Thu 20 November

Things to do - Action, Adrenalin, Adventure

Start Your Engines

Need Speed?

Watching rally cars on TV is exciting enough, but nothing compares to the thrill of experiencing all the action first-hand. This high-octane adventure involves learning about car handling and techniques, getting in the drivers seat for a few laps, and finally riding shotgun as some of the country’s best drivers take you for a spine tingling spin on gravel roads – all at top speed, of course! Rally driving courses are held at various raceways around Australia.

Alternatively, why not make your way to one of the many go-karting tracks around Australia for an exhilarating day out? Even if you’re not too keen on getting behind the wheel yourself, most tracks have a viewing platform where you can watch the karts whizzing around the track until you get dizzy.

See the Harbour, Faster.

Why not combine the beauty of Sydney harbour with the adrenaline rush of a high-speed boat ride? From Circular Quay, you can jump on a jet boat, strap yourself in and race across the sparkling blue water. Not for the faint-hearted.

Get on your bike…

Get your heart racing and keep your feet dry by taking off on a quad bike. You can check out the outback, or try your hand at the Stockton sand dunes in NSW. They extend for more than 30 kilometres, so it’s like a little slice of desert by the shore.

Taking a trail bike tour around Australia is a fantastic way to see more of the outback. As the sixth-largest country in the world, there’s no shortage of distance to cover.

Explore off-road

To really get a glimpse of the real outback Australia, four wheel driving is ideal. Many rural roads are dirt roads and the terrain can be a challenge due to flooding, so getting behind the wheel of a four-wheel-drive vehicle is sometimes the only way to see the most remote and stunning scenes in the country. There are a range of tour operators and vehicle hire companies, so hiring a four-wheel-drive or going on a guided safari is as easy as it is exciting.

Aerial Adventures and All-Terrain Treks

Soar through the Skies

For the diehard adrenaline junkie, a visit to Australia offers plenty of exciting activities, many of which are performed at high speed. In this case, they’re not only fast, but airborne.

Skydiving, a.k.a. Parachuting is available all over Australia, so if you’ve got the guts to jump out of a plane at 3000 metres above the ground, why not take the opportunity to see Australia’s unique landscape from a different perspective?

Bungee jumping is only slightly less hair-raising and for the adventure traveller, strapping yourself to a springy cord and jumping off a bridge can allow you to see the sights of this wide brown land in a whole new way: upside down.

If you’ve always dreamed of soaring through the air like a bird, look no further than tandem hang gliding. This can be done all around Australia and is one way of satisfying a daredevil urge while taking in the scenery at a more sedate pace.

Paragliding is a bit like hang gliding, with the added advantage of being able to do it on your own. Likewise, parasailing, where you hang from a huge sail towed by a boat, is an exhilarating experience.

To watch the sunrise in a completely unique (not to mention romantic) setting, why not go for a ride in a hot air balloon? Operators can be found in most major cities and wine growing regions, like the Barossa and Hunter valleys.

Aerobatic flying is increasing in popularity and can be done at selected locations around Australia. Be warned – this is not one for the faint hearted, as it involves pulling off some stomach-churning moves, like rolls, loops and spins.

These Boots Were Made For Walking … All Over Australia

To really experience the magic and mystery of Australia close up, there’s nothing like a long distance walking trail. The advantage of Australia’s huge yet diverse landscape means that you can walk for days on trails that run through some of the most incredible scenery on earth. The Larapinta trail, for example, goes from the stark beauty of Alice Springs through to the craggy mountains of the MacDonnell Range.

For sheer distance, you could try the Bibbulum Track, which snakes through 964 kilometres of West Australian beauty. For the extremely dedicated (or just plain extreme) walker, there’s the mammoth Heysen Trail in South Australia. At 1,200 kilometres, this little beauty runs from Cape Jervis to the red dust of the Flinders Ranges.

The most popular track is the Tasmanian Overland Track, while the most challenging, the South Coast Track, is also located in Tasmania.

Going Walkabout in the Bush

If you’d love to experience the sweeping panoramas and unique wildlife of Australia, but aren’t quite up to walking for the better part of a month, why not try bushwalking? It’s one of Australia’s most popular pastimes and can be done all over the country. Some of the best places to go include:

New South Wales:

  • The Snowy Mountains
  • The Blue Mountains
  • The Warrambungles
  • The Tidbinbulla Nature Reserve

Victoria:

  • Anywhere in the High Country
  • The Grampians

Queensland:

  • Mount Warning
  • Carnavon National Park
  • Atherton Tableland
  • Bellenden Ker National Park
  • Daintree National Park
  • Cape Tribulation and the surrounding coast

Tasmania:

  • Freycinet National Park
  • Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
  • Mount Field National Park
  • Western Australia:
  • Kalbarri National Park
  • Karjini National Park

Northern Territory:

  • Katherine Gorge

If you do decide to go bushwalking, it’s probably best to go in a National Park or Reserve where there are marked trails, so you’re less likely to get lost. Never go bushwalking without the appropriate equipment, and always tell someone where you’re headed.

Climb (and Abseil and Bike) Every Mountain

If walking is just to sedate a pursuit but you still want to get out into the wilderness, there’s plenty of ways to do it.

