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In-Depth Information
because it's so vast. Near Kununurra,
on the eastern edge of the Kimberley,
is a million-acre cattle station, El Que-
stro, where you can camp in safari
tents (or stay in an upmarket—read
“expensive”—homestead), fish for
barramundi, hike through the bush to
Aboriginal rock art, take all kinds of
active tours from horseback riding to
four-wheel-drive jaunts, and dine
every night on terrific Modern Aus-
tralian cuisine. From Kununurra you
can fly over or hike into the beehive-
shaped rock formation of the Bungle
Bungles, cruise on the bird-rich, croc-
infested Ord River, and tour the
Argyle Diamond Mine—the world's
biggest.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA Stretched
between Western Australia and Victo-
ria is the nation's breadbasket, South
Australia. The capital, Adelaide, is a
stately place known for its conser-
vatism, parks, and churches, and is an
ideal base for exploring Australia's
illustrious wine region, the Barossa
Valley. Big labels like Penfolds, Sep-
pelts, and Wolf Blass are here, but take
time to sniff out the many smaller but
no less outstanding vineyards. And it's
less than an hour from the city!
Bring your binoculars for the mas-
sive waterbird sanctuary, the Coorong.
Stay in an underground hotel in the
offbeat opal-mining town of Coober
Pedy (it's too hot above ground), or
order a 'roo-burger at the historic
Prairie Hotel in the craggy, ancient
lands of the Flinders Ranges in the
South Australian Outback.
The greatest of South Australia's
attractions (apart from wine, of
course) is Kangaroo Island, the best
place in Australia to see native ani-
mals. In a day you can spot wallabies,
kangaroos, koalas, oodles of birds
from black swans to kookaburras,
echidnas, and penguins. The beach
teems with sea lions.
VICTORIA Australia's second-
largest city, Melbourne, is the capital
of Victoria. Melbourne is more stately
and “Old World” than Sydney, and
offers an exciting mix of ethnicity and
the country's best fashion shopping.
Nearby Phillip Island is famous for its
Penguin Parade, where hundreds of
tiny penguins dash up the beach to
their burrows at dusk; and, the his-
toric gold-mining city of Ballarat is
not far away. Victoria is also the site of
one of Australia's great road trips, the
Great Ocean Road, which stretches
for 106km (66 miles) along the south-
ern coast, where the eroded rock tow-
ers named the Twelve Apostles stand
tall in the sea. Then there's the inland
“high country,” the stomping ground
of the title character in Banjo Patter-
son's 1890 poem “The Man from
Snowy River.”
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRI-
TORY (ACT) Surrounded entirely
by New South Wales is the Australian
Capital Territory. The ACT is made
up of bushland and the nation's capi-
tal, Canberra, a planned city similar in
architectural concept to Washington,
D.C. Many Australians consider the
capital boring, but Canberra will sur-
prise you. It has some of the country's
best museums and great restaurants,
so don't automatically exclude it from
your itinerary.
TASMANIA Last stop before
Antarctica is the island state of Tasma-
nia. Visit the Apple Isle for its beauti-
ful national parks, stretches of alpine
wilderness and gloomy forests, fruit
and lavender farms, the world's best
trout fishing, and an exquisitely slow
pace of life rarely experienced any-
where else. If you're up to it, you could
tackle the Overland Track, an 85km
(53-mile) hiking trail between Cradle
Mountain and Lake St. Clair that
passes through highland moors, dense
rainforests, and several mountains. A
more leisurely option is a visit to the
picturesque stone ruins of Port
Arthur, Australia's version of Devil's
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