Ultimately, the list should be a collaborative assessment that represents all of Australia, which really requires two things: a starting point that includes as many “things to do” as possible; and then a way to distil this into the 100 things Australians should prioritise as the most important. 

To arrive at the most exhaustive starting list possible, we went first to the most informed: the travel and tourism industry. The call went out to the entire industry to submit a nomination (or nominations, as we invited them to vote early and often). To balance this we also enlisted the help of our bank of expert travel writers, and finally you, our readers, through our website.

And what a turn out. From the tourism industry alone we received more than 700 submissions (a huge testimony to their enthusiasm for the project – thanks, everyone, for your support), then we added to that the fantastic ideas and inspiration our readers and writers brought to the project. In the end, after culling double-up nominations, we had a fairly definitive list of more than 950 unique “Things to Do In Australia Before You Die.”
 

To arrive at the magic 100, we pulled together an excellent panel of passionate, well-travelled individuals from all quarters of society. (In fact, a special thanks must go out to our panellists, who generously donated their time and expertise and were, without exception, thrilled to be involved. Their enthusiasm and love for our vast and sometimes inexplicable land kicked this project into another stratosphere.
 

All nine panellists then received a spreadsheet of nominations, divided into two categories: around 300 probable and 400 possible items. Each was then scored out of five, where a one was “No Way”, and a five was “Must Be Included.” We tallied the totals, and there was our list. 

You’ll have noted that the panellists judged only 700 nominations from an original list of 950. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, we developed this guide primarily for Australians, so we culled what we believed to be important, yet assumed. A great example is “see a kangaroo.” For an overseas visitor, yes.

For an Australian, most of us would have seen one, maybe eaten one, probably even hit one in a 4WD. Secondly, the guide is mainly about activity, not a specific place where that activity can be done. So, while “swim with dolphins” was nominated 18 times at 18 different spots, we decided it should appear as only one nomination for our panellists to consider.

We hope you find the inspiration to get out and see this great country of ours, and of course we know you’ll think we missed a few Things To Do. That’s fine, that’s how it’s supposed to work – so we’ve set up a section on the website for you to tell us what you think should’ve made it.