Your definitive 2021 Australian luxury travel bucket list is here
Did 2020 leave you with itchy feet? We’ve found a dozen good reasons to plan a getaway in 2021.
Overseas travel may still be a distant daydream, but that doesn’t mean shelving your 2021 travel plans just yet.
In fact, if 2020 taught us anything, it’s to take pleasure in the simple things. Road trips. Long days at the beach with a book. Swimming in the ocean. While nothing can replace the thrill of jumping on a long-haul flight and waking up in an entirely different time zone, there’s much to be said for exploring Australia’s rich and varied landscape. Besides, we all benefit from taking time off to relax and unwind from the stresses of daily life. And a local holiday offers just that.
“We are so incredibly lucky to have so many world-class destinations and tourism experiences to choose from right here in Australia as people look to kickstart their holiday plans,” says Phillipa Harrison, managing director of Tourism Australia.
For many Australians, the pandemic has given us a new-found appreciation for the wondrous country we live in. So if you’ve long held ambiguous plans to visit Uluru or climb Mount Kosciuszko, now’s the time to book that trip. After all, “Australia is home to the oldest continuous living culture on earth, a reef so vast that you can see it from space, great golf-courses that feature in world’s best lists, lakes that take on pink hues and much more,” says Harrison.
Indeed, with so many incredible experiences on offer, why not make 2021 the year for ticking a few things off your Australian bucket list? To get you started, we’ve gathered a few of the best ideas below.
1. See the world’s most famous rock
At 1,142 feet high, Uluru is the world’s largest monolith—standing even taller than the Eiffel Tower. Alive with First Nations history, visiting the rock is a sublime experience for Australians and visitors alike. Can’t get to the Northern Territory? Consider Mount Augustus in Western Australia. Comprised of multiple rock types, it’s double the size of Uluru.
While you’re there, why not take the opportunity to get to know more about the oldest living culture on earth? Thanks to a collective of over 130 Indigenous tours and guides, Discover Aboriginal Experiences offers a portal into First Nations culture like no other.
2. Explore the largest ecosystem in the globe
Spanning 344,400 square kilometres (an area larger than Victoria and Tasmania combined) the Great Barrier Reef is famously so big, it can be seen from space. Plus, with 74 Whitsundays islands to land on, there’s plenty to do. You can even turn it into a luxury experience with a stay at the stunning Qualia resort.
3. Stroll through an ancient rainforest
Did you know Australia is home to the world’s oldest rainforest? Yep, at 180 million years old, the Daintree Rainforest is World Heritage-listed and a favourite of Sir David Attenborough. Inside you’ll find incredible ancient ferns, leafy vines and truly unique flora and fauna—little wonder it served as the inspiration for the movie Avatar. A visit to the northern Queensland spot also gives you ample opportunity to zip-line through the canopy of trees, cruise the Daintree River looking for saltwater crocs or visit Cape Tribulation.
4. Trek our famous mountain ranges
Spanning three states and some 3,700 kilometres, The Great Dividing Range was formed over 300 million years ago. It can be accessed via Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and contains everything from eroded volcanoes and flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world. Packed with various walking and biking tracks and campgrounds, it’s also home to Australia’s tallest mountain Mount Kosciuszko.
5. Experience horizontal waterfalls
Located in Western Australia’s Kimberley Region, these two naturally occurring ‘waterfalls’ are formed from water moving horizontally through two narrow cliff passages thanks to super-strong tidal movements. Technically not waterfalls, both phenomena can be found at Talbot Bay, and you can watch the incredible waterfall effect, which changes as the tide rises and falls, via boat or from the air. Magic.
6. Conquer an icon
Sydney is home to two of the nation’s most iconic landmarks—the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge—and if you haven’t climbed the latter yet, here’s your chance. For the first time in its 21-year history, BridgeClimb now offers the chance to scale the entire bridge in one of their Ultimate Climbs.
7. Visit the pink lakes
Sure, you’ve seen the photos, but nothing quite beats seeing Australia’s eerie and beautiful pink lakes up close or from the air. Luckily, there’s plenty to choose from, such as South Australia’s Lake Eyre—the largest salt lake in Australia at 9,500 kilometres long, Lake Hillier in WA’s Recherche Archipelago, Hutt Lagoon on WA’s Coral Coast, Lake Bumbunga on SA’s York Peninsula, Lake MacDonnell on SA’s Eyre Peninisula or the pink lakes on the Murray River, near Mildura in Victoria.
8. Get your glow on
The NSW south coast is home to some of the prettiest coastline in the state, but the beaches of Jervis Bay become even more stunning at night. Due to a natural chemical reaction more common in spring and summer, by evening the plankton in the ocean emits a luminous blue glow. It’s not exclusive to NSW either, with the same phenomenon reported in Queensland’s Whitsundays, Port Lincoln in South Australia and Tasmania’s Lauderdale. And that’s not it; there’s also glow worms to be spotted in NSW’s Lithgow, Queensland’s Springbrook National Park or Victoria’s Melba Gully, home to Australia’s largest colony.
9. Spot the world’s largest dinosaur footprints
Interested in archaeology? Broome in WA is home to a number of fossilised 1.7-metre long dinosaur footprints that date back some 130 million years. Extending 80 kilometres along the coastline, they’re a must-see for budding palaeontologists. If you can’t get to WA, book a trip to Canberra’s National Dinosaur Museum or the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum in Winton, Queensland.
10. Watch amazing animal migrations
Australia is home to some seriously unique wildlife, and there’s a plethora of spots to see their migrations. Think: red crabs on Christmas Island; spider crabs on Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay; whale watching on the east coast in the Whitsundays, Hervey Bay, Gold Coast, Sydney and the Sunshine Coast; west coast whale watching at Albany, Augusta, Busselton, Fremantle and Broome; and giant Australian cuttlefish at SA’s Upper Spencer Gulf.
11. Swim with a predator
Adrenaline junkies have long flocked to Port Lincoln in SA, where they can cage dive with the world‘s largest predatory fish – the great white shark. If you’re not so keen on diving, Adventure Bay Charters offers the world’s first Aqua sub, where you can swim with the sharks without needing your swimsuit. An even gentler option, but still in SA, is a swim with the much-friendlier sea lions or dolphins at Baird Bay, 284 kilometres away.
12. Take an iconic drive
Driving is one of the most Covid-safe ways to get around, so it’s well worth tackling one of Australia’s great drives.
In Victoria, the Great Ocean Road is a no-brainer, with sleeping koalas in treetops, the 12 Apostles and stunning ocean views all on the itinerary. Or wind along the Great Alpine Road from Wangaratta to Metung, passing through the Gippsland Lakes, Mt Hotham ski fields, and all manner of mountainous ranges, forests, valleys and vineyards.
Tasmanian residents have the Great Eastern Drive, which flows past famous east coast beaches through to the lush green hinterland, while NSW’s Grand Pacific Drive begins at the Royal National Park and winds past sparkling coastline (including the car commercial’s favourite Sea Cliff Bridge) and finishing in the Shoalhaven.