Tours and things to do in Australia
Jungle Surfing in Cape Tribulation
Australia has a dazzling choice of tours and things
to do on your holidays.
Gone are the days when you had to see on arrival what was available
and at what cost, now you can browse and book tours and activities
online from the comfort of your home before you start your trip.
Book and print your tickets at home and skip the queues when you
get there!
Search
for a specific Australian tour or location on Viator.com,
they are an international online tour booking service
with a huge range of tours in Australia that you can browse and
securely book online, avoid the queues!
Tours To Go is an Australian online tour specialist
with a huge range of all sorts of Australian tours, browse and book
online
Abseiling
Experience the thrill of abseiling down some steep
cliff faces in the Australian bush, accompanied by qualified instructors
to keep it safe!
Aboriginal culture
To see the real Aboriginal culture you would have
to travel to some very out of the way places and usually it is too
difficult to organize permits to enter Aboriginal owned land and
even then they prefer to be left alone and not be a tourist attraction.
Fortunately there are many places nowadays where you can without
traveling too far get an introduction into Aboriginal culture. In,
or just outside main cities, there are Aborginal galleries and dance
theatres. See
the full range of Aboriginal Tours
Antarctica
Several times a year planes depart Sydney and Melbourne
for scenic flights over Antarctica. More
info...
Ballooning
There are many places around Australia where you can
go for a flight in a hot-air balloon, probably the most famous one
the one at Ayers Rock. Usually early departures to catch the sunrises
and a champagne breakfast is included.
Bird watching
Australia has over 800 species of birds, half of those
found only in this country. The multitude of bird life, from the
brightly colored lorikeets to the elusive cassowary, makes Australia
a bird watchers paradise. The most amazing one of all would have
to be the cassowary.
Boating
As is often the case with islands, Australia has a
lot of water around it, and boating is a popular passtime in Australia,
and the climate and fish make it even better.
Boomerang throwing lessons
Learn to throw this ancient hunting tool to make it
come back, not as easy as it sounds but there are various places
around the country where they will turn you in to a skilled hunter.
Bridge climbing
© BridgeClimb
This fantastic tour is an unforgettable way to see
Sydney!
The world famous 'BridgeClimb' takes you to the summit of the magnificent
Sydney Harbour Bridge. With expert Climb Leaders this three hour
adventure will give you a sensational view of one of the most beautiful
cities and harbors in the world.
Click
here to book this tour on-line
Bungy jumping
Found in many, often very scenic, places around Australia.
Is no longer free for naked jumpers, too many people started taking
advantage of this offer, now everyone has to pay. The Bungy Jump
in Cairns offers a few more extras, including their BIGGEST
DAY OUT deal! This package allows UNLIMITED JUMPING
between 10:00am and 3:30pm, on the same day. It has been designed
specifically for the more adventurous thrill seeker. Lunch at AJ'S
Rainforest Café is included. For your UNLIMITED number of
bungy jumps, you may want to select from the following menu:
Bushwalking
Australia is a mecca for bush walkers and hundreds
of National Parks across the country offer a huge choice in walks.
Tasmania is a very popular place, the Cradle Mountain walk being
the most famous, the south-west still has expanses of wilderness
where you can walk for weeks without seeing anyone and you will
need a plane to fly you out again. Keep an eye out for that elusive
Tasmanian Tiger while you're there.
Camel riding
One place where this is popular is Cable
Beach in Broome W.A. where you can watch a magnificent
sunset from the back of your camel. Another popular one runs in
Alice
Springs where you take your camel to dinner.
Cane toad races
Before the race someone is given the task to collect
a bucket of cane toads. They are then fitted with a number on their
back to tell them apart. The numbers correspond to names on a board,
to make it more internationally competitive they get names associated
with countries and are then assigned to people from those countries
that are picked from the audience. One by one they are issued their
cane toad, instructed to kiss the toad, and place it in a bucket
in the centre of the dance floor. Read
more....
Caving
The sense of adventure you feel when caving is second
to none, navigating your way through a maze of passages that will
eventually lead you to the exit requires excellent leadership, teamwork
and an appetite for fun.
