Having spent a year traveling round Australia on a working vacation, and having liked it enough to have returned for shorter vacations twice since, I would have to recommend the following as my personal top ten.

Sydney Harbor. It really does look just like all the fantastic pictures you've ever seen, only much more impressive. Take a ferry across to the beautiful Manley beach and look back on the Sydney Harbor bridge and opera house. Breath-taking.

Phillip Island near Melbourne. The fairy penguin parade is unmissable. You can witness thousands of tiny fairy penguins surfing into shore each evening to return to their nests. Also the home of a great wildlife park where you can have a close-up encounter with native Australian wildlife such as kangaroos, wombats and emus.

Great Ocean Road. A beautiful coastal road easily accessible from Melbourne where amazing rock formations rise out of an almost unnaturally blue sea.

Uluru. The aboriginal name for Ayers Rock. It's amazing to get your first glimpse of this huge rock rising up out of the desert floor. Again, it is a world famous land mark that manages to be even more impressive in reality. The area is rich in fascinating aboriginal history.

Great barrier reef. One of the great wonders of the world, teeming with tropical marine wildlife, and officially the largest living thing on earth (since it's made up of coral, a living organism). How could you miss it? If you're not into scuba diving or snorkeling there are glass bottom boats that do great informative reef trips.

Fraser Island. A beautiful sand island close to Brisbane with stunning beaches, forests and inland lakes. Apparently the only place in Oz where you can still find pure bred dingoes(There are no domestic dogs on the island so they haven't been able to interbreed).

Perth and surrounding area. The most remote state capital in the world and surely the most beautiful. It's also just a short hop to Rottnest Island which is the only place in the world you'll find a unique breed of marsupial known as the quokka (also useful for word games where you need to know an animal beginning with q).

Ningaloo reef. Western Australia's answer to the great barrier and just as spectacular. This area is great for scuba diving and snorkeling and also one of the few places in the world where you can swim with whale sharks - the world biggest fish and not half as scary as they sound (they're plankton eaters).

Hammersley ranges. An amazing range of gorges and waterfalls in Western Australia. It's like visiting the worlds biggest natural water park.

Kakadu National Park. An amazing national park in the Northern territories, full of fantastic wildlife (including crocodiles), and ancient aboriginal rock paintings.

Darwin. At the far north of Australia, Darwin is closer to Singapore than Sydney and is a big(ish) city with a real small town feel. Most travelers never make it that far, which in itself is a great reason for you to get there if you can.

Learn more about this author, Karen Banes.
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