oh, and to answer my own question, Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef are givens. what else?

Hi there,

If you want to experience the most amazing remote outdoors that Australia has to offer, I would recommend going to Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

There is a company called Adventure Tours that do small group tours. I have done the tour that goes from Perth up to Broome. It was the best outdoor/camping trip I have been on.

They also do a tour from Darwin into what is called Kakadu. I have heard that this is the best nature trip there is. If you want to really experience Australia, this is the way.

I will try and find the website for Adventure Tours so you can look at it in detail.

Jeremy

Go to the Northern Territory. See Darwin and Alice Springs. Research the indigenous peoples of Australia and what has happened to them. Prior to going, read “The Rabbit Proof Fence” by Doris Pilkington and “Down Under” by Bill Bryson. Australia is a wonderful country filled with wide open places. You will love it. Check out the blog of my two months in Australia here.

I spent one week in the Northern Territory visiting Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land. It is the best of both natural wonders and ancient, man made ones. I went through a tour company called Essential Down Under, which has many tours that are run by Aboriginal groups.

I visited Oz last year and plan to go back again in January. Definitely go up to Darwin, it is a cute city and they have a great market, I believe on Saturdays only. We rented a car from there (4Wheel drive) and went to Kakadu. That was absolutely amazing. While you are there go on the Yellow River boat trip – sounds cheesy but it was one of the best things we did. Also 4Wheeled out to Barramundi Gorge which was beautiful. We also checked out Litchfield Park on the way back to Darwin and that was interesting as well – lots of WWII history in that area. AND the best part is that there are NO people. This is true for most places I went – at least compared to the US - NO People.

I also highly recommend Cape Tribulation and the Daintree in Queensland. If you are into yoga, there is an amazing place called Prema Shanti where you can stay relatively cheaply in the middle of the oldest rain forest in the world, meditate, do yoga, food included and bike down to a beautiful beach in 5 minutes and most days, we were the only people on the beach.

Next trip I want to check out Perth and Tasmania and I have to go back to the Daintree again. Australia is a mesmerizing and powerful place. You will LOVE it!

Hi Hippie,
Firstly i have to agree with Jeremy about Kakadu, from what you have said I think you’d like that, and also with Mozul’s reading material.
With regards to Uluru being a given, I have to agree, it’s hard to explain to anybody and so should be experienced first hand. If you do go to Uluru, be sure to take in Kings Canyon, it really is awesome.
If anybody noticed my last reply they might think I’m repeating myself but I’m going to say it anyway, I would thoroughly recommend Fraser Island, Queensland. It’s the world’s largest sand island and is an eco tourist resort. There is so much to see on Fraser and it can be easily reached from Hervey Bay.
Happy travelling, hope to see what you think.

Hi Hippie,

I know you don’t like tours etc… but some of the areas in Australia like Western Australia and Northern Territory are impossible to do by yourself. A lot of the places I went to, were in the middle of nowhere with no signs or road names. If I would have tried bymyself, I would have missed out on so much. Plus the land area in Western Australia is so big, you would spend so much money on gas etc….

I hate group tours as well, but in this case it was a really small group which does not have all the aspects I hate about group tours. The website is www.adventuretours.com.au

The other option you have is a hop on hop off bus link. Adventure Tours allows you the option to get off whenever you want and stay at each stop as long as you want. It takes you all up the coast of Western Australia and continues into NT. So then you are not restricted by a tour.

I only recommend them because I lived in Perth for 5 years and was a travel agent. I have seen all the different ways to see that area of Australia. This is the safest and easiest. If you are on the east coast of Australia, then you can rent a car and do everything yourself. The West and North is very different. A lot of backpackers who go out by themselves end up in real danger.

My impressions/attitudes:
-Oz has a land-mass almost the size of the US, but the population of Texas. In other words, a big empty.
-Most Australians (read: euros) never leave the coast. The interior of the continent is another land to them. Many have never been to Uluru, etc. and probably wouldn’t go.
-Sydney is a big international city. If you want to go to a big international city, New York, Toronto, L.A. are a lot closer. If you want to get to see “Australia”, go to some other place: Perth, Brisbane, Darwin (if you like extreme heat), Tasmania.
-The native peoples are not integrated into the euro-society very much. If you are interested in seeing natives, you’ll need to leave the coast.
-Backpacking is a great way to go “on the cheap”, but you’ll mostly meet folks from other countries at the hostels, so you’ll have to get out of there to meet locals.

If you want to go to the best darn beach town in the southern hemisphere, it’s Airlie Beach. It’s just south of Townsville in central Queensland, port of the Whitsunday islands, about one and a half streets, and an awesome place for backpackers. Even if you aren’t backpacking it’s a great place to have a good time and the country there… it’s simply beautiful.

Kangaroo Island. It’s a smaller Island off the coast of South Australia. It was really awesome, we saw all kinds of critters there, they have their own breed of Kangaroo a pair (at least) of super rare cockatoos and if you scuba dive, the Leafy Sea Dragon lives off the coast there. The whole place is very laid back, it has only two real towns, both have hotels and hostels, well, one may not have a hotel, but it has 2 hostels. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it. We also did this really cool night time tour of a wildlife sanctuary in the Adelaide Hills…crap. what was the name of that place…Warrawong Sanctuary. That’s it. Very awesome.

I didn’t do much on the nature side, I will say that going to the Minus 5 bar on Sydney Harbour is a must, though. I’m not a big fan of bars, but this one is made entirely of ice and was one of my best memories – just make sure to go with a friend and bring a camera. Otherwise, the only other nature thing I did was go out to St. Kilda beach in Melbourne, which was lovely. Have fun!

Gotta do Cairns. Be sure to visit the Tropical Rainforest as well as the Great Barrier Reef. Find a wildlife spotting tour—we saw wild platypus as well as great birds and marsupials. The rainforest has fascinating plants and insects. Try to go somewhere you can see a Cassowary in the wild—before they’re all gone!