Australien

The epic Savannah Way runs all the way from Cairns to Broome, skirting the top of the country. The Queensland section, linking the east coast with the Gulf of Carpentaria, from Cairns to Burketown, is one of the state's great road trips.

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.

From Cape Jervis, car ferries chug across the swells of the Backstairs Passage to Kangaroo Island (KI). Uninhabited when Brit explorer Matthew Flinders named the island in 1802 and long devoid of tourist trappings, KI is today a booming destination for wilderness and wildlife fans. It's a veritable zoo of seals, birds, dolphins, echidnas and (of course) kangaroos. Still, the island remains rurally paced and underdeveloped − the kind of place where kids ride bikes to school and farmers advertise for wives on noticeboards. Island wine and produce is a highlight.

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.

Yulara is the service village and necessary base for exploring Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, and has effectively turned one of the world's least hospitable regions into a comfortable place to stay with a full range of amenities. It lies just outside the national park, 20km from Uluru and 53km from Kata Tjuta.

'Rotto' – or Wadjemup to Noongar Aboriginal people – has long been the go-to destination for Perth families on holiday, and a coming-of-age promised land for local teens. Although it's only about 19km offshore from Fremantle, this car-free, off-the-grid slice of paradise, ringed by secluded beaches and bays, feels a million miles away

Unfettered and alive, West Coast Australia is 12,500km of truly spectacular coastline. There's a freedom and optimism here that the rest of Australia can't replicate.

Cairns (pronounced ‘cans’) has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a boggy swamp and rollicking goldfields port. As the number-one base for Far North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, today Cairns heaves under the weight of an ever-growing number of resorts, tour agencies, souvenir shops, backpacker bars and reef boats. This is a tourist town, and unashamedly so – luxury hotel development in 2018 and an increasingly busy cruise-ship port suggest it's only growing busier.

Lantlig och otämjd. Avslappnad och trendig. Vi tar tempen på Perth, en av världens mest isolerade storstäder.

A place of flawless beaches, coveted surf and laid-back, sun-kissed locals, the Sunshine Coast spreads a golden 100km from the tip of Bribie Island to the Cooloola Coast. Resort towns dot the coast, each with its own appeal and vibe, from chic, cosmopolitan Noosa to easy, hip Caloundra. For tens of thousands of years, these coastal plains have belonged to the Kabi Kabi (Gubbi Gubbi) people, known as the mwoirnewar (the saltwater people) to the Jinibara people of the neighbouring hinterland.