Crocodile spotting tours
Forget about just going down to a river to see crocodiles in northern
Australia, they are masters at hiding, while the whole body is submerged
only the eyes stick out above the surface so they see you but you
don't see them. The way to see them isto book on a crocodile spotting
tour, the guides will know where they are and point them out to
you. Most of them, like the ones around the Daintree area north
of Cairns only view crocodiles, but on the Adelaide River in the
Northern Territory on the way to Kakadu they take it a step further
and dangle pieces of meat above the weather that the crocodiles
snap up. Advertised as the "Jumping Crocodiles" you will
see they do not just jump, their tails are powerful enough to let
them stand up out of the water for a few seconds to take meat from
as high as two metres above the water. This is not a trick they
are taught, in nature crocs will jump to catch low flying birds.
When this first started local fishermen were not too happy about
this as they thought it would teach crocs to jump at any boat they
would see but so far nothing has happened.
Didgeridoo lessons
Too many people just buy a didgeridoo as an ornament
that will gather dust in a corner of their European living room
for years to come, but it really would add to your Australia experience,
and impress your friends and family, to return home as a didgeridoo
player, also being able to annoy the hell out of the neighbours
with midnight didgeridoo concerts.
At the Didgeridoo Breath shop in 6 Market St, Fremantle,
Western Australia you can do a four week course, 1.5 hours per week.
What you will learn: making the drone, vocal sounds (animal noises),
circular breathing, diaphragm techniques, building rhythms and more...
Cost: $100 for early payment or $120 (4 x $30) for weekly payments,
this includes didgeridoo hire if required. More
info...
If you didn't get to learn to play the didg in Oz,
log on to this
website anywhere in the world for some online didgeridoo lessons!
Drinking
Drinking was about the only pleasure the convicts
had in the rough old days and it has remained an institution ever
since. Be sure to visit some of the Australian pubs, especially
in the outback they are usually very colorful and often the only
thing around so you don't have much of a choice.
Some more civilized drinking occurs in the various
wine growing regions around Australia, either cruise around in your
own car or book on a tour bus to sample wines of the various wineries;
the Hunter Valley near Sydney, the Barossa Valley near Adelaide
and the Margaret River near Perth are the most popular.
Especially along the east coast there is a well established
party trail where the Australian tourism industry caters to young,
mainly English, backpackers that drink and shag their way around
Australia.
Eating
Australia has nearly two hundred nationalities of
people as residents so you can be assured of huge variety of cuisines
being available. Coming from Europe you will find most of it very
reasonably priced and besides in restaurants it is in often cooked
fresh at outdoor markets, one particularly popular one being the
Mindil Beach markets in Darwin, N.T. where you can eat on the beach
watching the most magnificent sunsets.
Festivals
Australia has some good festivals
and annual events, try to time your
holiday so you can catch some of them.
Fishing
Australia has some pretty good fishing and some tourists
can't believe the size of the fish that are being pulled up here.
Fossicking
Try your luck at finding gold or gem stones. Though
most of Australia has been explored many small scale miners and
fossickers make a living out of what they find.
Just recently in March 2005 a farmer dug up 1.5kg
gold nugget in the north of Victoria while he was out fossicking
with some friends. The nugget contained about $40,000 in gold but
to a collector could be worth around $100,000 in its natural form
as nuggets this size are quite rare.
Four wheel driving
There are a lot of unsealed roads and a lot of bushtracks
in Australia, and four wheel driving, or 'bush bashing' if there
are no tracks at all, is a popular passtime. Quad biking is another
way to get off the beaten track.
Fruit tasting
Many exotic tropical fruits are grown in Australia
nowadays, one such place where you can learn about these fruits
is the Cape
Trib Exotic Fruit Farm.
Golf
Aussies love a game of golf and there are golf courses
all over the country, even the smallest towns have one. Many Japanese
come to Australia for the main purpose of playing golf.
