Australien

Home terrain for three Aboriginal tribal groups – the Banggarla, Nawu and Wirangu peoples – the vast, straw-coloured triangle of Eyre Peninsula is South Australia's big-sky country. It's also the promised land for seafood fans. Meals out here rarely transpire without the option of trying the local oysters, tuna or whiting. Sublime national parks punctuate the coast along with world-class surf breaks and low-key holiday towns, thinning out as you head west towards the Great Australian Bight, the Nullarbor Plain and Western Australia.

Named for cliffs of colourful, mineral-rich sand, Rainbow Beach is an idyllic Australian beach town on Butchulla land at the base of the Inskip Peninsula. Beloved of European backpackers and the chief contender to Hervey Bay as a base for excursions to Fraser Island, it's a generally low-key place that nonetheless offers a few hostels hot-housing all the frenetic action a young, fun-seeking clientele could want. Ideally reached via the Cooloola Section of the Great Sandy National Park, a dramatic approach possible only for 4WDs, it's more easily and conventionally accessed by excellent roads from Gympie, 73km southwest. It's a great place to try your hand at different outdoor activities, tap into the backpacker party scene, or just chill out with family and friends.

With its enticing mix of history, adventure and culinary temptations, Victoria's High Country is a wonderful place to spend some time. The Great Dividing Range – Australia’s eastern mountain spine – curls around eastern Victoria from the Snowy Mountains to the Grampians, peaking in the spectacular High Country. These are Victoria’s alps – a mountain playground attracting skiers and snowboarders in winter and bushwalkers and mountain bikers in summer. Here the mountain air is clear and invigorating, winter snowfalls at the resorts of Mt Buller, Mt Hotham and Falls Creek are fairly reliable, and the scenery is spectacular.

Still harbours, misty valleys, a fringe of wilderness – Tasmania’s southeast has much to entice. The apple-producing heartland of the Apple Isle, this fertile area also churns out cherries, apricots, Atlantic salmon, wines, mushrooms, cheeses, vodka…and apple cider! The wide, tea-coloured Huon River remains the region's lifeblood and pretty much everything that claims 'southernmost in Australia' is here.

Welcome to the island's wild west, a land of endless ocean beaches, ancient mossy rainforests, tannin-tinted rivers, glacier-sculpted mountains and wildflower-strewn high plains – a place where you'll often feel like you're the only soul on earth. This is Tasmania’s vast outdoor playground, replete with national parks, conservation reserves and World Heritage–protected wilderness, where your options for adventure are varied and plentiful.

Although tourists usually outnumber locals, Margaret River still feels like a country town. The advantage of basing yourself here is that after 5pm, once the wineries shut up shop, it's one of the few places with any vital signs. Plus, it's close to the incredible surf of Margaret River Mouth and Southside, and the swimming beaches at Prevelly and Gracetown.

This less-heralded stretch of Queensland's coast straddles the Tropic of Capricorn, and comprises the southernmost islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Here, local families seek escape from the inland heat of centres such as beef capital Rockhampton among dreamy beaches, mangroves and reef-fringed islands, while the less-accessible coast and hinterland hold some of the state's most arrestingly beautiful national parks. School holidays can be busy in the main cooling-off spots, but for most of the year you needn’t travel far to find a deserted beach.

Baked, straw-coloured plains, hawthorn hedgerows, rows of poplars, roadside mansions… Tasmania’s Midlands have a distinct English-countryside feel. This is old-school Tasmania, tracing the route between Hobart and Launceston hammered out by convict gangs in the early 1800s. As the road rolled itself out, sandstone garrison towns and pastoral properties appeared: the Midlands soon became the food factory of Van Diemen's Land.

Just an hour from Hobart lie the staggering coastal landscapes, sandy beaches and historic sites of the Tasman Peninsula. Bushwalking, surfing, sea kayaking, diving and rock-climbing opportunities abound – all good reasons to extend your visit beyond a hurried day trip from Hobart.

Despite its inland city centre, Coffs has a string of fabulous beaches. Equally popular with families and backpackers, the town offers plenty of water-based activities, action sports and wildlife encounters, not to mention the kitsch yellow beacon that is the Big Banana. It also makes an easy base for exploring the quaint towns and beautiful drives of the hinterland.