Australia is comprised of 6 large continental territories plus the island territory of Tasmania.  

Within a  2 week vacation period, you could visit 3 areas quite well with a home base and day tours, perhaps even an overnight stay but this requires air travel between major points. Time permiting, there are some excellent scenic driving routes in many parts of the country. Since this is a introductory overview of Australia, I am going to quickly transport us to another region.

We are now going to fly up the east coast from Sydney in New South Wales to Cairns in tropical north Queensland. After an evening to get settled, explore downtown and have dinner along the marina, we head off the next morning on the Kuranda Railway up to the Kuranda rainforest. As the train climbs through the Barron Gorge National Park, we will cross 40 bridges and see a lush landscape with steep ravines and waterfalls.

Once we arrive at Kuranda, we will have some time to wander through the shops and galleries, the wildlife park and rainforest station before visiting the Pamagirri Aboriginal Center. I will discuss these topics in more detail in the next few days.

We will return via the Skyrail Cableway, gliding over the 9 miles of rainforest canopy in individual gondolas.

I am a big fan of rail travel and there are several wonderful routes within Australia. The transcontinental Indian Pacific runs between Perth on the west coast and Sydney on the east coast. Meanwhile the Ghan travels through the very heart of Australia’s outback between Darwin in the north to Adelaide in the south. These are multiday journeys in trains with sleeper cars and restaurant cars. If you have the time and the interest, they are worth consideration.