Holidays in Australia

Billabongs and beaches, rainforests and reefs, the vast Outback and unique wildlife. Australia has it all. It’s big on beauty and it has its fair share of big-name blockbusters – the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House, Uluru, Byron Bay’s beach hip vibe. While these are epic wonders you need to see, this is just scratching the tiniest tip of the iceberg.

If Australia is like a continent in size, then its states and territories are like countries. Each offers a rich diversity of wilderness, cities, wildlife and watery wonders that’s different to the next. Want brilliant beaches and buzzy urban life? Then head to Sydney and New South Wales. Fancy aboriginal rock art and rust-red emptiness that looks more like the surface of Mars? Then check out the Northern Territory. Whether you’re after excellent snorkelling (Western Australia and Queensland), captivating nature and wildlife (South Australia), unspoiled rugged wilds (Tasmania and Victoria), Australia has everything to feed a travellers’ wanderlust. Whichever you choose, just remember everywhere does wonderful wine.

The key to planning a luxury holiday in Australia is to respect its vast size and not try to do it all. For a healthy bite of Australia’s awesome expanse, we’d recommend picking two or three areas. Then when it captures your heart, you can return and experience it completely anew.

Australia is huge and diverse. Unspoiled wildernesses lie staggeringly close to cosmopolitan cities, brilliant beaches act as sandy frontiers to magical marine worlds and gigantic rock monoliths bear aboriginal rock art that proves fascinating culture lurks within its wild scenery. Whether you base yourselves in Sydney, Queensland, Western Australia or another part of the country, we'd implore you to move around and see as much as you can. The places you can stay in Australia are just as varied, from homesteads pitched in ancient landscapes to a private tropical island and everything else you can think of in-between.

As you can imagine, the weather varies greatly depending on where you go on your holiday in Australia. But it’s not as variable as you might think – you can use the Tropic of Capricorn as a rough dividing line between its two climates.

The North (Northern Territory and northern Western Australia and Queensland)

North of the Tropic of Capricorn, Australia experiences a typically tropical climate, with the dry season from April to October and the wet season from November to March. The dry season sees very little rain and pleasant temperatures ranging from the high 20s to the low 30s (degrees Celsius), leaving you plenty of dry and sunny days for exploring. The currents around the Great Barrier Reef are gentler, so snorkelling conditions are far more pleasant.

The north’s dry season is also prime time for spotting magnificent marine life at Ningaloo Reef, where you can swim with whale sharks (March to August) and humpback whales (June to November). Once October hits, both the temperature and humidity starts to build, with the mercury hitting the mid-30s. The rainfall builds, peaking in January and February, but the wet weather helps the Outback’s wildlflowers bloom spectacularly. Strong winds and currents make snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef and accessing its islands tricky.

The South (Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania)

The southern half of Australia’s climate is the opposite of what we experience in the northern hemisphere, with four seasons.

The summer (December to February) is the south at its hottest, with temperatures across all the major cities ranging from 26-32°C, with Tasmania a little cooler (averaging around the low 20s). Christmas and New Year is a huge occasion, especially in Sydney, while Australia Day in January welcomes more local celebrations. While you can have plenty of sunshine on a holiday during this period, you can experience a sprinkling of rain, too. March to May is autumn in the south, with the sunshine still limitless and joined with less rainfall as well. Temperatures start to drop towards the end of autumn (to the low 20s), with golden colours beginning to lick the foliage.

June to August sees the arrival of winter, with the thermometer dipping below 20°C and more scatterings of rain showers. The more temperate weather makes hiking in places like the Blue Mountains and around Melbourne far more pleasant, while remote inland areas like Flinders Ranges aren’t as scorching. The spring (September-November) promises more weather perfect for walking and exploring the wine regions like the Barossa Valley, Hunter Valley and Margaret River. Wildflowers also gloriously erupt into life, particularly in the countryside around Perth and Western Australia.