Features // Australia

In a country where a small spider can kill you it’s reassuring to know Mother Nature has a softer side. Hidden in the prehistoric valleys of the Blue Mountains National Park in New South Wales are hundreds of plants used by Aboriginal peoples to cure everything from earache and fevers to snake bites and colds. The best chance…

From rafting to swimming, snorkelling and diving, here’s a few of our favourite water-based holidays around the world. Surfing at Raglan, New Zealand Don’t be surprised if you to come to the beach town of Raglan and stay for longer than intended. Many do. Experienced surfers are drawn by the reliable swells and one of…

There’s few more thrilling travel experiences than getting up close and personal with animals in their natural environment. Here, taken from the pages of Make The Most Of Your Time On Earth, are ten ideas for nature lovers around the world. Whether it’s wolves in Wyoming or jellyfish in Palau, there’s all kinds of experiences…

Thanks to the stratospheric rise of the aussie dollar, Sydney has now leapfrogged New York and London as one of the world’s most expensive cities. Almost every street seems to have a concept wine bar or Masterchef-style restaurant popping up and even scuzzy old Kings Cross has cleaned up its act. Yet while “Sydders” can…

Wipe the dust from your rear-view mirror and keep one juddering eyeball fixed on the sky behind you. At any moment a plane could drop down, flinging hot sand into your paintwork, and you’ll be expected to give it enough space to land. On Fraser Island’s 75 Mile Beach, you see, the highway doubles up…

If you’re looking to combine your next trip with a world-class festival or a mind-blowing carnival, then look no further. Here, from the pages of Make The Most Of Your Time On Earth, we present ten of the best parades, parties and processions across the world. Walking on the wild side at the Sydney Mardi…

“It’s like being in another world!” may be the most predictable observation following a close encounter with the Great Barrier Reef, but it’s only when you’ve come face to face with the extraordinary animals, shapes and colours here that you realize you’ve truly entered a watery parallel universe. And as a curious thick-lipped potato cod…

As we celebrate 40 of the world’s greatest road trips, Alasdair Baverstock recounts a memorable drive down Australia’s Great Ocean Road. Watching carefully for kangaroos, Mike weaved the car’s wheels through dense rainforest, past ocean-front communities and alongside a furious Southern Ocean. We were only a few kilometres into one of the world’s most stunning…

For all the media’s focus on big-money events, it’s often weird local games or odd new hybrid events that really capture the joy of sport across the world. So we asked the authors of The Rough Guide to Cult Sport to select their ten favourite strange sports from the book (with apologies to the likes…

If you’ve been thinking of swapping the traditional beach and beers break for something a little more, well, useful this year, allow us to present ten inspiring options. Whether it’s monitoring fish in Tobago or cleaning elephants in Thailand, these breaks allow you to really put something back on your travels. Help conserve the Galápagos…