Australia, the country known for its Sydney Opera House, Great Barrier Reef, the vast outback and unique animal species, including kangaroos and duck-billed platypuses. There are thousands of different things to see and adventures to experience in Australia, including enjoying the beaches of the “Gold Coast”.
Australia is fringed by more than 8,000 islands, offering every type of holiday experience. Each is a little world unto itself: a unique experiment in life, an opportunity for animals and plants to operate differently.
Tasmania
Tasmania is Australia’s largest island, where you can explore the wilderness of 17 National Parks, pristine coastlines of the East Coast, and welcoming regional towns.
Christmas Island
Christmas Island is probably the best known to Australians for its processing center for asylum seekers, but this island has a lot to offer as a travel destination. It is a quiet tropical island located in the Indian Ocean south of Jakarta, Indonesia.
Couran Cove Island
Couran Cove Island Resort is situated on South Stradbroke Island, Queensland, a 40 minute ferry ride away from the Gold Coast. The resort is set in natural surroundings with white sandy beaches, lush palm rainforest and native Australian wildlife in and around the resort.
Heron Island
Heron Island is a true coral cay located right on the Great Barrier Reef. The resort is spread over about one third of the island at one end and the rest is covered in natural vegetation, including thick areas of Pisonia forest. The island is only about 800m long and 250m wide, so you really have the feel of being on an island. Heron is world famous for its fantastic scuba diving and snorkeling. Here you can swim straight off the beach and snorkel amongst coral with a huge variety of fish swimming right up to your mask. There more than 30 dive sites around the island, half of them are only 15 minutes from the beach.
There are so many cruise lines traveling to and around Australia that you could spend months doing all the research! I counted at least 25 different lines with hundreds of different ships. It all depends on the experience you are looking for, from a ship that is pretty much a floating city to the exclusive ships with only 30 other passengers. Where you want to start, where you want to stop, how long, if you want to spend time in the big coastal cities or just enjoy the smaller islands… Australia offers anything and everything.
If I was to ever consider Australia as my next travel destination, I would need a lot of help planning this trip!! But, let me tell you, after researching this incredible continent, you would not have much trouble talking me into spending a few weeks there, that’s for sure.
Author: Kathryn Hartwell