How to get the most from Australia: Get off the beaten track - Trip Notes

Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island in Australia. Photo / Danielle Wright

Chris Zeiher, a writer for Lonely Planet, has a few handy tips for Kiwis wanting to visit Australia - and get off the well-beaten track in the process.

Kiwis planning a trip to Australia this year are being urged to try something new.

Data continues to show that popping across the ditch for a holiday remains a favourite for many New Zealanders - with some stats showing close to one million of us heading there in 2024.

But few of us are venturing beyond the main city centres when we go there.

Chris Zeiher is a writer with Lonely Planet for the Asia Pacific region, and joined Lorna Riley on this week’s episode of the NZ Herald’s travel podcast, Trip Notes.

Few of us are venturing beyond the main city centres when we visit Australia. Photo / Jamie Davies on Unsplash

“When you drill into the data - I had a look at some Nielsen Consumer Media Insight data, and ... Australia remains core for New Zealand travellers, but they kind of stick to those known places. So Sydney, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Brisbane, and when you actually think about that, they’re all city experiences, aren’t they?

“And what Australia offers is this real diversity of kind of outdoor experiences, from the depths of darkest Tasmania to far north Queensland across to Western Australia. And all of these places, you get a really unique take and perspective on what makes up Australia.”

He said that it’s similar to people coming to New Zealand and only visiting Auckland.

“Why would you miss out on places like the Bay of Islands or Northland or going down to the Milford Sound? You wouldn’t want to miss out on those experiences.”

High on his list of places to visit is Tasmania, citing the unique geography and vegetation there, as well as the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart.

Built underground, Zeiher said the success of the museum has led to renewed investment in Tasmania, with hotels and hospitality springing up after the museum started bringing in tourists.

“You can catch a ferry, and sip some champagne, and as you’re travelling, you’ll be confronted with these huge granite cliffs, and the museum is actually located inside the granite cliffs.

Opened in 2011, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is an art museum located in Tasmania.

“And when you get to the entrance, you’re like, well, this looks really, really tiny, but you’re confronted with a spiral staircase that goes down many, many flights of stairs. You go down to the bottom, and it’s like you’re in an Escher painting - you’ve got corridors leading one way into exhibitions, corridors leading another way that lead to nowhere.”

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If venturing off the mainland isn’t for you, Zeiher said that South Australia has the perfect mix of everything you’d want to experience from the Lucky Country in one spot.

“So you have everything from this crazy little bohemian capital in Adelaide with kind of a rich arts culture. You’ve got island experiences on places like Kangaroo Island. You’ve got incredible coastal scenery.

“Then you go further [and] you’ve got wine country galore. They’ve got 18 wine regions in South Australia, would you believe? As you go further north, then you’ve got these incredible outback experiences that are some of the best that Australia has to offer.

“So if you’re wanting to experience Australia in one state, I would absolutely say South Australia is the way to do it.”

Walking tracks, wildlife and striking rock formations are some of the attractions on Kangaroo Island nature reserve. Photo / Tourism Australia

Kangaroo Island has even made the list of the hottest global destinations from Lonely Planet.

Zeiher said that was in part influenced by the devastating Black Summer wildfires that wiped out a lot of the island’s national park, and how the island has recovered from it.

“There are new visitors' centres within the national park, a lot more accommodation has been reestablished. Many of the tourism operators are back and bouncing and it is kind of the right time to experience it now because it is back to its best.”

Listen to the full episode for more tips on Tasmania, South Australia, and what else there is to see in Australia outside the main centres.

Trip Notes is an NZ Herald podcast hosted by Lorna Riley, a keen travel writer and enthusiast and host of Coast Days. New episodes are available every Tuesday.

This season is sponsored by AA Travel Insurance.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.