Australia travel guide

Travel to Australia between Sep – Mar. Those are the months the weather, the crowds and the airfare line up — outside them you trade one of the three.

Currency

Australian Dollar (AUD)

Language

English everywhere; announcements, menus and signage need no translation.

Time zone

AEST (UTC+10) — 4½ hours ahead of India

Plug type

Type I, 230V

Flight time from India

12 hrs

Flying from

Mumbai · Delhi · Bengaluru

• 

  Sydney Harbour, done properly

  The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are the postcard, but the harbour itself is the attraction — take the public ferry to Manly for the price of a bus ticket and you get the skyline, the heads and a surf beach in one ride. Book the Opera House interior tour rather than just photographing the outside; the concert hall is the point.

• 

  The Great Barrier Reef from Cairns

  Day boats run from Cairns to pontoons moored on the outer reef, where the coral is healthiest. Snorkelling is included and needs no experience; an introductory dive can be added on the boat. Pick the outer-reef operators over the cheaper inner-reef ones — the extra hour of sailing buys dramatically better coral.

• 

  The Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles

  A full-day run from Melbourne along a coast road built by returned soldiers after the First World War, ending at the limestone stacks of the Twelve Apostles. Go clockwise to be on the ocean side of the road, and time the stacks for late afternoon when the light hits them side-on. Koalas doze in the gum trees at Kennett River on the way.

• 

  Kangaroos and koalas, in the wild

  Skip the sad roadside zoos. Kangaroos graze wild at dawn and dusk on golf courses and headlands all along the east coast, and sanctuaries like Currumbin on the Gold Coast rehabilitate injured animals rather than performing with them. Phillip Island near Melbourne has the penguin parade — hundreds of little penguins waddling ashore at sunset, every single night.

• The Blue Mountains

  Ninety minutes west of Sydney, a sandstone plateau split by eucalyptus valleys whose oil haze really does turn the air blue. Echo Point looks straight at the Three Sisters rock formation, and Scenic World runs the steepest passenger railway in the world down into the rainforest. Cooler than Sydney by several degrees — carry a layer even in summer.

• Melbourne’s laneways and coffee

  Melbourne hides its best addresses down alleys: street art in Hosier Lane, espresso bars in Degraves Street, bookshops and bars stacked up vertical arcades. There is no single monument to tick off — the city itself is the attraction, best covered on the free City Circle tram with stops wherever something smells good.

• The Aussie brunch

  Australia’s real national cuisine is breakfast: smashed avocado on sourdough, ricotta hotcakes, and coffee taken more seriously than anywhere outside Italy. A flat white was arguably invented here. Cafés close by mid-afternoon, so do as the locals do and make brunch the big meal.

• Fish and chips by the water

  Barramundi or flathead, battered, with chips, eaten on a harbour wall while defending it from seagulls — this is the country’s honest fast food. Doyles at Watsons Bay in Sydney is the famous version; every coastal town has a cheaper one just as good.

• Vegetarian is easy, and labelledVegetarian

  Every menu in the big cities marks vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free by law-abiding habit, and the standard is high — this is one of the easiest long-haul countries for a vegetarian family. Indian restaurants are everywhere; Harris Park in Sydney is effectively a Gujarati-Punjabi food street.

• Lamingtons, pavlova and Tim TamsVegetarian

  The sweet canon: sponge cubes rolled in chocolate and coconut, a meringue cake piled with cream and fruit that New Zealand also claims, and the chocolate biscuit every returning traveller is ordered to bring home. All three are vegetarian; supermarket Tim Tams are the standard gift.

• For a Jain travellerJain friendly

  Big-city Indian restaurants cook Jain with a day’s notice, and self-catering is genuinely practical — serviced apartments are common and supermarkets stock everything from paneer to theplas in the world-foods aisle. The reef day and the Great Ocean Road day are the two to pack for; we arrange Jain meal boxes on both.

Set a meal preference — vegetarian, Jain or halal — when you book and we brief every hotel and restaurant on your itinerary.

• Tim Tams, Vegemite and macadamias from any Woolworths or Coles — the standard gifts, at supermarket prices
• Aboriginal art bought ethically: look for the Indigenous Art Code logo and a certificate naming the artist and community
• Merino wool and UGG boots — check the label, the name is not protected and imports abound
• Australian skincare and sunscreen; the local SPF 50+ standard is stricter than most countries
• Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne and The Rocks weekend market in Sydney for one-off souvenirs
• Opals from the outback fields — buy solid stones with certification, not cheaper doublets, if it is an investment

Distances are the thing to respect: Sydney to Cairns is further than Delhi to Chennai, so internal legs are flown, not driven, and the domestic network — Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar — is frequent and reliable. Inside the cities, Sydney runs on the Opal card across ferries, trains and buses, and Melbourne on Myki trams, with a free tram zone covering the city centre. Taxis are expensive; Uber and Didi work everywhere. Hiring a car is only worth it for the Great Ocean Road or the hinterland — they drive on the left, Indian licences are accepted with an English printout, and speed cameras are merciless.

• The sun is the real hazard, not the wildlife. The UV index hits extreme on days that feel mild — SPF 50+, a hat and rash vests for children are daily equipment, not beach equipment.
• Swim only between the red-and-yellow flags on patrolled beaches. Rips carry away confident swimmers, and the flags mark where lifeguards have already checked the water.
• In North Queensland, marine stingers make the sea unswimmable outside netted enclosures roughly November to May, and estuaries there are crocodile habitat — obey every sign, however casual the locals seem.
• Wildlife is genuinely dangerous only if handled: do not feed kangaroos, do not touch anything in a rockpool, and shake out shoes in the outback. Snake and spider incidents among tourists are vanishingly rare.
• Distances kill more visitors than animals do. On a self-drive, fuel up before every long leg, avoid driving at dawn and dusk when kangaroos cross, and never push on tired — towns can be two hours apart.
• Australia’s biosecurity checks are the strictest you will meet: declare every food item including packaged snacks, theplas and spices. Declaring is free; not declaring is a fine that starts at several hundred dollars.

Per person, per day, on the ground — meals, local transport and entry tickets. Flights and hotels sit in the package price, not here.