Indian Pacific Train: This 3-day journey across the Outback regularly makes it onto travel magazines’ “Top Rail Journeys in the World” lists. The desert scenery ain’t all that magnificent — it’s the unspoiled, empty vastness that passengers appreciate. It includes the longest straight stretch of track in the world, 478km (296 miles) across the treeless Nullarbor Plain. Start in Sydney and end in Perth, or vice versa, or just do a section.
Experiencing Sydney (NSW): Sydney is more than just the magnificent Harbour Bridge and Opera House. No other city has beaches in such abundance, and few have such a magnificently scenic harbor.
Broken Hill (NSW): Known for its silver mines, the quirky town of Broken Hill has more pubs per capita than just about anywhere else. It’s the home of the School of the Air — a “classroom” that transmits lessons by radio to communities spread over thousands of miles of Outback. Here you’ll also find the Palace Hotel, made famous in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, as well as plenty of colonial mansions and heritage homes.
Seeing the Great Barrier Reef (QLD): It’s a glorious 1,240-mile underwater coral fairyland with electric colors and bizarre fish life — and it comes complete with warm water and year-round sunshine. This is what you came to Australia to see. When you’re not snorkeling over coral and giant clams almost as big as you, scuba diving, calling at tropical towns, or lazing on deserted island beaches, you’ll be trying out the sun lounges or enjoying the first-rate food.
Exploring the Wet Tropics Rainforest (QLD): moisture-dripping ferns, the neon-blue butterflies, and the primeval peace of this World Heritage rainforest stretching north, south, and west from Cairns. Hike it, four-wheel-drive it, or glide over the treetops in the Skyrail gondola.
Exploring Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) & Uluru (Ayers Rock) (NT): Just why everyone comes thousands of miles to see the big red stone of Ayers Rock is a mystery, and that’s probably why they come — because the Rock is a mystery. Take an Aboriginal Culture Tour (Alice Springs, NT)
Discovering the Kimberley (WA): Australia’s last frontier, the Kimberley is a romantic cocktail of South Sea pearls, red mountain ranges, aqua seas, deadly crocodiles, Aboriginal rock art, and million-acre farms in a never-ending wilderness. Cross it by four-wheel-drive, stay in safari tents on a cattle ranch, swim under waterfalls, ride a camel along the beach in Broome, and more.
Wildflowers (WA): Covered in wildflowers. That’s what much of Western Australia looks like every spring, from around August through October, when pink, mauve, red, white, yellow, and blue wildflowers bloom.
Visit wineries in the Barossa Valley (SA): One of Australia’s four largest wine-producing areas, this German-speaking region less than an hour’s drive from Adelaide is also the prettiest. Adelaide’s restaurants happen to be some of the country’s best, too, so test out your wine purchases with the city’s terrific food.
Coober Pedy (SA): For an Outback experience that’s fair-dinkum (genuine), few places are as weird and wonderful as this opal-mining town in the middle of nowhere. Visit mines, see wacky museums, and stay in a hotel underground — not all that unusual, considering that the locals live like moles anyway.
Great Ocean Road (VIC): This 106km (66-mile) coastal road carries you past wild and stunning beaches, forests, and dramatic cliff-top scenery — including the Twelve Apostles, a dozen pillars of red rock standing in isolation in the foaming Southern Ocean.