1. For wildlife: Mackay, Queensland

Surrounded by sugarcane and with a main street well shaded by tropical foliage, Mackay is a great base for visiting Eungella National forest.

This charming rain forest has rivers rich enough in platypus to make seeing one practically ensured. Your finest possibility is at Broken River, where the seeing platform is surrounded by ferns and vines-- load a picnic and wait a while in silence to see them.

Later on, take a hike on walking tracks through the trees, ideal for birdwatching and goanna finding, or head back to town for a walk along the golden sands of Harbour Beach.

2. For legendary sunsets: Tower Hill, Victoria

Continue just a little further west from the Great Ocean Road and you'll discover this volcanic crater. Encircled by beds of ash, it's a fertile green sanctuary that is home to koalas and kangaroos aplenty.

The assisted walks from the visitor centre will present you to the wildlife, as well as to the Aboriginal history-- and you'll find out how to rustle up some bushtucker. But the sunset-- finest seen from the crater's rim-- is the main event. Stick around afterwards and sign up with the directed night walk to see the animals at its most active.

3. For incredible photos: Devil's Marbles, Northern Territory

You'll require to commit to a long drive for this one-- however it's well worth it. Some 130km south of Tennant Creek, en path to Alice Springs, you'll discover a geological phenomenon: a fistful of rock marbles http://edition.cnn.com/search/?text=australia flung across the Wilderness.

Envision them as the eponymous marbles, or as the eggs of the rainbow serpent from the regional Aboriginal story. In either case, they're best fodder for the keen professional photographer.

4. For wine: Denmark, Western Australia

Let Margaret River keep its crowds of wine tourers and head rather to Denmark on south the south coast. Here you'll discover a laid-back cluster of store wineries and hyper-local dining establishments underneath a karri tree canopy. Head for the hills inland and go to Castelli Estate for terrific Pinot Noir and Shiraz or hit Howard Park for red wines that combine the very best of both Denmark and Margaret River grapes.

Do not miss out on Pepper and Salt for dinner, where chef Silas utilizes the area's premium produce to produce dishes motivated by his Fijian-Indian heritage. And go to in March or April for Taste Excellent Southern, which celebrates the area's superb local produce.

5. For an extraordinary journey: The Nullarbor Plain, South Australia

Superlatives are plentiful on the Nullarbor-- it's the world's largest single piece of limestone, the world's longest stretch of straight railway track and even deep space's longest golf course.

All that produces one long (but epic) drive, stressed just by lookouts over the Great Australian Bight (next stop Antarctica), dirty roadhouses and the odd pitstop to hit a golf ball, if you're so likely.

6. For camping and climbs: Freycinet National Park, Tasmania

Freycinet may be among Tassie's the majority of checked out websites, but that doesn't suggest you'll bump into anyone else on a walk here. Go out on the 31km peninsula circuit and you'll soon shake off any fellow visitors (so bring a lot of water) as you tramp anti-clockwise around the peninsula from the Hazards Beach Track to the Wineglass Bay lookout.

Outdoor camping is at Cooks Beach and there's time to climb up Mount Freycinet (the summit is 620m above water level). As soon as you're done, begin those treking boots and dig your toes into the pristine white sands of Wineglass Bay.

7. For unbeatable hiking: New England National Forest, New South Wales

Ancient rain forest cloaks the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, much of it an unattainable wilderness that would quickly pass for the Amazon. New England National forest opens this UNESCO World Heritage rain forest for visitors, using walking routes through the snow gums and lookouts from which the view stretches all the method to the coast.

Take the Eagles Nest track, a 2.2 km loop, and you'll see Antarctic beech trees covered in fungi, endemic beech orchids and trickling waterfalls, frequently frozen in winter season. You'll eventually reach Point lookout for those panoramic rain forest views.