Great adventures on your doorstep
Who needs to go abroad anyway, with world-class experiences like these in our own country?
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For now, the pandemic has scuppered any plans for an overseas holiday. But who needs to go abroad anyway, with world-class experiences like these in our own country?
Franklin River, TAS
Paddling the Franklin River – a 110km-long deep-dive into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area – is not for the fainthearted, with epic rapids, bush camps and long, physically demanding days on the water. But if you’re game, Franklin River Rafting offers trips with expert guides (one guide and up to four punters per boat) who’ll keep you safe, well fed and having fun. From the mellow upper reaches of the Franklin to the mighty Great Ravine and Rock Island Bend, you’ll be out of mobile range for eight days (perhaps more, depending on the conditions), riding along on water so pure that, when you’re thirsty, you simply dip a cup over the side of the boat and scull it. For $3190, it’s an experience you’ll never forget. franklinriverrafting.com
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Blue Derby Pods Ride, TAS
After a hard day in the saddle tearing through ancient forest, don’t you deserve a chilled local lager and a giant tasting board featuring fine Tasmanian cheeses? A beanbag by the fire, from where you can lift your tired middle-aged body and look down over the wild Cascade River below? There are younger, fitter mountain bikers out there – but they’re staying in a tent in a caravan park, and you’re walking to your architecturally designed pod in the forest with a delightful pinot noir buzz. Blue Derby Pods emerged a few years ago when more than 100km of world-class mountain bike tracks opened in the hills around Derby, an hour from Launceston, and amid a national biking boom they’re holding their own with three- and four-day adventures. The four two-person pods, hidden in a nature reserve outside town, are simple but beautiful, the guides are expert riders, and the food and attention to detail superb. From $1750 for three days.
bluederbypodsride.com.au
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Wilsons Promontory Cruise, VIC
With no safe place to anchor and no safe way of scaling its sheer sides, Skull Rock has, according to eco-tour operator Rob Pennicott, been explored by fewer people (nine) than have walked on the moon (12). Located off the coast of Wilsons Promontory, it’s the star attraction of his 2½ hour wildlife and sightseeing cruise. One of the oldest national parks in Victoria, the Prom, as it’s known, hangs off the southern edge of the mainland like a fishhook-shaped pendant. You can explore it via walking trails that lead to deserted beaches, lookouts and campgrounds, but Pennicott’s amphibious craft allows access to the park’s far-flung reaches without lugging a pack. Cruises depart from Norman Beach near the Tidal River Visitors Centre; adults $135, children $85.
promcruises.com.au
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Bogong Horseback Adventures, VIC
Saddle up for a High Country adventure: on horseback you’ll get to the remotest corners of a landscape that sings with reminders of Banjo Paterson’s verse. Apart from meeting occasional hikers, you will be alone with your thoughts, the horses, the grandeur of the mountains and native fauna on this five-day trail ride inside Victoria’s Alpine National Park. At night, once the fire catches, swags are unrolled, a bottle of red is opened, and spare hands take it in turns to stir dinner bubbling in the flame-blackened pans. Five-day tours from $1870. bogonghorsebackadventures.weebly.com
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Kings Canyon Walk, NT
On the Kings Canyon rim walk, a four-hour outing in central Australia’s Watarrka National Park, you’ll step over the fossils of trilobites that wriggled around here hundreds of millions of years ago, when the place was under the ocean. A steep climb known as “Heart Attack Hill” snakes up to the canyon’s rim, where you’ll stroll along the ancient shoreline. But there’s more to come: stepping through a crevice you enter the Lost City, a landscape of huge domes the local Luritja people call kuninga, or souls from the Dreamtime. Your oasis at day’s end is Kings Canyon Resort, with glamping tents (from $545 per night, including breakfast), lodge and campground.
kingscanyonresort.com.au; northernterritory.com
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Bamurru Plains, NT
This safari lodge on the northern edge of Australia near Kakadu National Park overlooks the magnificent Mary River floodplain, and as the waters begin to recede each dry season a lush green world appears. Like a giant ark, first come the buffaloes and their babies, right past your mesh-walled bungalow each morning and night. Then the thump-thump of wallabies. Keep watching: there are 236 species of birds here, along with brumbies, dingoes and yes, crocodiles. The bungalows, infinity pool and main lodge overlook the floodplain and the guided activities are a must, particularly a croc-spotting airboat tour of the wetlands. Meals and a help-yourself bar are included. The lodge reopens on March 1. From $680 per person per night (minimum two nights).
bamurruplains.com
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Daintree River Cruise, QLD
There are saltwater crocs aplenty in the Daintree River. On a two-hour sunset cruise with Daintree River Wild Watch you might spot half a dozen of them – but you’ll pass many more lurking unseen. The rainforest, just down the road from Daintree Ecolodge (from $380 a night; daintree-ecolodge.com.au), is home to lots of other wildlife, too: with the eagle eyes of guide Alex Pawlow at your disposal, you might spy a little kingfisher, a shining flycatcher, or the bright yellow and blue flash of a sunbird. You might come for the salties – but this wilderness will reveal so much more.
