There’s always that one colleague who was organised enough to book their leave to align with the state’s holidays, leaving the rest of the office envious of their lovely two-week break with minimal leave used.
Leave maximisation is where you strategically use your annual leave days around weekends and public holidays to stretch out your break, and we’re already looking ahead to how to make the most of our time off next year.
Savvy travellers use annual leave days around weekends and public holidays to stretch out their break. (Image: Tourism Australia)
Corporate Traveller has analysed how, with the right planning, Aussies can turn their annual leave into extended breaks in 2026. What their analysis shows is that Western Australians can get the most time off with minimal leave used, stretching 31 days of annual leave into an impressive 71 days off in total.
Tom Walley, global managing director of Corporate Traveller, says thoughtful timing will pay dividends next year: “Public holidays in 2026 are well spaced for extended getaways. By locking in leave requests now, employees can secure the best fares and accommodation, and employers can plan resourcing well in advance. Everybody wins."
Let’s take a look…
Victoria
Spend your leave relaxing in hot springs in the Mornington Peninsula. (Image: Tourism Australia)
Victorians can strategically lock in up to 60 days off by using 20 days of annual leave alongside 13 public holidays and weekends. Over the Christmas/New Year period, you could get 16 days off in a row by using seven days of leave, or 16 days off in a row at Easter by taking eight days of leave.
Queensland
Queenslanders can be savvy and lock in up to 58 days off by using 25 days of leave alongside 12 public holidays and weekends. You can use seven days of annual leave to get 16 days off in a row during the Christmas/New Year period, use four days of annual leave to get 10 consecutive days off over Easter, or use four days of annual leave to get 10 days off in a row around Ekka Day in August.
Western Australia
Spend relaxing days on Rottnest Island. (Image: Tourism Australia)
Western Australians can lock in an incredible 71 days off by using 31 days of leave alongside 11 state-wide public holidays and weekends. By using seven days of annual leave around the Christmas/New Year period, you can get 16 consecutive days off, or by using four days of annual leave around Easter, you can get 10 days off in a row.
South Australia
South Australians can get 62 days off with 27 annual leave days, thanks to 13 public holidays. For extended breaks, you can use four days of annual leave for 10 days off in a row over Easter, and seven days of annual leave for 16 consecutive days off.
Tasmania
Tasmanians can get 50 days off by using 19 days of annual leave, thanks to 11 official state-wide public holidays, plus either Royal Hobart Regatta Day in the south or Recreation Day in the rest of the state, along with an extra day off for public servants (7 April). You can get up to 16 days off by using seven annual leave days over the Christmas/New Year period or up to 11 days off by using four days of leave (or five with Easter Tuesday) over the Easter period.
New South Wales
Byron Bay is one of the most popular NSW towns to spend summer at. (Tourism Australia)
NSW has 11 state-wide public holidays. Employees can take up to 53 consecutive days off if they use 23 leave days around the Christmas/New Year and January holiday period, when multiple weekends and public holidays coincide. You could also give yourself a 10-day break by using just four days of your annual leave around the Easter break, from Saturday 28 March to Monday 6 April.
Australian Capital Territory
People in the ACT can get 55 days off if they take 23 days of annual leave, thanks to 13 public holidays, which include two extra long weekends – Canberra Day (Monday 9 March) and Reconciliation Day (Monday 1 June). To maximise leave, use seven days of annual leave for 16 days off over Christmas/New Year and four days of leave for 10 days off over Easter.
Northern Territory
Western Australians can get the most time off with minimal leave used. (Image: Tourism Australia)
The Top End crowd can get 50 days off if they take 19 days of annual leave, thanks to 11 official public holidays in 2026. You can get 16 consecutive days off over Christmas/New Year by using seven days of annual leave or 10 days off over Easter by using four days of annual leave.