Guided rainforest tours
Hang gliding
Harley tours
In Melbourne and many places around Australia leather
clad bikers have gone into business to tour you around on their
shiny thundering machines. The first one to kick off this industry
did so well he was featured on TV. Unfortunately an FBI agent then
recognized him as wanted and he was promptly arrested and carted
back to the States. Nowadays all Harley Tours are all fully checked
out, licensed by the Transport Department and insured, though they
might still be a bit hairy and sweaty you know what they say; Old
bikers never die. They just smell that way!
Horse riding
In many places you can explore Australia's beauty
on horse back, tours usually cater for beginners and advanced riders
and run through outback, along beaches and through forests.
Jackaroo or jillaroo school
Several outback places offer courses that will turn you into a
jackaroo or (for girls) jillaroo, otherwise known as station hand.
You will learn how to ride a tractor and horse, how to castrate
a sheep with your teeth and how to fix a fence and be qualified
to get a job on a cattle station.
Jungle Surfing
In the rainforest most of life occurs high up in the
canopy where you can not get to but in Cape Tribulation in the oldest
rainforest in the world in the World Heritage listed Daintree you
can get a birds eye view of the canopy. Fully trained and qualified
guides will move you along steel cables through the canopy. More
info...
Kayaking
See the country and get some exercise at the same
time!
Cape
Trib Paddletrek - Sea kayaking tours in Cape Tribulation
Kite surfing
This sport has rapidly increased in popularity the
last few years, and there are various places where they can teach
you how to kite surf.
Mine tours
Mining is a huge part of Australia's history and even
today's economy. In many places like Mount Isa, Kalgoorlie, Coober
Pedy, Tennant Creek etc. you can go on tours in the mine and get
a feel for what it was like to be a miner in those rough old days.
Mountain biking
With so much bush in Australia it is a paradise for
mountain bikers.
Outback camping trips
In many places there are tours that will show you
the sights in multiple day trips camping out in the bush in tents
or swags. Nights are usually spent either in the middle of nowhere
around the camp fire underneath magnificent starry skies or at outback
pubs where the locals are usually friendly and the cowboys like
to meet some new faces from out of town.
Parachuting
See sky diving.
Rodeos
In many places around Australia, especially in the
outback, the wild west is still alive and the annual rodeo is often
the highlight of the year. You can watch cowboys ride horses and
bulls while you enjoy a cold beer. More
info...
Sailing
Sailing is a popular pastime in Australia, and various
tour companies offer you the chance to join their boat and hit the
waves.
Sea kayaking
Join the Cape Tribulation Paddle
Trek and explore the Daintree Coast at Cape Tribulation
by sea kayak.
Ski the snow
Snow? Yes, not all of Australia is covered in palm
trees and tropical things, in the south the weather is much like
Europe and up in the mountains it gets cold enough for snow and
skiing. The Snowy Mountains in New South Wales have a thriving ski-industry
centred in the village of Thredbo.
Scuba diving
Scuba diving the desert
Under the Nullarbor Plains between Adelaide and Perth
there are submerged caves where you can go scuba diving.
Scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef
Early 2004 a survey was held in the U.K. asking people
about the 50 things to do before you die and the majority placed
scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef in the top three. It is the
largest living coral system in the world, stretching 2300km along
Queensland's coast from Bundaberg to the top of Cape York it contains
1600 reefs and a 1000 islands and is the site of the biggest orgasm
in the universe; this is one of the terms the North Queensland dive
industry uses to describe the annual coral spawning where three
to five nights after the full moon in november or december when
the water temperature hits 28 degrees, the entire 2300 kms of Great
Barrier Reef lets go of zillions and zillions of brightly colored
sperm and eggs that float around for several days and fertilize
eachother. Fish go into a feeding frenzy and the ocean sometimes
resembles an oiltanker disaster site but all this is done to propagate
new corals to ensure the survival of the Great Barrier Reef. If
you find yourself in North Queensland around this time you can witness
this spectacular event as many of the reef tour operators run extra
night trips.
The Great Barrier Reef was the first Australian site to be placed
on UNESCO's World Heritage list, now there are 15 Australian sites.
