A 20 minute flight north of Darwin, Tiwi Islands is a destination of two islands that are about as remote as they come. One of the two islands, Bathurst Island, has only one accommodation option – Tiwi Islands Resort, which leases its land from traditional owners.

With no phone reception or wifi, you can relax by the pool (there’s no swimming at the beaches given the saltwater crocodiles), go on mud crabbing and fishing excursions, take private helicopter flights over mangrove waterways or enjoy a cosy fireside cocktail on a private beach.

Sounds like paradise? That’s because it is.

Only a three hour drive from Uluru, King’s Canyon is a majestic destination featuring 300 metre high sandstone walls, palm-filled crevices, and views that stretch across the desert. Akin to Uluru, King’s Canyon also comes to life at sunrise and sunset, showcasing its’ iconic red earth and rock formations. Yet, this ancient wonder is more than just a day trip and we recommend exploring for a few days. King’s Canyon Lodge offers comfortable shared and private rooms, as well as glamping tents, with a swanky outback pub onsite for a post-hike bite and drink.

Avoid the crowds of the Great Barrier Reef and swim with one of the world’s largest cohorts of whale sharks, and take a trip west, to the UNESCO Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area.

Using Exmouth as your base, explore highlights suited to any nature-loving traveller who ventures out to Western Australia’s Coral Coast. Some of these include Ningaloo Marine Park, the world’s largest fringing reef, Cape Range National Park, which is abundant with limestone canyons and native bird life, and Karijini National Park, the state’s second largest national park.

Only three hours south of Perth, the world’s most isolated capital city, you can explore a subdued landscape and one of Australia’s only coastal wine region.

Walk the Cape to Cape Track, where 12,000 wildflowers bloom from August to November each year, or head further south along the coast, where the towns of Esperance and Albury delight visitors with their unique natural, indigenous and colonial history.

This breathtaking region is further enhanced with some of the best surf in Australia and a thriving food and wine scene.

Drive directly north of Adelaide, towards the heart of the continent, to discover 100 kilometres of a vast, naturally-formed amphitheatre of a folded mountain range. Eroded over millions of years ago and heralded as having the largest and oldest salt lake in the country, one that dates back to the Cretaceous period (144 to 65 million years ago) when oceans covered a quarter of the continent, the Flinders Ranges is a must-see. Home to Aboriginal communities and now a scenic marvel for air flights and incredible treks, the Flinders Ranges is also a discovery site of some of the oldest fossil evidence of animal life.

Wilpena Pond is a huge geological, crater-like amphitheatre, and is undoubtedly one of the country’s most ancient and ecologically significant landscapes. On the edge of the crater lies Arkaba conservancy , a 60,000 sheep farm turned private bush wilderness and retreat.

Stanley is the epitome of small town Tasmania, not only does it have historic architecture, fishing docks and unique landscapes, but it also has an ancient volcano, traditionally named Moo-Nut-Re-Ker, and more recently, deemed ‘The Nut’. Wander down the coast to Launceston, named Australia’s top town in 2022 by Wotif, for its burgeoning food scene and proximity to the stunning Tamar Wine Valley. For a real off-the-beaten path treat, be sure to take a detour to either Flinders or King Island, both perfectly positioned on each side of the Bass Straight and brimming with their own local surprises and scenery.

Just three hours north of Australia’s second largest capital city, Melbourne, you can adventure through the Australian Alps and explore quaint historic towns year round.

We recommend using Bright as a base, as the Victorian High Country offers an array of outdoor activities and local producers and operators are about as down-to-earth and friendly as they come, so it’s worth spending more than a day here.

Hike or bike the many trails of Alpine National Park, or drive to the top of Mount Buffalo, where a European chalet, built in 1910 in partnership with Victorian Railways, prompted the establishment of Australia’s first alpine and ski tourism destination.

