A broad white-trunked gum tree spreads its branches over red earth at Emily Gap, with a sunlit red rock ridge and golden-lit trees behind

23.74° S, 133.94° E · Emily Gap, East MacDonnells

The red interior and the reef.
The two halves of Australia, planned properly.

AUSTRALIA

Emily Gap, Hale NT, Australia · Photo Wietse Jongsma / Unsplash

Season and scale

Australia is nearly the size of the contiguous United States. We plan it as three or four regions, each in its right season, with the lodges, guides and flights that make the distances worth it.

Orange and black banded beehive domes of the Bungle Bungle Range line a dry creek bed with spinifex in Purnululu

Ten regions and the harbour

Where to go

All regions

Uluru rises above green desert scrub under a pink and blue twilight sky with a full moon

Northern Territory

The Red Centre

Uluru, Kata Tjuta and the long red ranges west of Alice Springs.

Right season: May to Sep

Aerial view of rainforest running down to a pale curving beach and fringing reef at Cape Tribulation, with turquoise sea beyond

Queensland

The Reef and the Daintree

The outer reef, without the pontoon.

Right season: Jun to Oct

Western Australia

The Kimberley

Fly over the Bungle Bungles first. Walk into them the next morning.

Right season: May to Aug

A calm plunge pool with a sandy edge reflects a streaked sandstone escarpment and green woodland in Kakadu

Northern Territory

The Top End

Kakadu in the dry: escarpment, rock art and floodplain.

Right season: May to Aug

Cradle Mountain glowing orange at sunrise above the Dove Lake boatshed, its peaks mirrored in the still lake

Tasmania

Freycinet. February. A kayak, then oysters at the farm gate.

Right season: Dec to Mar

Western Australia

Ningaloo

Ningaloo when the whale sharks come in.

Right season: Apr to Jul

New South Wales

Sydney

A harbour city for the first and last nights.

Right season: Mar to May

Limestone stacks of the Twelve Apostles rising from white surf beside towering golden cliffs under a moody sky

Victoria

Great Ocean Road

Melbourne's tables, then the coast road west.

Right season: Nov to Mar

The wind-sculpted granite of Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island, perched above a deep blue Southern Ocean

South Australia

A winemaker's table, then an island of sea lions.

Right season: Sep to Nov

Sugarloaf Rock silhouetted against an orange sunset sky, with waves washing over the granite shore near Cape Naturaliste

Western Australia

Margaret River

Karri forest, cold surf and the winemaker who opens the barrel hall.

Right season: Oct to Apr

Not sure?Choose your month firstOpen the planner ArrivingSydney, first and lastSydney

Sample journeys

Three weeks. Four regions.
The right season for each.

All journeys

From a rocky sandstone lookout, bright green wetland floodplains stretch to the horizon beneath a cloudy sky in Kakadu

The long way down

15 to 18 nightsMay to September

Darwin and Kakadu in the dry, the Ghan south through the night, Alice Springs and the West MacDonnells, Uluru, then Adelaide and Kangaroo Island.

View journey

Kakdu National Park, Australia · Photo Vladimir Haltakov / Unsplash

A small crescent sand cay sits among patchy coral reef in clear turquoise water on the Great Barrier Reef

Rock, reef, rainforest

12 to 14 nightsMay to October

Sydney to land and recover, three nights at Uluru, then Port Douglas and the Daintree with a private day on the outer reef, and Lizard Island to finish.

View journey

Great Barrier Reef, Australia · Photo Hongbin / Unsplash

The white curve of Wineglass Bay and its turquoise water below the granite peaks of the Hazards, Freycinet National Park

The southern edge

10 to 12 nightsNovember to April

Melbourne's tables and the Great Ocean Road, then Hobart, Freycinet and Cradle Mountain.

View journey

Wineglass Bay Beach, Freycinet TAS, Australia · Photo Lochie Riordan / Unsplash

The west, unhurried

12 to 16 nightsApril to September

Margaret River from Perth, Ningaloo in whale shark season, then the Kimberley from Broome with a flight over the Bungle Bungles.

View journey

Ningaloo WA, Australia · Photo Dylan Shaw / Unsplash

Wine and wild

8 to 10 nightsSeptember to May

Adelaide, the Barossa, the Flinders Ranges and Kangaroo Island, in one state and with one flight.

View journey

Remarkable Rocks, Flinders Chase SA, Australia · Photo Athithan Vignakaran / Unsplash

Rock, reef, rainforest, 12 to 14 nights

The distances, honestly

Time in the air, approx.: 3h 15
Distance: 2,180 km / 1,350 mi
Flights on the whole journey: Three

Work out your own

Before you plan

Three honest tools

Stays

Where we'd have you sleep

All stays

The names below are placeholders while we finalise our lodge partners.

The domes of Kata Tjuta silhouetted on the horizon under an orange sunset sky, with desert oaks and glowing grass in front

The Red Centre · Tented camp

Corkwood Dune Camp Placeholder name

Tents on a dune with Uluru and Kata Tjuta both in view.

15 tents · Price on enquiry

A camel train with riders walks along the beach at Broome into the setting sun as a person watches from the sand

The Kimberley · Station stay

Boab Station Placeholder name

A working cattle station with gorges, swimming holes and a runway.

12 rooms · Price on enquiry

Dense Daintree rainforest canopy with palms and tall trees, mist drifting over the hills behind

The Reef and the Daintree · Rainforest lodge

Fan Palm House Placeholder name

Pavilions in the Daintree canopy, a short drive from the reef boats.

16 pavilions · Price on enquiry

Granite boulders splashed with orange lichen along the Bay of Fires shoreline under a soft pink and grey sky

Tasmania · Walking huts

Dolerite Huts Placeholder name

Architect-built huts on a multi-day coastal walk.

4 huts · Price on enquiry

Why plan with us

Fewer places. Longer stays.

We plan one country, and we plan it around two questions: is this the right month for that place, and is it worth the flight? If the answer to either is no, we say so, and suggest what we'd do instead.

01
The right season
Kakadu in the dry, Tasmania in summer, Ningaloo when the whale sharks come in. Every region on the planner, every month.
02
Three or four regions
At least three nights each, usually four. We count travel days honestly and tell you when a plan has too many places.
03
Lodges that justify the flight
Fly-in camps, station stays and walking huts, chosen for where they are as much as what they are.
04
Country, named
Aboriginal-owned operators where they exist, and the Traditional Owners named where they ask to be.

Journal

Notes on season and distance

All articles

Late-afternoon light turns a line of red sandstone ranges deep orange behind a lone dark-leaved desert tree and golden spinifex near Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon Access, Petermann NT, Australia · Photo Christian Bass / Unsplash

Start with the month

Tell us when.
We'll tell you where.

Begin an enquiry

Get in touch

plan@outbackandreef.example +61 2 5550 1234 Plan your journey

Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Sydney time

AUSTRALIA

Where to go

Three weeks. Four regions.The right season for each.

The long way down

Rock, reef, rainforest

The southern edge

The west, unhurried

Wine and wild

The distances, honestly

Three honest tools

Where we'd have you sleep

Corkwood Dune Camp Placeholder name

Boab Station Placeholder name

Fan Palm House Placeholder name

Dolerite Huts Placeholder name

Fewer places. Longer stays.

The right season

Three or four regions

Lodges that justify the flight

Country, named

Notes on season and distance

Tell us when.We'll tell you where.

Three weeks. Four regions.
The right season for each.

Tell us when.
We'll tell you where.