Australia holidays

Australia’s indigenous culture is worth fighting for, and has lasted in the country for the last 60,000 years. Indigenous Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples are slowly winning back their rights, whilst the colonial atrocities against them are being recognised. Aboriginal persons represent only four percent of Australia’s population, so count yourself lucky if you can meet an Aboriginal guide, who might tell you a story from Dreamtime, share a little of their sacred history with you, or invite you to try bush tucker. Their unique worldviews and the stories they share are tens of thousands of years in the making.

With ferocious inland temperatures, not everywhere in Australia is suitable for a walking holiday – a fact disregarded by those who choose to hike the Larapinta Trail, right in the middle of the Outback, or the Flinders Range, which rises into high, dry peaks out of Adelaide. More sensible options include Victoria’s Great Ocean Walk and Great Alpine Walk – two great reasons to ditch the car in the country’s cooler southern tip. Tasmania’s even more temperate climate makes tackling the trails in the epic Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park just a little bit easier.

Left to its own devices for thousands of years, Australia’s animals evolved into a marsupial bonanza, making a wildlife holiday a wildly popular option for travellers. You could find yourself in Tasmania, looking out for white wallabies, echidna and Tasmanian devils, or on Kangaroo Island, just off South Australia, swimming with sea lions. Australia is expensive, and you might find joining a small group the best way to keep your trip on budget. And walking holidays tend to ditch the expensive flat whites along with the flat going, favouring motels, picnics and ascents into the mountains.