Australia Travel Guide

Published 25 February 2018

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Where to Visit in Australia

Why visit Adelaide

Why visit Victoria

Why visit Melbourne

Why visit Brisbane

Australia visa requirements

Why visit Adelaide in Australia

Adelaide is an exciting, lively city and South Australia’s cosmopolitan coastal capital. On Adelaide’s doorstep you will find miles of beautiful coast, white beaches and beautifully green parks. You can enjoy the buzz of the urban life with bars and restaurants spoiling you for choice, and within minutes be soaking in gorgeous landscapes.

Festivals in Adelaide

The state of Adelaide puts on good festivals. If you wish to time your holiday with a festival, here is a good list of ideas for various months in a year:

The Tour Down Under is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, taking place in January. However, there are more reasons to love the week-long event well-beyond superstar cycling races. During the time Adelaide becomes alive with street parties. The buzz along with tasty food and drink is alone well worth a visit. Start with an afternoon at Victoria Square's Adelaide City Council Tour Village to get a feel for the event and then venture on further. Unley Gourmet Gala, the family friendly Tourrific Prospect street party, or Glenelg Tour Street Party are some of the options to consider.

Adelaide Fringe Festival is the world's second-largest annual arts festival, and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, held in Adelaide, and runs between February and March.

WOMADelaide - awarded Australia's best contemporary music festival that takes place in Adelaide’s Botanic Park over several days in the month of March.

The Adelaide Festival of Arts aka Adelaide Festival has been around for more than half a century and offers great theatre productions, musical and dance performances and exhibitions. The art festival takes place over approximately two weeks in March.

Tasting Australia – an eight-day eating and drinking festival offering great wines and foodstuff in Adelaide. This is a great opportunity to sample Australian flavours and explore South Australia’s sprawling culinary landscape. The festival lasts more than a week and takes place in April.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival commencing on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend and spread over two weeks each June showcases classic and contemporary cabaret performances.

The South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA) is the largest and most innovative community based visual arts festival in Australia that takes place over the month of August. The festival is inclusive of every medium and you can expect to sculpture, painting, photography, moving image and installations. Artists exhibit in various spaces that include galleries, open art studios, cafes, restaurants, wineries, shops, offices and other kind of public spaces.

Adelaide Guitar Festival – is another great arts adventure you can plan for August in South Australia. Unbound by genre the festival celebrates the world's most popular instrument. The festival is set over four days and includes free as well as ticketed events. Concerts take place in various venues. Guitars in bars and other places are expected to feature more than 300 musicians.

Wildlife in Adelaide

For a bit of nature, koala cuddles and native wildlife you can head out to Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills, or a little bit further away The Gorge Wildlife Park. For a wildlife experience not too far from the city centre you can simply go to Glenelg beachside where you can sit back, relax, or go sailing, watch the dolphins…or take a boat and tour Kangaroo Island where you can hang with kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, echidnas, birds and seals. The Kangaroo Island 30 minutes away by flight south of Glenelg or just over two hours by car and ferry.

Visit Victoria in Australia

Victoria is a most densely populated state in south-eastern Australia. In Victoria there are many diverse experiences to enjoy. You can have long lunches at winery restaurants, swim with dolphins and seals in Port Phillip Bay, ride horses along beaches, visit cheesemakers and distillers, farm stands and olive groves, go bushwalking or explore the sophisticated capital of the state of Victoria, Melbourne. There are many activities to choose from and here are some examples from us:

Melbourne is a great city to explore with a lot to offer where little things count. This is a city where people love to eat out, love their brunches, like a good quality coffee and of course, their wines, bears and cocktails. Whether you want a coffee with the coffee beans roasted on site or an Asian speciality made by an imaginary chef, Melbourne has it all. In Melbourne you can escape to the beach to cool off on a hot day, explore cutting edge arts and culture, check out a festival, search out hidden laneway bars, and much more. There is a more detailed post on Melbourne below.