In Cape Tribulation the reef comes closest to the shore and you
can go on a reef trip here with Rum
Runner.
See a selection of Queensland scuba diving trips here..
Scuba diving with sharks
© Oceanworld Manly
Yes, believe it or not, in Sydney at Manly Oceanworld
you can scuba dive with sharks! They have two tours, one exclusively
for certified
divers and another introductory
dive for those who have never dived before. What a
blast for your first dive!
Scuba diving with whale sharks
Ningaloo Reef
© Australian Adventure Travel
Whales, dolphins, dugongs, manta rays, huge cod or
sharks can be seen in abundance on this tour…
260-kilometre-long Ningaloo Reef offers world class diving through
to family snorkeling in sheltered lagoons crammed with coral gardens.
Ningaloo is the largest fringing coral reef in Australia. It is
the only large reef in the world found so close to a continental
land mass; about 100 metres offshore at its nearest point and less
than seven kilometers at its furthest. The park covers more than
4000 square kilometers and was declared in 1987.
This 4WD adventure will have you enjoying Ningaloo
Reef, Shark Bay, the dolphins at Monkey Mia, Coral Bay, Kalbarri
and the Pinnacles. Swim, snorkel, scuba, ride a quad bike or take
a boat cruise. The tour is accommodated on sheep stations, farms
and country lodges. More
info....
Smoking
Most of Australia, and especially Queensland, is pretty
conservative when it comes to marijuana but the town of Nimbin in
northern New South Wales is a smokers paradise.
Skydiving
Many people thinks it makes no sense to jump out of
a perfectly good aeroplane but there are others that disagree, even
if you want to do it only once you can do a tandem jump with a fully
qualified instructor to give you a huge adrenaline rush and see
some Australian scenery from a birds eye view.
Stargazing at Ayers Rock
The skies in Central Australia's desert are clear most of the year,
and the absence of cities spreading their lights makes this the
absolute perfect place to watch the stars of the southern hemisphere!
Surfing
Never surfed before? No worries, there are surf schools
were they will teach you how!
Gold Coast: For surfing lessons on
the Gold Coast go to Silversurfer.net
, Greg Howell will teach you how to ride those waves!
© Adrift Surf Tours
Western Australia: Experience the
soul of surfing… come along on a true surfing safari, escape
the crowds of the city and head north out of Perth. You will soon
be driving along beautiful white sandy beaches in the search to
find the best waves. With a fully accredited coach by your side,
you will be cruising along waves all the way into the beach, in
no time!
After your first surfing lesson, it's time for a healthy lunch and
a moment to sit back and enjoy the view. Once you have recharged,
hit the surf again to fine tune your new surfing skills.
The afternoon will include 4WD action through the
awesome Lancelin sand dunes where you can test your sandboarding
skills. You will then head back to Perth, around mid-afternoon,
and relish the experience you've just had living a day in the life
of a surfer!
More info...
Whale watching
© Australian Day Tours
This is a seasonal activity as it depends on the migration
of the whales to and from the icy waters of the Antarctic which
normally happens from June till October.The humpback whales swim
along the entire east coast and are sometimes spotted as far north
as Cape Tribulation. More
info....
Wine tasting
Either cruise around in your own car or book on a
tour bus to sample wines of the various wineries; the Hunter
Valley near Sydney, the Barossa
Valley near Adelaide and the Margaret
River near Perth
are the most popular.
Wwoofing
One way to find accommodation around the country if
you're not too lazy, is to join WWOOF,
it stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms and the principle
is that you stay with host-members where you do 4 to 5 hours work
a day in exchange for food and accommodation. Very popular with
young people, it saves money, is approved by Immigration for people
without a working visa as it is not paid work and no money changes
hands, and it gets you away from the 'get pissed and get laid' backpackerscene
that has taken over much of the east coast. When you join WWOOF
you receive a book with addresses all across Australia with property
descriptions so you can choose what suits you best. One such place
is Rainforest
Hideaway in Cape Tribulation but there are thousands around
the country.
You did anything in Australia that you would recommend
to others? Then contact us!
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