SAILING THE WHITSUNDAYS, QUEENSLAND
Protected by the World-Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, and spread out across 74 tropical islands - of which only five are inhabited - the Whitsundays region is considered the world's premier sailing destination.
Why venture to the congested waters of southern Europe when you can anchor free of charge at deserted, calm-water anchorages beside some of the world's best beaches (including Whitehaven Beach)? There's any number of sailing options - from bareboat charters where you're the skipper, to crewed sailing journeys.
See tourismwhitsundays.com.au.
CT 
BILL PEACH JOURNEYS, GREAT AUSTRALIAN AIRCRUISE NATIONAL
Have breakfast overlooking Broome's sweeping Cable Beach on Western Australia's far north coast and by dusk watch the sun slip behind Uluru before dining under a blanket of stars. The beauty of a chartered aircraft is it makes crossing Australia's vast distances entirely plausible.
And on the 12-day Great Australian Aircruise you tick off Australia's most prized landmarks - Kakadu, the Red Centre, the ancient Bungle Bungle Range, the mighty chasms of Katherine Gorge, the Buccaneer Archipelago and the Olgas - in one, awe-inspiring journey.
See billpeachjourneys.com.au.
SR
MARGARET RIVER DISCOVERY TOURS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Consistently rated on TripAdvisor as a five-star experience - of a total of 399 reviews at the time of writing, 395 awarded it top marks - Sean Blocksidge's Margaret River Discovery Tours are truly one of the greatest small-enterprise success stories of Australian tourism.
Sean runs all of his company's adventure-cum-wine-tasting tours himself, and he's a man who loves his job. Why wouldn't he?
It involves canoeing down Margaret River, hiking the Cape to Cape Track, four-wheel-driving through sand dunes, and tasting some of Australia's best wines. BG
GOLFING, MORNINGTON PENINSULA, VICTORIA
It's now one of the world's premier golf destinations - comparable only to California's Monterey region and Scotland's Fife district.
But the Mornington Peninsula has two very distinct advantages over both. First, you can play most courses here for under $60 a round.
And the Mornington offers convenience: there are more than 15 courses located within a 30-minute drive of each other, including some of Australia's Top 50 courses built in among coastal sandhills right beside Bass Strait.
See visitvictoria.com. CT
THE HARRY REDFORD CATTLE MUSTER, QUEENSLAND
What could be more quintessentially Australian than mustering cattle across the outback by horseback (except perhaps wrestling a croc near Walkabout Creek)?
There's no more authentic cattle muster on Earth. You'll lead more than 600 head of cattle through drought-stricken west Queensland with a motley crew of local volunteers.
It's no tourist gimmick either: in 19 days you'll cover 200 kilometres. It's not a trail ride, this is real-life cowboy work.
See harryredford.com.au. CT
SAIL DARWIN, NORTHERN TERRITORY
Sailing Darwin's three-night Turtle Dreaming and Tiwi Islands Adventure, aboard the 15-metre catamaran Sundancer, is as culturally rich, environmentally sensitive and relaxing an experience as you can have anywhere in the world.
With young Larrakia guide Shannon Lee on board, sharing spots from his childhood and leading you ashore on Bare Sand Island to witness turtle nesting, and quality time spent with Tiwi artists and elders on Bathurst and Melville Islands, this is unobtrusive indigenous tourism at its best.
See saildarwin.com.au. DS
SURFING, NATIONAL
While Australians fly off in ever increasing numbers to Indonesia on surf holidays, it's worth remembering how many unridden waves we're leaving behind.
For this is a country with 36,000 kilometres of coastline, spread across three different oceans.
While our most iconic waves might get crowded, the likes of the Bondis and the Bells, there's parts of Australia's coastline that have still barely been surfed
You'll always paddle out alone along South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, or Western Australia's Goldfields-Esperance region or Tasmania's lonely south-eastern coastline.
