Ten must-sees: the Australian sightseeing bucket list

As you can probably gather from my previous articles, I’m pretty well travelled around Britain and Europe, but somewhat less so further afield. Childhood visits to Canada and Hong Kong are about as adventurous as it gets, at least for now – unless you count an eye-opening day trip to Albania, which was an amazing experience, but didn’t really feel like anywhere else I’d ever experienced in Europe.

Like many British folk, I’ve family in Australia and New Zealand, so a trip down under is always on the cards for when time and finances permit. But what might be on my Australian sightseeing bucket list? Drawing inspiration from the web, here’s a potential top ten…

City sightseeing

For anyone from Newcastle, a trip to Sydney Harbour has to be top of the agenda – if only to check out the strangely familiar Sydney Harbour Bridge. Both designed by the firm Mott, Hay and Anderson, folks like to think that the Tyne Bridge was the inspiration for Sydney’s much larger version, though the truth is that it was the other way round – work on Sydney Harbour Bridge started first, but was only completed three years after its Newcastle counterpart.

Australia’s other big cities also need to get a look-in.

Perth, in Western Australia, is represented by its Kings Park & Botanic Garden, which badges itself as “one of the world’s largest and most beautiful inner city parks”, and also offers panoramic views over the city.

There are even more spectacular views to be had from Melbourne’s first entry in the top ten, the Eureka Skydeck 88, which is – as the name suggests – 88 stories up, making it the Southern Hemisphere’s highest viewing platform.

Anyone particularly adventurous – so probably not me – can also experience The Edge, a glass cube that projects three metres out from the building, with just its glass floor between you and the street, 300m below. At least after all that drama you can enjoy a more grounded experience in the city’s Colonial Tramcar Restaurant, a fleet of luxuriously converted trams that ply you with delicious food and wine as they glide you around the streets of Melbourne.

In Queensland, the smaller, more provincial city of Cairns is the start of the Kuranda Scenic Railway, where you can enjoy a 23-mile journey through the tropical rainforest, and past ravines and waterfalls, to the small town of Kuranda. Before you leave Cairns, however, you might want to check out the busy and colourful Rusty’s Market, featuring over 180 food, drink and speciality product stalls every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Nature and solitude

If you want to experience Australia’s wildlife, the 90-acre Kangaroo Sanctuary at Alice Springs – set up by TV’s Chris ‘Brolga’ Barnes (better known as Kangaroo Dundee) – should do the trick, where you can tour the reserve and meet its 25 macropodine inhabitants. (I had to look it up, but apparently ‘macropodine’ is the word that means ‘pertaining to kangaroos’. Who knew?)

Indeed, no trip to Australia would be complete without a visit to at least some of its more remote corners. Head as far south west as you can go before you hit the Indian and Southern Oceans, and you’ll end up at the striking Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, where there are daily guided tours. Staying on Australia’s south coast – albeit nearly 4,000km away – you’ll find another of the country’s coastal wonders at the Twelve Apostles Marine National Park. Here, the famous golden cliffs and crumbling rock pillars of the Twelve Apostles rise above the waves, while arches, canyons and reefs form an underwater environment that is just as dramatic and spectacular.

And, finally, back to the aforementioned Uluru, and the wider Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Formed millions of years ago, the incredible red rocks and domes of Uluru and Kata Tjuta are iconic symbols, not just of present-day Australia, but also of the Aboriginal people who have owned and lived in that part of central Australia for more than 30,000 years. Today, the Anangu people are rightfully recognised as the park’s proper owners, and since 1985 have jointly the managed the park with Parks Australia.

So, there’s your ten! It’s a selective and personal list, of course, and you could easily add attractions like Brisbane’s Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, described as one of the top ten zoos in the world; Tasmania’s Freycinet National Park, with its pink granite peaks; or the breathtaking and ecologically important Great Barrier Reef – apparently the only living thing on Earth visible from space.

You’ll have your own favourites, I’m sure – so do share your thoughts below on what you would include on your own Australian sightseeing bucket list!

Photo credits: Annetteos, fcl1971, Jon Fletcher, Peter Holmes