The Grampians, or officially The Grampians National Park, is a spectacular nature reserve in Victoria, Australia. Hiking is the biggest draw in the Grampians due to the well-marked routes that offer mind-blowing scenery from mountaintops, waterfalls, lots of animals and birds and other nature’s treasures. Also visit the Halls Gap village situated in the heart of the Grampians National Park. For more information check out this brilliant guide from Google on Grampians National Park.

Phillip Island just off Australia’s southern coast. Take a day trip from Melbourne and watch the perfect sunset accompanied by the Little Penguin Parade on the gorgeous Summerland Beach. The Nobbies offers spectacular coastal viewing points and at Seal Rocks on Phillip Island you can watch seals as it has the largest fur seal colony in Australia.

Geelong is a port city southwest of Melbourne where you can part take in many activities with plenty to explore. Geelong has plenty of nature and parks, outdoor activities, sights and landmarks, museums, places to shop, eat and drink. It’s a good place to spend time on the waterfront where you can swim in the popular Eastern Beach Swimming Enclosure, as well as enjoy excellent seafood restaurants, and the beautiful Promenade walk.

Ballarat city in Victoria is best known for Sovereign Hill where you can step back in history into this replica gold rush town with 1850s streets, shops and mines. You can pan there for real gold and it’s yours to keep! Visit Sovereign Hill site for more information.

Wilsons Promontory National Park is known for its rugged granite mountains and abundant wildlife, including kangaroos and wombats. Don’t forget to visit Squeaky Beach, an iconic location where the rounded grains of quartz sand make a ’squeak’ when walked on.

Port Campbell is yet another coastal town in Victoria, Australia. Here you can see The Twelve Apostles that are beautiful rock formations peeking out of the sea, located in Port Campbell National Park. London Arch is another offshore gorgeous natural rock formation, which you can see along the Great Ocean Road in Port Campbell National Park. Along the Great Ocean Road you might spot other crazy wonders like the floating Pole House suspended 132 feet above the beach.

Apollo Bay is a town and a stop on the Great Ocean Road coastal driving route. The town is known for its seafood, tranquil beaches, rolling green hills and the Great Otway National Park.

Why visit Melbourne in Australia

Reasons to visit Melbourne, the world’s most liveable city, include gorgeous train stations, buzzing beaches like St Kilda, the gorgeous Mornington Peninsula coastline, wildlife on Phillip Island, fresh live music, sightseeing and shopping spots like Melbourne Central Shopping Centre. In Melbourne there is plenty of activities you can do, including surfing, sunbathing, sightseeing, taking a boat tour and swimming with dolphins, eating out, drinking out, partying, riding a vintage tram and so forth.

Why visit Brisbane in Australia

There is a lot you can do in Brisbane and here is a starting point for you.

You can barhop rooftop bars, pub crawl through Woolloongabba and have drinks in historic pubs. Might also want to catch a gig in the renovated WWII hangar at The Triffid.

If you manage to be up to catch the sunrise over Brisbane CBD you can do that from Mt Coot-tha that’s 287 metres above sea level and the highest peak in Brisbane.

Water-lovers can Kayak the Tangalooma Wrecks on Moreton Island in clear transparent kayaks that allow to see fish below. For a more immediate and fun water experience in the middle of the city, however, you can cool down in the city’s Street Beach.

If you love wildlife and kangaroos, you can feed them, pat them and get lots of selfies with them on the green roaming fields at Lone Pine.

Australia visa requirements

Can you visit Australia without a visa?

Unless you are a New Zealand citizen, you will need a valid Australian visa to enter the country. An Australia travel visa is required for holiday-making, visiting and sightseeing in Australia. If your country is listed on the Electronic Travel Authority list, you can apply online and in most cases the ETA visas are issued instantly. If your country is listed on the eVisitor list, you can apply online and in most cases a visa is issued within 1 working day.

Countries that can visit Australia without a visa

New Zealand.

Do I need a visa to visit Australia?

Yes, you need a visa to visit Australia. There are three visas you can apply for online for tourist or business activities:

Electronic Travel Authority (20 AUD service fee per applicant) - start your online ETA application here;
eVisitor (no application charge or service fee) - start your online eVisitor application here; and
Visitor visa (fees may apply).