See australia.com. CT
TIWI ISLANDS, NORTHERN TERRITORY
Remote, but not too far from the big smoke, the Tiwi Islands are a 15-minute flight or three-hour ferry ride from Darwin.
We Aussies love immersing ourselves in other cultures' lifestyles, from Thai to Turkey: why not look to our own?
Go on safari to spot man-eating crocodiles or ancient turtles, catch and release a big barramundi or its many feisty friends, immerse yourself in a unique design culture or tap into the stillness of island life.
See travelnt.com. BJ
NINGALOO REEF, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
The whale sharks aren't the only breathtaking sights to be found on Ningaloo Reef.
In fact, this West Australian ocean wonder may be the most underrated of all our natural attractions.
Snorkellers can access extraordinary hard coral gardens teeming with fish right off the beach, or swim with elegant manta rays and an occasional dugong.
The fun continues on dry land: explore dramatic gorges or spot kangaroos and echidnas in Cape Range National Park.
See westernaustralia.com.au. UJ
THE BELLARINE PENINSULA, VICTORIA
What's it say about how much a country offers that an entire peninsula - that's an hour from its second largest city - goes almost completely unnoticed, even by those who live beside it?
The Bellarine Peninsula is home to some of Australia's best cool climate wineries with award-winning restaurants like Oakdene and Jack Rabbit Vineyard and golf courses rated inside the country's Top 20 courses, (like 13th Beach), and yet it's still largely ignored by all but the few who know it.
See visitgeelongbellarine.com.au. CT
MELBOURNE'S LANEWAYS
In many cities, a dark laneway is the scene for strife. In Melbourne, it's most likely the address of the hippest little bar in town.
Put your walking shoes on to discover Japanese bathhouse Onsen Ma or American deep-frying restaurant Mr Big Stuff (Meyers Place), a sneaky rat by British heavyweight street artist Banksy (AC/DC Lane), old-school Italian cafe Pellegrini or top fusion cuisine at Gingerboy (Crossley Street). It's the world, ensnared in a nine-by-nine street grid conceived by Robert Hoddle over 150 years ago. Thanks for that.
See thatsmelbourne.com.au, visitvictoria.com. BJ
GREAT BARRIER REEF, QUEENSLAND
Nothing prepares you for seeing the hallowed Great Barrier Reef for the first time.
Stretching 2300 kilometres, its astounding beauty, with its montage of jewel-like reefs, islands, coral cays and atolls, and more marine life per square inch than anywhere on the planet, is profoundly moving.
To grasp our world heritage listed reef's splendid magnitude take to the air on a scenic flight.
Listed as one of the seven wonders of the natural world, it's something every Australian should experience at least once in their lifetime.
See hamiltonislandair.com, whitsundayscenicflights.com.au. SR
PORT DOUGLAS, QUEENSLAND
In the 1980s Port Douglas was synonymous with excess.
Back then, it seemed entirely inconceivable that this quaint frontier town would ever recover from Christopher Skase's exlpoits. But it has.
Port Douglas today has everything that you might want in a tropical hideaway - a lively restaurant scene, great accommodation and a glamorous marina.
A perfect base for trips to the reef or the rainforest, Port Douglas is better than ever: affluent, spotlessly clean, laid-back and decidedly cosmopolitan.
See queensland.com. MC
KARIJINI NATIONAL PARK, PILBARA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
There are few places on the planet where you can be sandwiched between 100-metre tall gorge walls that are 2.7 billion years old.
Hancock Gorge in Karijini National Park is one such wonderful place.
As spectacular as the Kimberley but with far fewer visitors, Karijini is a natural wonderland of canyons, narrow fissures and Edenesque swimming holes located in the midst of the arid, remote Pilbara region.
Visit soon to have Hancock and other primordial gorges to yourself, and bed down in an en suite safari-style tent at the Aboriginal-owned Karijini Eco Retreat.
See karijiniecoretreat.com.au. DS