Not to miss

Blue Mountains

In the thick of the Great Dividing Range, the Blue Mountains are a prime example of Australian bush, with gum trees and excellent bushwalking through deep gorges and up majestic peaks. The surreal blue haze that hangs over the region is a fine mist of volatile oil given off by eucalyptus trees.

Katoomba is a major tourist centre, and with its Art Nouveau and Art Deco guesthouses is a cheerful relic of another era. From Echo Point you can gawp at the Three Sisters, a rock formation named for three lasses who were petrified by a sorcerer to protect them from the advances of three sleazy men.

Cairns

Cairns shines with the carnival atmosphere of travellers all year round and the city is positively booming. In 2003 the foreshore was given a Hollywood makeover, with lagoons and the spanking Pier Marketplace, equipping Cairns to be a truly international tourist destination.

Aside from limitless accommodation and dining options, markets, culture, shopping and seaside atmosphere, Cairns' big drawcard is its access to the outer tentacles of the Great Barrier Reef. It's also a good base to discover Port Douglas, the Atherton Tableland, Cape Tribulation and beyond.

The best news for budget travellers is that you don't have to empty the bank to enjoy Cairns. In the city itself, cosmetic improvements like the glorious swimming lagoon and thick grassy parklands are all free. All this is much more fun with a mate and hooking up with fellow travellers here is a highlight all of its own.

Perth

Perth is a vibrant and modern city sitting between the cerulean Indian Ocean and the ancient Darling Ranges. It claims to be the sunniest state capital in Australia, though more striking is its isolation from the rest of the country - Perth is over 4400km (2750mi) from Sydney by road.

It's true that the city centre's skyscrapers dominate a picturesque riverside location. But behind the towering edifices hide a handful of 19th-century buildings and facades, and some saving-grace patches of greenery. But these concerns fade in an instant when you glimpse the famous beaches.

Back in the 1990s, Perth was not exactly known as a party capital. Today it's a different story. The city seems to have been infused with a good dose of joie de vivre. Restaurants are humming and the shopping strips are loud with ka-chings. There are small, laid-back bars in Mt Lawley and sprawling beer gardens in Cottesloe. The UWA Perth International Arts Festival cranks out more arts and fun than you can poke a stick at. And amidst all this, the city's beaches remain unchanged. Welcome to Perth.

Uluru

Uluru is the most famous icon of the Australian outback and a site of deep cultural significance to the Anangu Aboriginals. The 3.6km (2.2mi)-long rock rises a towering 348m (1141ft) from the pancake-flat surrounding scrub. It is especially impressive at dawn and sunset when the red rock spectacularly changes hue.

A pilgrimage to Uluru and the coronary-inducing scramble to the top was an entrenched Australian ritual, but the Aboriginal owners would prefer visitors not to climb the rock and many visitors are now respecting their wishes. There are walks around the base of the rock which pass caves, rock art and sacred Aboriginal sites. Nearby Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), 32km (20mi) west of Uluru, are equally impressive monoliths and Mt Olga is actually much higher than Uluru. The Valley of the Winds is a worthy 6km (4mi) walking circuit.

Broome

Langorously-paced Broome has a distinctly Asian flavour and cosmopolitan atmosphere, making it a consistently popular travellers' centre and a favoured spot for alternative lifestylers and urban burnouts. An upmarket tourism campaign has saved the town from a tacky downfall.

Broome's Asian feel is partly due to its history as a pearling centre and partly because it is twice as far away from Perth, the state capital, as it is from Indonesia. Nearby Cable Beach is now one of the most famous beaches in Australia...and justifiably so.

The major attractions in Broome are its small Chinatown, the 80-year-old open-air Sun Pictures Cinema, the Japanese cemetery, and the dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume Point. Broome is also popular with bird-watchers: the Broome Bird Observatory on Roebuck Bay is one of Australia's top non-breeding grounds for migrant Arctic waders. Swimmers should beware of stinging jellyfish in the water between November and March.

Melbourne

Melbourne is dubbed marvellous for a reason. Healthy hedonism masquerades as high art: Melburnians are equally passionate about football and ballet, fashion and restaurants. They are ravenous for music and hot for theatre. It's a smorgasbord of a city that you'll want to sink your teeth into.

A leafy bayside community on the 'upside-down' Yarra River, Melbourne is, by turns, cosmopolitan, suburban, cultivated, conservative and an avant-garde haven. Visitors come for its shopping, restaurants, nightlife and sporting calendar; most agree that it's one of the world's most liveable cities.

In the last 10 years Melbourne's CBD has undergone a renaissance. Innumerable hip boutiques, restaurants and bars crowd the alleys and Victorian-era arcades off the main streets, and its riverbanks and docklands have been transformed into spruced-up sites for swanky waterside socialising.