Abseiling and rock climbing are very popular. There are lots of places where you can learn to do it safely, and even more places to practice your new found skills, like the cliffs of Sydney’s Blue Mountains, the high country of Victoria near Mount Buffalo, or west Victoria near Mount Arapiles. The Flinders Ranges of South Australia, the Warrambungles in New South Wales, and various other national parks all around the country provide an idyllic setting for climbers.

Mountain biking is also a popular alternative to hiking, and can usually be done in the same regions as long as due care is taken to avoid a collision with any hikers. A separate track is usually provided for bike riders.

No Snow? No worries …

Sandboarding is an exciting new sport taking off on the sand dunes of Australia’s many beaches. It’s a bit like tobogganing or snowboarding, and basically involves hurtling down sand dunes at high speed on a sheet of plastic, or even cardboard. There are tour operators that run sandboarding activities, particularly on Stockton beach in Newcastle, New South Wales, where the sand dunes stretch for more than 30 kilometres, but there’s nothing to stop you grabbing your own bit of plastic or cardboard and giving it a go on the sand dunes of any other of Australia’s beaches.

Caving In

Australia is home to some of the most incredible underground landscapes in the world. There’s something for everyone, from the most inexperienced beginner to the master caver. Famous cave systems like the Jenolan Caves south of Sydney are open to the public and run guided tours. There are plenty of caving sites to visit, from Margaret River in Western Australia to Moles Creek and Hastings Caves in Tasmania, Naracoorte in South Australia (now listed as a World Heritage Site due to the range of fossils that have been found there) and Wombeyton and Wellington Caves in New South Wales.

Out-There Ocean Adventures

Lakes, Rivers, Oceans

There’s heaps to do on the water in Australia. White water rafting, fishing, kayaking, jet boating, whatever takes your fancy!

White water rafting is increasingly popular in Australia as there are so many great destinations for this adrenaline-charged sport. The Tully River in Queensland is a popular destination, as is the Franklin River in Tasmania and the Murray, Snowy and Nymboida Rivers in New South Wales.

Kayaking and canoeing are also extremely popular all around Australia. Not as fast-paced as other watersports, they provide the opportunity to really soak up the scenery, Ideal spots include the Whitsundays (Queensland), Sydney Harbour, Kangaroo River and Jervis Bay (New South Wales), the Kimberley Coast (Western Australia), the Franklin River (Tasmania), Coorong National Park (South Australia) and Katherine Gorge (Northern Territory).

Fishing is a great way to spend time on Australia’s beaches and waterways. While you’ll have to go out into the deeper water of the open ocean in order to nab big fish like marlin, sailfin and sharks, various other local varieties can be caught closer to shore, such as barramundi in the Northern Territory or trout in Tasmania.

Other watersports like windsurfing, kite surfing, waterskiing and jet boating are also available all around Australia, particularly in big cities.

Surfing

Being a nation of beach lovers, it’s unsurprising that surfing is a huge part of life for many Australians. We have some of the best surf breaks and beautiful (and easily accessible) beaches in the world, so what better place to learn to surf than the golden sands of Australia? Most major beaches run ‘learn to surf’ workshops, so once you’ve mastered the waves, you can try out your skills on one of our world-class beaches, be it Bondi or Manly (New South Wales), Bells or Jan Juc (Victoria), Surfer’s Paradise or Noosa (Queensland).

Unreal Reefs

Snorkelling or diving in any of Australia’s reefs will give you an incredible experience: one you’re unlikely to find anywhere else in the world and just as unlikely to ever forget.

The Great Barrier Reef covers an amount of land the size of Italy and is the largest World Heritage Listed site on earth. A glimpse below the water’s surface reveals pristine turquoise currents sprinkled with colorful fish, thousands of bright sea anemones, and a huge mass of coral formations. Unsurprisingly, the Great Barrier Reef is widely considered to be the best diving location in the world.

Diving and snorkelling in Australia isn’t limited to Queensland. Ningaloo Reef, off the coast of Western Australia, is said by some to be just as beautiful as the Great Barrier Reef. It also has the advantage of being much less well-known.

Go to the Snow

Ski, Board and Toboggan

The ski season in Australia starts in mid to late June and lasts until October, depending on snow conditions. Despite the common perception that Australians live in sweltering heat all year round, there is a reasonable snow scene here. In fact, the first Australian ski club opened in the Snowy Mountains in 1870, two full years before the first American ski club.

The main ski region is in the alpine area that separates New South Wales and Victoria, although Tasmania also has a ski region in the Ben Lomond Ranges. Major ski resorts include Thredbo, Perisher Blue (New South Wales), Mount Hotham and Falls Creek (Victoria). Nearly all runs on Australian mountains are snowboard-friendly (although not all of the skiers are!). The ski resorts in Australia have a great village-like feel, despite the large numbers of overseas skiers that spend the off-season here.

Thredbo in New South Wales offers a range of activities apart from skiing or boarding, including a manmade toboggan run, or luge. It’s hair-raisingly fast and incredibly fun. The luge consists of a plastic sled which (with you on it) hurtles down to the bottom on a metal track at breakneck speed. Once you’ve reached the bottom, the sled is pulled back up to the top so you can do it all over again.