Where to go
Sydney
The harbour is the point: the Opera House and bridge, the ferries, and the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee. Add the Blue Mountains two hours inland. Four days, and the most expensive city in the country.
Melbourne
Laneways, coffee, street art and a sporting calendar that dominates the year. The Great Ocean Road runs west from here — two days minimum, not a day trip. The cultural counterweight to Sydney and the better city for a longer stay.
The Great Barrier Reef
From Cairns or Port Douglas, with the Daintree rainforest behind — the only place where two World Heritage areas meet. Reef health varies by site and season; choose an operator with an environmental accreditation and go further out rather than nearer.
The Red Centre
Uluru and Kata Tjuta, best at sunrise and sunset, plus Kings Canyon and Alice Springs. Uluru is a sacred site and climbing it has been prohibited since 2019 — the base walk with an Anangu guide is the visit worth doing. Three to four days, and not in midsummer.
Tasmania
Wilderness, the MONA museum in Hobart, and some of the best walking in the country. An hour's flight from Melbourne and a complete change of scale and climate. A week.
Western Australia
Perth, Margaret River, and the Ningaloo reef where you can swim with whale sharks in season. The most remote of the populated regions and the one with the fewest visitors.
Building the itinerary
- Three stops a week, no more. Every move costs half a day at minimum, often a whole one, and you see nothing of a place where you sleep one night.
- Alternate the pace. A dense city, then two quiet days: that is what makes travelling as a couple sustainable, especially if one of you lives there and works.
- Keep a buffer day before the flight home, in the departure city. Domestic transport delays are the leading cause of missed flights.
- Ask the person who lives there what they want to show you. Guidebook itineraries and the places that matter to them rarely overlap — and the second list is the better one.
Two reflexes that change a trip
Distances deceive. On a map two points look close; on the ground, road conditions, checkpoints and terrain double or triple the time. Plan fewer stops and more time at each.
Ask before photographing anyone, and never insist. Official buildings, soldiers, airports and bridges are best avoided almost everywhere — the most banal and most avoidable source of trouble.