Canberra

Canberra is often described by Australians who haven't been there as a boring town, full of politicians, bureaucrats - and not much else. But those who go there find beautiful galleries and museums clustered around a lake and cupped in bushland.

One of only two capital cities in the world that have been built to a premeditated design, Canberra is rather eerily symmetrical. Placed about its nice, planned combinations of straight and curving streets are the old and new Parliament Houses, the National Gallery, and the National Museum.

Sydney

Sydney is Australia's oldest city, the economic powerhouse of the nation and the country's capital in everything but name. It's blessed with sun-drenched natural attractions, dizzy skyscrapers, delicious and daring restaurants, superb shopping and friendly folk.

Although it's come a long way from its convict beginnings, Sydney still has a rough and ready energy, and offers an invigorating blend of the old and the new, the raw and the refined. While high culture attracts some to the Opera House, gaudy nightlife attracts others to Kings Cross.

It's a city blessed with long stretches of heavenly beaches, a pleasant climate that sees over 300 sunny days a year, an economy that's stronger than it should be, a stable local government, and a population of open-minded, outgoing entrepreneurial types who are itching to show the whole place off.

Flinders Ranges

Rising from the northern end of Spencer Gulf, in the east of South Australia, and running north for 800km (500mi), the Flinders Ranges are, to many, the epitome of outback Australia. It's a superb area for bushwalks, wildlife and taking in the ever-changing colours of the outback.

In the far north, the mountains are hemmed in by sand ridges and barren salt lakes. The best-known feature of the range is the huge natural basin known as Wilpena Pound, which is ringed by 1000m (3280ft) high cliffs. Other attractions include Alligator Gorge in Mt Remarkable National Park, Brachina Gorge, and the ironstone capped ridge known as the Great Wall of China. Winter is probably the most pleasant time to visit, but the ranges are greenest and carpeted in wildflowers in spring. The most convenient towns are Quorn and Hawker.

Darwin

The 'capital' of northern Australia is closer to Jakarta than it is to Sydney, and closer to Singapore than it is to Melbourne, so it should come as no surprise that it looks outward to Asia as much as it looks inland to the rest of Australia.

This proximity and familiarity with Australia's northern neighbours is reflected in the town's relaxed, cosmopolitan, tropical atmosphere. In a country that prides itself on its ethnic diversity, Darwin may be the most multicultural city of all.

Darwin is a major stop for travellers and an obvious base for trips to Kakadu and other Top-End natural attractions. It's a tropical oasis, too, with a pleasant harbourside location and plenty of nightlife. Wherever you're travelling to, there's a lot of distance to be covered, and many people rest (and party) a bit in Darwin before leaving.

Daintree Rainforest

The Daintree is the accessible section of breathtakingly beautiful coastal lowland rainforest in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. This dense, lush area hosts amazing pockets of biodiversity with unique swamp and mangrove forest habitats, eucalypt woodlands, native birds and tropical rainforest.

Great Ocean Road

This is one of the world's most spectacular coastal drives, especially between Anglesea and Apollo Bay. Contrasting the fabulous surfer-style beaches is the lush green of the Otway Ranges, the dramatic limestone cliffs of Port Campbell and the pretty and fashionable town of Lorne.

The incredible Great Ocean Road (B100) cuts its breathtaking path from Torquay to Warrnambool, every fresh twist and turn inspiring passengers to exclaim 'Oh!', and frustrated drivers to say, 'What? What's it look like?'. The stunning stretch of road attracts seven million snap-happy visitors annually and is one of the world's most spectacular coastal drives, especially between Anglesea and Apollo Bay. Beyond it, the thrashing Shipwreck Coast (from Princetown to Port Fairy) and its dramatic beachscapes inspire spooky stories of ghosts from wrecked vessels that haunt the area.

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park

Tasmania's best-known national park has spectacular mountain peaks, deep gorges, lakes and wild moorlands. It's one of the areas affected most by glacial activity in Australia. There are plenty of day walks, but it's the spectacular 80.5km (50mi) walk, known as The Overland Track, between the Cradle Valley and Cynthia Bay regions that has turned this park into a bushwalkers' mecca.

Freycinet Peninsula

On Tasmania's beautiful east coast, the peninsula is part of Freycinet National Park and features secluded beaches and coves, rare plant, bird and animal life and excellent bushwalks. A particularly popular walk is the return trek to Wineglass Bay. The park has several camp sites and lodges.

Barossa Valley

The Barossa Valley is arguably the best-known wine-producing region in Australia. It's a beautiful, well-tended area with over 100 wine producers, around 70 of which encourage casual visits for tasting and cellar sales. To fully appreciate the area, get off the main road and take the narrow backroads between settlements.

