Australia has some of the world's best beaches, and some of the most amazing wildlife, but there is much more to the country than that. Australia has the unique outback, it has cities, sporting attractions, festivals, and a range of climates and types of scenery, from ski slopes to scuba diving paradises.
The Australian outback is like nowhere else on earth, and there are few places with so much open space. It is hard to describe the space and the sparseness of the population, but I will use an image to try to express what it is like.
We were crossing the Nullarbor Plain, and stayed at a roadhouse overnight. I decided to drive away from the lights alone, and onto the plain after dark, because there are more stars visible in a moonless night sky in the outback than anywhere. I stopped the car and lay in the middle of the road and looked up at the trillions of stars splashed across the sky. (I was quite safe lying in the middle of the road because the road is so straight and flat you can see headlights half an hour before the car or truck gets there.) The silence was broken by an amazing sound: frogs! Lots of frogs in one of the driest places on the driest populated continent. I could also hear in the distance the soft whispering of air emerging through blow holes from the massive network of caves beneath the plain.
There are many outback places that have no equivalent elsewhere. Coober Pedy is a town in which almost everything is underground. Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock) rises like an island mountain in the Kata Tjuta national park. Nearby attractions include Kata Tjuta (formerly called The Olgas), and Kings Canyon. Elsewhere in the outback are the Kimberleys in the north-west, Lake Eyre in the south, the MacDonnell Ranges, the Devil's Marbles, and Kakadu in the north.
The Australian outback is not the only attraction apart from beaches and kangaroos. Each of the major cities has many unique features and offers a variety of things to do, including lots of festivals. Sydney is well-known of course for its opera house, bridge, the "rocks", Darling Harbour, and the night life generally, but the other cities are also well worth a visit. Visit the markets, shopping precincts and art galleries in Melbourne, the vineyards around Adelaide, Kings Park and the Swan River at Perth. Visit a crocodile farm or the Mindil markets in Darwin, the National Gallery and War Memorial in Canberra, or the casino or theme parks in Brisbane. The towns and cities of Tasmania are full of charm and surrounded by some of the most pleasant countryside in Australia.
There are also many interesting towns that offer a variety of experiences for the traveller. Just a few examples include Katoomba in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Kangaroo Valley to the south of Sydney, Jervis Bay, further still to the south, with its pristine, brilliantly white beaches and crystal clear water.
There are many islands off the coast of mainland Australia to be visited. The biggest and best known is Tasmania, but there are many others to visit, including Kangaroo Island in South Australia, Rottnest in Western Australia, the many islands of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. There's Lord Howe island off the east coast, and King Island off Tasmania. Just to name a few.
Australia also has a number of sporting attractions. Most people think of Australia as a hot country, but you can go skiing here in the winter (especially July-August) at the snowfields of NSW and Victoria. There's excellent scuba diving, especially on the Great Barrier Reef and the less well known but as spectacular Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. We have the Australian Open for tennis fans, the Tour Down Under for cycling fans, and the big car races in Victoria for those who like to see cars go around and around and around.
If you prefer to move yourself rather than watch others move, Australia has some fantastic walking trails for you to try, such as the 5330 km (over 3000 miles) Australian Bicentennial National Trail, the 1500 km Heysen trail in South Australia, and the 964 km Bibbulmun Track near Denmark in Western Australia, just to name a few.
Australia has many, many attractions apart from the best beaches in the world and some of the most amazing animals, and this article has barely scratched the surface.