Rachael Thompson is Australian Traveller's Evergreen Editor and a self-proclaimed cheese and Chablis connoisseur. In her role, she creates and manages online content that remains relevant and valuable over time. With a background in publishing and e-commerce in both interior design and travel, Rachael is dedicated to curating engaging content that informs and inspires. She began her career at Belle magazine, then went on to become Senior Content Producer at Homes to Love focusing on Australian House & Garden and Belle, followed by Editor at Bed Threads. Her work has also appeared in Qantas Travel Insider. When she's not writing, editing, or optimising content, Rachael enjoys exploring the city's newest restaurants, bars, and hotels. Next on her Aussie travel wish list are Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park and Lord Howe Island.
Makers, bakers, artists, chefs, crafters – Ballarat and its surrounds are overflowing with creative spirits. All dedicated to keeping traditional skills alive for a city that is humming with artful energy.
Modern makers: a new generation of artists and artisans
“Keeping craft alive is a noble cause,” says Jess Cameron-Wootten, a charming and passionate master leathercrafter and cordwainer, who handmakes traditional leather boots and shoes in Ballarat’s old Gun Cotton Goods Store.
Ballarat was recognised in 2019 as a UNESCO Creative City of Craft and Folk Art, and today it’s a place where craft traditions converge with contemporary needs. Nothing quite captures this convergence as a visit to Wootten , the workshop and store of Jess Cameron-Wootten and his partner Krystina Menegazzo.
Ballarat’s streets are lined with heritage buildings. (Image: Matt Dunne)
Jess’s father was an artisan bootmaker, or cordwainer. Now Jess and Krys and their small team of artisans continue the tradition, but with a modern spin. The company’s boots and shoes, made completely from scratch, are renowned for their quality and longevity. Wootten also craft shoes, bags, belts, leather aprons, wallets and more.
Cosy beanies, gloves, alpaca socks, “unbreakable” shoelaces and various other goods – many from local craftspeople and small-scale makers – fill the shop’s shelves. “We’re always happy to support a mate,” says Jess. “People love to see the workshop and where things are made. Our clients care about quality and sustainability,” Krys comments. The company slogan ‘Made for generations’ says it all.
Ruby Pilven’s ceramics at Ross Creek Gallery. (Image: Tara Moore)
For Ruby Pilven, craft is also in the DNA – both her parents were potters and with her latest porcelain ceramics, Ruby’s young daughter has been helping add colour to the glazes. “I grew up watching my parents in the workshop – I’ve always been doing ceramics,” she says, although her Visual Arts degree was in printmaking. That printmaking training comes through particularly in the rich layering of pattern. Her audacious colour, unexpected shapes and sudden pops of 12-carat gold are contemporary, quirky – and joyful.
You can see Ruby’s handcrafted ceramics, and work by other local and regional artists, at Ross Creek Gallery , a light-filled space surrounded by serene bushland, across from the mudbrick house her parents built in the 1980s. A 10-minute drive from Ballarat, it’s a tangible link to the region’s well-established craft traditions.
How Ballarat is preserving the past
The Centre for Rare Arts & Forgotten Trades holds workshops to preserve crafts and skills.
While tradition is ongoing, there’s a danger that many of these specific type of skills and knowledge are fading as an older generation passes on. Step forward the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades .
The seven purpose-built studios occupy a fabulous modern building adjacent to Sovereign Hill, with state-of-the-art facilities, enormous windows and landscape views across to Warrenheip and Wadawurrung Country.
Check out artisanal works at the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades.
Practising artisans run hands-on workshops. Fancy making your own medieval armour? Or trying your hand at blacksmithing, spinning wool, plaiting leather, weaving cane or craft a knife? Book a class and learn how. “It’s about creating awareness and also sharing knowledge and skills before they are lost,” explains Deborah Klein, the centre manager.
