ADVENTURE HOLIDAYS

Spend a weekend with the girls at one of these getaway destinations. By Alissa Jenkins OLD-WORLD OPULENCE, NSW Where? // Lavender Majestic Manor is located in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, about 100km west of Sydney CBD. Why? // It’s a decadent destination: the girls’ getaway package in this stunning restored house from 1890 offers things like butler service throughout your stay, massages and facials, hot spa and sauna and lavish breakfast spreads. Outside the house are a variety of local restaurants and cosy bars, and several local weekend markets. How much? // Ultimate Girls Weekend Package from $450 per person, including two nights’...

Embark on a weekend adventure at one of these getaways. By Alissa Jenkins HIKING HIDEAWAY, SA Where? // Ridge Top Retreats is in the stringybark forest on the Fleurieu Peninsula, two hours south of Adelaide. Why? // The location makes it a luxe camp base for exploring multiple hiking trails throughout the park, with scenery ranging from coastal views to bushland and dense forest; it incorporates a section of the iconic Heysen Trail. Swimming, fishing, snorkeling, surfing and hang-gliding are also available. How much? // From $225 per night, including brekkie for two. southernoceanretreats.com.au SOUTH COAST SNORKELLING, WA Where? // Albany is located in...

 Pamela Wright takes a dip with a movie star: Burt the crocodile Darwin lays claim to more crocodiles than any other city in the world, and many of them are at Crocosaurus Cove in the city centre. The three-storey venue occupies an entire block and offers the chance to see crocs from three months to 80 years old. There are other reptiles here too – goannas, lizards, geckos, turtles, frogs, rare pythons and venomous snakes. Next door, metre-long barramundi gorge on tidbits offered by professional divers during daily feedings in a 200,000 litre aquarium. At the Fishing for Crocs pool, there...

Samantha Alexander delves into Red Gorge for a day of abseling within Karijini National Park. There’s nothing better than being in the moment. Going with the flow, being spontaneous and doing things you wouldn’t usually do. On a recent journey through Western Australia this sums up most of my trip. One place however, that this was especially true was Karijini National Park. I had explored much of the area on foot but wanted to see more. Enjoying being amongst nature and feeling free, I decide to book in for an adventure tour and lock myself in for an 8am departure in...

Jumping out of a plane at 14 000 feet above land is a horrifying concept to Alissa Jenkins, but in the name of research she does it anyway.   Every bodily response suggests this is not a good idea. Anxiety, sweaty palms, and er, nauseating stomach-flips have well and truly set in. Convinced I am about to meet my mortal end, I am on the way to Sydney International Regatta Centre near Penrith Lakes where I will prepare to skydive over the city. After filling out numerous forms (which although necessary is not reassuring), I change into a pair of...

The HMB Endeavour experiences a high crew turnover as it circumnavigates Australia, but maybe not for the reasons you’d think. AT meets the mates who hoist the mainsails on the full-scale replica of the country’s most important historic ship. Words and images by Fiona Harper. After unceremoniously “discovering” the Great Barrier Reef when his ship Endeavour struck an offshore reef, James Cook noted, “At nine o’clock the carpenters went to work.” Holed, taking on water and with no likely assistance beyond what he could conjure himself, Cook’s ship was in dire straits. Though, as any decent 18th century explorer would,...

Quentin Long walks us through Australia’s most iconic multi-day nature treks: these 24 adventure escapes take in the most remote regions in Australia.   01. HEYSEN TRAIL, SA Length: 1200km over 60 days (or one obsessed lifetime). Route: The Heysen Trail is more than a ramble – it’s a lifestyle. The rock star of Australian walks starts in the ancient and mesmerising Flinders Ranges – Parachilna Gorge to be exact – and finishes at Cape Jervis, but only the crazy would walk its entire length in one attempt. No other trail meanders through such lovely countryside – including five wine regions....

Zoe Naylor hangs on for dear life as she hurtles round the track on the back of a bike ridden by a World Superbike champion. And so can you. I have been riding my Ducati 696 for about two years, but I’m far from being a speed demon – nor do I claim to know much about motorcycles. When the opportunity came up to participate in the Troy Bayliss Experience, a motorbike activity day hosted by Troy himself and launched on June 1 this year, I didn’t even know who he was. I’d heard of Casey Stoner, but apart from...

Photographer Ewen Bell became enamoured with penguins while cruising to Australia’s Antarctic Territories. It’s a totally new world down there, and the true final frontier for adventure tourism. Wind pushes waves of ocean spray across the bow of our Zodiac and we brace ourselves against the salty water. Swinging our gumboots over one side of the craft, we land on the black sand of Macquarie Island among nearly 100,000 penguins. Millions of penguins live on the island, and there are even more waiting further south when we sail to East Antarctica. Fewer than 1000 people a year visit Macquarie Island,...

Ben Stubbs gets a lesson in survival while snowshoeing in the backcountry of Kosciuszko National Park.  Although I have never wondered what it would be like to walk like a duck, I am now finding out as I trudge through the snow in Kosciuszko National Park. My snowshoes resemble tennis racquets with teeth, and they keep me upright as I waddle like Daffy to the top of the ridge. I’ve enrolled in a backcountry survival course in the NSW Snowy Mountains to allow me to experience something away from the crowds and lift lines in the resorts down the valley. We begin...

Where is it? In the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland. It’s the world’s largest reef system, longer than the Great Wall of China, and it can even be seen from space. Little wonder it’s a World-Heritage site. Diving around the 350,000 kilometre square reef is simply incredible. You’ll spot dugongs, green turtles, dolphins, reef sharks, more than 1500 species of fish and 4000 types of mollusks, including giant clams.For those with a keen sense of adventure, scuba dive the shipwrecked Yongala, the largest and most intact historic shipwreck in Australian waters. Or head out to the Ribbon Reefs...

You read that right: CATCHING Bulls in Cape York . . . AT Reader Michele Maddison takes us along on the ride of her life.  Tranquillity. As you pry your eyes open, lying in your swag by the river, sunbeams filter through the trees and birds join in the early morning choir. Swat – go away fly, you’re destroying my oasis of peace. Suddenly over the embankment comes the roar of the Landy engine, oasis gone. It was time to get up and embark on a day of outback adventure . . . bull-catching. Our adrenalin levels rise as we...

Zoe Naylor has taken her first tottering steps in a lifelong love affair with a motorcycle. So if you’ve been tempted by the thrill of the ride and the wind in your hair, hop on and hold tight. A year ago, if you’d told me that today I’d be riding my very own Ducati, I wouldn’t have believed you. I grew up peppered with horror stories about terrible accidents that scared me off ever entertaining the idea seriously. But later in life and living in Bondi, my partner at the time decided he wanted a scooter to make travel to...