In the east Gippsland region of Victoria, 30 minutes from the state’s coastal border with New South Wales, those keen to get off the beaten path will find a destination teeming with estuarine wildlife and flourishing native Australian vegetation.

The extensive range of walking tracks offer a quiet retreat from the hustle of the city, especially in the wintery off-season and you will feel perfectly secluded in this one-road-in, no-traffic-light town, tucked into the natural landscape at the southeastern-most edge of Australia. If you’re an avid bird watcher, you’re also in the right place, as Mallacoota is renowned to be one of the best bird-watching destinations in Australia.

Despite being the capital city of Australia, we’ve included Canberra – the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in our regional lists, because it’s not often a featured destination on travel routes.

The built-for-purpose city, similar to America’s Washington D.C., strategicallysits halfway between Melbourne and Sydney. Within its mere 2,000 square kilometres (700 square miles), the ACT is chock-full of national galleries and museums, gourmet restaurants and a year-long calendar of national festivals and events.

The easily accessible towns and villages surrounding Canberra offer hiking trails, mountain biking paths, stunning coastlines and cool-climate vineyards.

Nestled between the Blue Mountains and the Outback, in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, this unassuming country town has been making quite the name for itself. Orange certainly reaps the benefits of its rich volcanic soil, with its thriving local produce scene and cool-climate wine region. Despite the stunning landscape, delicious wine and friendly locals, only 42,000 international visitors made it to the Central NSW region in 2019 (pre-Covid), which is even more of a reason to stop by, as you’ll be rewarded with welcoming folks, uncrowded restaurants and wineries and of course, new experiences.

Whether picnicking among the grapevines, sipping moreish wines, or strolling its wide tree-lined avenues, you’ll definitely find something to do off the beaten path in Orange.

A 15-hour drive northwest of Brisbane, into the centre of Outback Queensland, takes you to Australia’s ‘big sky country’ and the small town of Winton. Home to only 964 residents, this tiny town packs a punch for outback explorers.

Believe it or not, Winton is a hotbed of cultural history. The town’s open-air theatre, built in 1918, is one of only two that are operational in Australia. Banjo Patterson wrote and first performed his iconic ‘Waltzing Matilda’ poem at the local North Gregory Hotel. Surprisingly, Australia’s national airline, QANTAS was first registered as a business in Winton, in 1920.

Recent discoveries of relatively complete dinosaur fossils in Winton and greater Queensland, have also put Australia on the global map as the ‘new frontier’ of dinosaur research. You can marvel at thousands of 95-million-year-old footprints, all made within seconds of each other, on Winton’s dried riverbed landscape. This incredible, historical site was also the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s stampede scene in the original Jurassic Park movie.

Eungella, Australia’s most northern subtropical rainforest, found in the northern reaches of the ‘Heart of Queensland’, is a ridge-top town and National Park that sits at the back of Pioneer Valley.

Eungella is an Abiriginal word that means ‘land of the clouds.’ These mist-shrouded mountain ridges have eroded lush gorges at the bottom of the valley, which is not only full of swimming holes, but is also one of the richest sugarcane growing regions in Australia.

Besides the stunning panoramic views and trails found within Eungella National Park, you will also find one of the best places to spot the elusive platypus in the wild.

Home to Queensland’s first national park and UNESCO heritage Gondwanan Rainforests, this topographic highlight of Australia’s Great Dividing Range made an appearance on Lonely Planet’s top ten regions to visit in 2022 – and it’s not hard to see why.

National Park walking trails meander over and behind thundering waterfalls that have exposed evidence of three, relatively recent, volcanic eruptions, one of which released enormous lava flows, similar to those you see on Hawaii’s Big Island today.

The Scenic Rim region’s fertile rainforests, valley floors and ridgelines have provided a thriving habitat for several rare endemic and endangered species found nowhere else on earth. Wildlife enthusiasts, hikers, geological sightseers and small town lovers will revel in a trip to this aptly-named corner of southeast Queensland.