My Aussie Top 10
As a travel journalist I often get asked to list good things to do. here’s some my list about Australia.
1.The most popular departure point for those looking to snorkel and dive the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns is a favoured point to catch a chartered tour to the reef. There are various operators that offer a wide variety of different kinds of trips to the Great Barrier Reef. You can choose between day-tours or liveaboard tours, which range widely in price, anywhere from to 0.If you aren’t yet qualified to dive, but can’t imagine a day cruise to the Great Barrier Reef without doing so, you can easily pick up your qualification in a few days at any Cairns dive school. They offer a 4-day learn to dive course, which gives you your open water certification and gives you the opportunity for several solo dives out on the reef. Virtually all operators have an ecotourism certification, which means you don’t have to worry about damaging all the beautiful underwater scenery while you are diving.
2.Happening in February, the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras has grown to be the biggest of its kind in the world. Over a million people line Sydney’s streets to see floats so colourful, and outfits so outlandish that Brazilian carnevalists would blush with embarrasment. Streets are blocked off, pubs en-route are at capacity, and the gay and lesbian community party for days. It’s their Christmas. Straight people are allowed along for the celebratory ride but this is a celebration of gay culture. The event began in 1979 with a parade of 800 people marking International Gay Solidarity Day. These were much less open times and there were clashes with authority that led to arrests for ‘lewd behaviour’. These days gay and lesbian police march openly – and even in uniform – in the parade. The whole thing involves thousands of performers. Religious types are ever resentful of the wanton sexuality but are generally seen as part of the lunatic fringe during this miasma of colour. It’s an eyeful of a party and can’t be missed.
3.Just south of Cairns<, Mission Beach is the perfect departure point for the Great Barrier Reef. The beach is a 13km long, white sandy beach, with breathtaking views of Dunk and a couple of other islands just within sight. There is a small township here, where you can learn more about activities like snorkelling or scuba diving, though some would be perfectly happy soaking up the rays and taking in the beautiful views.You can stay in Mission Beach, though most will be on a day trip from Cairns. If you did not hire a car or camper van for your [holiday|vacation|trip}, there is a bus service called Mission Beach Dunk Island Coaches, which takes scenic routs between Port Douglas, Cairns, and Mission Beach.
4.Tropfest is the world’s largest short film festival and is held early in February each year in Sydney’s Domain. Tropfest also screens around the country. The aim is to ‘showcase the work of emerging filmmakers and to give them the opportunity to show their movies for their peers in a festive environment’. For everyone else it’s a chance to watch free films while drinking wine on a warm summer’s evening. Each film must contain a ‘signature item’, something inanimate the organisers decided months previously to ensure the film was made for Tropfest. The event began in 1993 when a local actor/director John Polson screened one of his own short films at the Tropicana Café in Darlinghurst. 200 people crammed the café. The next year 2000 showed up and chaos reigned on the café strip. Last year it’s estimated 100,000 watched the festival in The Domain, while capacity audiences filled the interstate venues.
5.Try to play Didgeridoo and learn something about Indigenous Culture. You will find out that blowing into the carved tree is not as easy as it may seem (but you may have lot of fun, you or the one teaching you). Cultural centres of aborginal art and history are everywhere. You will learn stories about the Dreamtime and learn a lot of how people lived in the old days and what were their values. It may change your perception of the locals you may meet on your travels.
6.Dubbed ‘The race that stops a nation’, The Melbourne Cup does just that. At 2:50pm on the first Tuesday in November, the whole country downs pencils and tunes in. People that have no interest in horse racing watch. School children are allowed home early to watch it on TV. The entire state of Victoria has a holiday. Flemington, where the race is held, is a heaving mass of partygoers. At least 150,000 people get to the track, and the same happens at every single race track in the whole country. Australians go crazy for ‘The Cup’, everyone becomes an analyst and sweepstakes are held in offices and classrooms everywhere. As a way of seeing how Australians tick, getting to Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day can’t be matched.
7.The oldest continuous area of rainforest in the southern hemisphere, the Daintree National Park is a protected area of incredible rainforest an hour or so north of Cairns. The park, which encompasses around 1200 square kilometers, is not only World Heritage listed, but is also home to a large variety of flora and fauna—including marsupials, frogs, birds and the endangered dropbear. Generally thought to be the oldest rainforest in the world, the Daintree forest is over 140 million years old and has more than 450 different species of bird, including 20 species that are found nowhere else in the world. There are some day hikes that allow adventurers to see parts of this beautiful rainforest on their own, as well as guided tours that can help teach you about the local history on your way.
8.The Great Australian Bight is absolutely breathtaking. The Great Ocean Road runs right along the cliffs of the Southern Ocean where it kind of blew my mind that the next piece of land south is Antarctica. There are interesting sites to see like the Massive rock formations of the Twelve Apostles, volcanic craters that became lakes, waterfalls, and beaches. And there’s nothing like experiencing the lifestyle and culture of the quiet, coastal towns that have the privilege of being situated on this brilliant coast.
9.Treat yourself to a surf camp and experience the surfing lifestyle. Have you ever dreamed of surfing the ocean swell? Well, now is your chance. Surfing is big in Australia. Not just as a sport, but also as a lifestyle. There is something special about the people that live and breath surfing. They have a natural ease and serenity, that is hard to find elsewhere. And it’s difficult to understand it until you actually do it. The two seconds of glory while you stand on the board for the first time, with knees shaking like an old man will stay with you forever. At least long enough to recover from the wave that will try to drown you two seconds later.If you ever thought that surfing was easy, you were definately wrong. Surfing is extremely hard, and can be near impossible, but highly worth the effort.
10.Coober Pedy is well known for the strange living quarters of a significant portion of it’s local inhabitants who live underground. This practice came about when local resident sought escape from the intense heat before the days of modern air conditioning. Also famous as the the Opal Capital of the World, Coober Pedy was first established as an opal mine in the eaerly 20th century. Today tourists can visit the old opal mines, visit underground churches, and stay underground in a motel. The local golf course, with sand instead of grass, is played at night with glowing golf balls. The area served as the backdrop for the post-nuclear apocalypse film titled Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome starring Australian son Mel Gibson. Find a Underground hotel and experience this must see highlight.
I hope these help any future holiday makers Downunder.