The gently sloping valley was settled in 1842 by German settlers fleeing religious persecution in Prussia and Silesia, and its distinct Germanic flavour remains.

The central town is Tanunda. Adelaide is just over an hour's drive to the south-west. Note that the least scenic time to visit is between July and October, because the vines are heavily pruned during the winter months. The busiest months are from March to May when the grapes are harvested.

There are several other wine-growing regions in the state, notably the south-eastern corner around Penola, Coonawarra and Padthaway; in the Clare Valley, north of the Barossa; and around McLaren Vale on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Snowy Mountains

The Snowy Mountains is the highest section of Australia's Great Dividing Range. Kosciusko National Park covers most of the mountains and includes ski resorts, rugged alpine scenery, caves, glacial lakes and forests. Although renowned as a winter playground, the park is also popular with bushwalkers in summer.

Ski resorts include Thredbo, Perisher Valley, Smiggins Hole and Mt Blue Cow. Mt Kosciusko is the highest peak at 2228m (7308ft). The main town in the region is Jindabyne, situated just outside the park boundary on the edge of a beautiful lake.

Margaret River

Bronzed surfers and wine-quaffing city slickers rub shoulders in this buzzing tourist hub that offers some of the best surfing in Australia and some of its most delicious wines. Wild coastal scenery, sophisticated restaurants, internationally acclaimed vineyards and a string of fascinating limestone caves are real crowd-pleasers.

Kakadu National Park

Kakadu National Park is a natural marvel encompassing a variety of habitats, a mass of wildlife and some of Australia's best Aboriginal rock art. It stretches more than 200km (124mi) south from the coast and 100km (62mi) from east to west. It is World Heritage-listed for both its natural and cultural importance (a rare distinction).

Great Barrier Reef

Larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing visible from space, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world. The 2000km (1240mi) conglomeration of colourful coral stretches along the Queensland seaboard and makes for some of the most spectacular diving landscape imaginable.

The Kimberley

The rugged Kimberley is one of Australia's last frontiers, a little-travelled and very remote area of great rivers, oases and magnificent scenery. It's the quintessential Australian landscape of red earth, rock, gumtrees, crocodiles, wallabies and blue skies. Attractions include the spectacular gorges on the Fitzroy River and Purnululu (Bungle Bungle) National Park.

Halls Creek is the largest town in the Kimberley. Derby, 220km (136mi) away at the mouth of the Fitzroy River, is a useful base for excursions into the area. The most popular time to visit is between April and September. Although the Wet (the rainy season in the north) offers ethereal thunderstorms and a magic carpet of wildflowers, rains make many roads impassable.

Japanese Embassy

The Sydney office is located at level 34, Colonial Centre, 52 Martin Pl, in the CBD (02 9231 3455).

United Kingdom Embassy

The main embassy is situated in Canberra but there is a Sydney office located on the 16th floor of 1 Macquarie Pl, Sydney Cove (02-9247 7521) and a Melbourne office on the 17th floor of 90 Collins St, Melbourne (03-9652 1600).

Gay and Lesbian Tourism Australia

GALTA can provide a wealth of information about gay and lesbian travel in Australia.

Travellers Medical and Vaccination Centre

This is the best place to get any travel-related shots and medical advice.

Tourism Australia

Tourism Australia is the government body charged with improving foreign tourist relations. A good place to start some pre-trip research is the commission's website, which has information in 10 languages (including French, German, Japanese and Spanish).

United States Embassy

The Sydney branch of the US Embassy is located at level 59, 19-29 Martin Pl, in the CBD (02 9373 9200) and the Melbourne office is at level 6, 553 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne (03 9526 5900).

Conservation Volunteers Australia

The nonprofit Conservation Volunteers Australia organises practical conservation projects for volunteers (including overseas visitors) such as tree planting, walking-track construction and flora and fauna surveys. It's an excellent way to get involved with conservation-minded people and visit some interesting areas of the country.

Thailand Embassy

The Sydney office is located at level 8, 131 Macquarie St, Sydney (02-9241 2542).

Australian Customs Service

For comprehensive information on customs regulations, contact the Australian Customs Service. When entering Australia you can bring most articles in free of duty provided that customs is satisfied they are for personal use and that you'll be taking them with you when you leave. There's a duty-free quota per person of 2250mL of alcohol, 250 cigarettes and dutiable goods up to the value of 900.00.

National Information Communication and Awareness Network

Reliable information is the key ingredient for travellers with a disability and the best source is Nican. It's an Australia-wide directory providing information on access issues, accessible accommodation, sporting and recreational activities, transport and specialist tour operators.