A city steeped in food and flavours
Chef José Fernandez creates vibrant South American street food at Pancho. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
One skill that hasn’t been lost is that of cooking. Ballarat’s burgeoning gastronomy scene runs the gamut from an artisan bakery (the atmospheric 1816 Bakehouse) to cool coffee shops, speakeasy cocktail bars and distilleries to fine-dining venues. But I’m still surprised to find Pancho , José Fernandez’s South American street food restaurant, serving fried cheese tequeños, fiery fish tacos, Argentinian grilled chicken.
The room is as lively as the food – a whirl of colour filled with gifted and thrifted paintings, photos, tchotchkes (trinkets), plants. There’s a Mexican abuela aesthetic going on here. Even before the music and mezcal kick in, it’s fun. Heads up on the drinks menu – an authentic selection of mezcal, tequila, South American wines and Mexican cerveza.
Enjoy a cocktail at Itinerant Spirits. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
The spirit is willing, so after lunch we head towards the gold rush-era Ballarat train station and across the line to the old 1860s Goods Shed for Itinerant Spirits . At one end, a massive German copper still looms behind a wall of glass. The fit-out embraces deep olive-green tones, original bluestone walls, steamer trunks as coffee tables, heritage timber floors, oversized lamp shades and cognac-hued modernist leather seating.
The distillery operates from an old goods shed. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
Gallivanter Gin, Vansetter Vodka and Wayfarer Whiskey – the key spirits distilled – star at the bar. The spirits are crafted using grains from the Wimmera Mallee region, and native botanicals foraged in the Grampians. Seasonal cocktails are inspired by local people and places (I loved The Headland, inspired by Sovereign Hill and flavoured with old-fashioned raspberry drops). Sample the spirits, and join a cocktail masterclass or a distillery tour. It’s a seductive setting – you’ll likely find yourself ordering a charcuterie platter or pizza as the evening progresses.
The Ballarat stay combining history and luxury
The rooms at Hotel Vera have a contemporary style. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
New lives for old buildings keeps history alive. Vera, Ballarat’s boutique five-star hotel, has taken it to the next level: it’s a palimpsest, a subtle layering of early 1900s and 1930s Art Deco architecture with a sleek new wing. There are seven spacious suites, each a dramatically different colour, with designer chairs, blissful bathrooms. High-end pottery and hand-picked artworks imbue the spaces with personality.
Vera’s intimate, award-winning restaurant, Babae, is subtly theatrical with sheer drapes and gallery lighting, its bespoke timber furniture and brass-edged marble bench setting the stage for food with a sharp regional focus. “We have goat’s cheese from a local supplier, handmade granola from local Vegas & Rose, truffles from nearby Black Cat Truffles, fresh food from our garden, and regional wines,” says joint owner David Cook-Doulton.
Celebrating the local makers, bakers, growers and producers, and the master chefs who work their magic is all part of the rich tapestry that links Ballarat’s history to its vibrant present.
A traveller’s checklist
Getting there
It’s 90 minutes from Melbourne, either on the Western Freeway, or hop on a V/Line train from Southern Cross Station.
Staying there
Hotel Vera is a centrally located Art Deco boutique hotel. Consider Hotel Provincial , which feels like a sleek country house, but with its own restaurant, Lola.
Hotel Provincial has country house vibes.
Eating there
The table is set at Mr Jones. (Image: Tony Evans/ Visit Victoria)
Culinary whiz Damien Jones helms Chef’s Hat winner Mr Jones Dining with quiet assurance. His modern Asian food is deceptively simple with deep, intense flavours. Low-key, laid-back ambience, lovely staff, thoughtful wine list.
Cocktails are definitely a thing in Ballarat. Reynard (fox in French) is foxy indeed, a clubby space with top-notch cocktails and small bites. Grainery Lane is extravagantly OTT with its massive 1880s bar, myriad chandeliers, brass gin still, Asian-inspired food and lavish cocktails.
Dining at Grainery Lane.
Playing there
An artful laneway in the city. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
Don’t forget the giant bluestone Kryal Castle , ‘the land of adventure’, for a little medieval magic, and not just for the kids: get ready for Highland-style feasting, jousting, even overnight stays.
