bay is famous for its humpback whale encounters, but until you’re here, you can’t really know how close they get. A guide’s telling me to get in the water from our whale swim expedition ship; a young male humpback has been circling the boat. Now he wants closer contact. “Keep your legs out straight,” he says. “Don’t swim towards the whale.” I’m fed out along a rope, in a mask and snorkel. I have my face in the water but I can’t see him. And then, he appears, the most beautiful creature you’ve ever imagined. He’s so close I can see right into his eye. He’s watching me, suspended in the water. Then with a deft kick of his tail he moves on to stare at the next human. See whaleswimsherveybay.com.au
- Craig Tansley

Tamborine Mountain, Qld
Monday, September 11, 5.15am

Dawn’s very first light streams through a window that I didn’t think to cover, awake now, I walk outside a room within a retreat built right on the edge of Mount Tamborine, in the Gold Coast hinterland. It’s steep beyond our boundary, but I’m safe enough here among eight hectares of private estate – a communal space where guests gather to marvel at the two World Heritage-listed national parks just below us. But there’s no-one around now – just the co-owner in a kitchen nearby who’s brewed me an early latte. I take my mug into a huge cedar spa, just in time for a sunrise over the ocean beyond the high-rises of Surfers Paradise far, far below. See vhcountryestate.com.au
- Craig Tansley

Ruapehu, NZ
Thursday, October 5, 9.30am

Canoeing the Whanganui River.

Canoeing the Whanganui River.

I’m scared. The Whanganui River is running fast, my nerves are thin and our two-person Maori waka (canoe) is bucking with a life-force of its own. As we round the first bend, my Iwi guide calls out to her ancestors in a prayer, asking for permission and reassuring them that we come with a good heart. The first rapid hits with a rush, icy water – thick with spring melt – sprays my face. In that moment I feel spiritually connected with this living entity, the first river in the world to be granted personhood status under a ground-breaking act of law (2017). I dig my paddle in, fear replaced by awe and gratitude. See owhangoadventures.com
- Kerry van der Jagt

Sign up for the Traveller newsletter

The latest travel news, tips and inspiration delivered to your inbox. Sign up now.

Most viewed on Traveller

Loading

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/best-travel-experiences-of-2023-australia-new-zealand-and-the-pacific-20231109-p5eivz.html