daintreeriverwildwatch.com.au
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Lizard Island, QLD
From the moment you alight after a one-hour flight from Cairns, the tray of chilled white hand towels on the tarmac tells you that luxury will never be far from reach. But the Great Barrier Reef’s northernmost island resort is much, much more. Visit one of 24 pristine beaches, snorkel with the turtles, join a reef fishing or scuba diving expedition, or take a hike up to Cook’s Look. Lizard Island National Park, which covers a group of six islands, teems with wildlife; guided walking tours are available, and visits to the Lizard Island Research Station can be arranged. At the end of a day of adventure, return to one of 40 lovely rooms, suites or villas – some with wet-edge plunge pool – then settle in for five-star treatment in the airy pavilion housing the lounge, bar and Salt Water restaurant. The resort is due to reopen on September 26. From $1575 per night for two; food, drinks and more included.
lizardisland.com.au
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Flinders Ranges Heli-Camping, SA
Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park is one of our continent’s most dramatic landscapes, marked by red dirt plains, antediluvian river redgums and time-worn mountain ranges that artist Hans Heysen described as the “bones of the earth laid bare”. Rawnsley Park Station’s “heli-camping” overnighter captures all this cinematic drama in one thrilling edit, taking guests high above Wilpena Pound then across to the rugged Chace Range where the helicopter puts down on a ridge. A campfire is lit near a rocky precipice with far-reaching views of the Elder Range and the Pound’s ramparts before wine is poured in time for a sunset that’s IMAX in scale. A delicious dinner prefaces the second feature: star-filled skies and a moon so low it feels like you can touch it. Camp is refreshingly low-key, with swags and a bacon sarnie brekky as the sun rises. $725 per person, minimum two nights.
rawnsleypark.com.au
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Bubble Tent, Capertee Valley, NSW
On the western edge of the Blue Mountains, three hours’ drive from Sydney, is Capertee Valley, the world’s second-largest canyon. Who knew? A kilometre wider than the Grand Canyon, it’s lush, full of fauna and walking tracks, and its big-sky rim is the ideal place for nights of stargazing. Enter Bubble Tent Australia, with three beautifully appointed clear plastic igloos dotted along the escarpment on a private property between Lithgow and Mudgee. The tents come with a little (opaque-walled) bathroom with pumped water and compost toilet, fridge, drinking water, tea things, crockery and cooking gear; bring your own food to cook on the propane stove. Nice touches include a telescope, binoculars and an iPad with stargazing apps: strike out from here for walking trails in the Gardens of Stone, Capertee, Turon or Wollemi national parks. From $510 per night, minimum two nights.
bubbletentaustralia.com
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Ningaloo, WA
From your luxury tent facing the Blue Lagoon, stumble sleepily down to the water’s edge, wade in and drift over the corals of Nature’s great aquarium. Later, join a guided swim with whale sharks (April to July) or humpback whales (August to October); over dinner, everyone agrees the experience is as humbling as all the hype. You’ll talk of other sightings, too: a shovelnose ray, spouting minke whales, a dugong mother and calf that surfaced right beside the boat. This is the gift of the Sal Salis beach safari camp, an hour’s drive from Exmouth: unfettered access to the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef, which runs along 280km of Indian Ocean shoreline. From $929 a night, including meals and open bar, watersports equipment, guided walks, snorkelling and kayaking.
salsalis.com.au
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Kimberley Coastal Camp, WA
No roads lead to this unimaginably remote retreat, tucked into a sheltered bay in Admiralty Gulf, deep in the Kimberley wilderness. A seaplane flight from Kununurra will bring you to the “barefoot resort” with its pavilion, outdoor fireplace, freshwater pool and bungalows dotted among boab trees. It’s a dream location for fishing, too; cast a line here and you might catch anything from blue nose salmon to fingermarks and barramundi. What’s more, your catch can be pan-fried to perfection and served with a Middle Eastern salad for your supper. The camp is open year round; $1250 per person per night twin-share, including food and activities such as fishing, boat trips, cooking classes and rock art tours.
kimberleycoastalcamp.com.au
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Due to Covid restrictions around social distancing practices, please contact resorts and businesses directly for the most current information regarding opening times, services and bookings.
While prices are correct at time of publication, they are subject to change due to season and other factors.
Contributors: Lee Atkinson, Greg Bearup, Ross Bilton, Penny Durham, Ricky French, Damian Haarsma, Penny Hunter, Victoria Laurie, Kate Legge, Christine McCabe, Christine Middap, Cathy Osmond