South East Asia Holidays
Our vibrant cities best show off the Australian genius for blending a world of influence in lifestyle and culture. The eight capitals showcase our fresh uniquely Australian style.
Each of the capital cities is a reflection of our multi-cultural mix, ancestry, landscape and climate. From the vibrant Asian and Aboriginal influences of tropical Darwin to the convict-built buildings of Hobart; from the rich fashion, food and sports culture of Melbourne to the cutting edge of Sydney. While Brisbane is laid back, Adelaide is elegant and Perth is a scenic city where water sports abound.
You can see it in our architecture; experience it in our cosmopolitan precincts, shops, theatres and bars; watch it in our people; taste it in our food; smell it in the scent of the ocean or the bush backdrops to all our great cities.
Typical city life reflects the vigour of a young, wealthy and ambitious nation combined with a relaxed and casual outlook, passion for local food and produce and a love for outdoor living and water-based recreation. It’s a heady mix that sparks great energy expressed by multi-cultural and cosmopolitan precincts, fabulous festivals and spectacular events.
Here you can savour our great wines and unique menus, our history and the arts, or join in the relaxed and casual atmosphere by taking a ferry ride, enjoying our famous beaches, learning to surf or to cook seafood.
We welcome you to our cities to enjoy our lifestyle and to use them as a springboard for adventure – from whale watching and cruising, to island tours, bush walks, hikes and easy access to hundreds of regions offering more from the kaleidoscope of life in Australia.
Holiday in Australia, it's full of natural wonder
With a landmass of 7.68 million sq kms, Australia is the world’s smallest continent and largest island. Australia is also the lowest, flattest, most stable continent, with desert comprising 35% of the land mass.
Australian native flora is the most diverse in the world, with about 20,000 different native species and more flowering plants than any other country.
Australians are custodians of one-third of the world’s protected marine areas, with more than 360 protected marine areas covering 65 million hectares.
The warm, clear waters of the north sustain two of the world’s great coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s modern wonders and Ningaloo Reef, on Western Australia’s Coral Coast, is the most accessible reef experiences in the world.
Australia’s marine environment is home to 4,000 fish species, 500 coral species, 50 types of marine mammal, seabirds, rare sea dragons and whales, dolphins, dugongs, turtles, giant rays and whale sharks.
Australia is home to 17 World-Heritage sites. One of these, Kakadu National Park, covers a land area of almost 20,000 sq kms the same size as the country of Israel.
About 81 million hectares (10.5 per cent) of our land area is protected in National Reserve and there are 547 National Parks. The 135 million year old Daintree Rainforest is the world’s oldest. It is home to about 430 species of birds, including 13 species found nowhere else in the world.
Indigenous Australians learnt to read the country and plan their lives, festivals and travels by the flowering of plants and the behaviour of animals.
Lyre birds, found in bushland areas, are the world’s best imitators, able to mimic 15 other bird calls as well as sounds of chainsaws, mobile phones and car alarms, stringing them into melodies.
