Allow about two hours to explore this stronghold built near the German border in the 1930s as part of a French defense plan known as the Maginot Line. Much of the structure is an underground system of tunnels designed to be a self-sufficient fortress and living quarters for about 600 military men. The original furniture and equipment is still in...

Australia’s national capital and a tiny historic gold town are the very different bookends of the Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT). This long-distance track traverses four alpine national parks on its 650km journey from Walhalla to Canberra through the mountains of Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT. The route combines maintained walking tracks, less trod foot pads, fire trails and 4WD tracks. There are step...

The first “white fellas” to hike in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, were seeking a route over the ranges to the western plains beyond. Their failures fuelled public opinion that this “formidable barrier” was “impassable to man”. But a passage was found over this rugged, dissected sandstone plateau, in 1811. Rail followed carts, the trains bringing wealthy tourists to...

Invitations to the opening of Govett’s Leap Lookout in 1889 promised “a banquet on a precipice – speeches in mid air.” More than a century on, a mere blink in geological history, the Blue Mountains view from Govett’s Leap retains its power to steal your breath. Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls plunge 180m down faulted sandstone cliffs to the right and left and the Grose Valley...

Birthplace of the world’s oldest surf lifesaving club (1907), and a family favourite since the 19th century, Bondi Beach is the trail head for a lovely amble along cliffs fringing coastal suburbs. The Bondi-to-Coogee Coast Walk meanders 6.6km south, with boardwalks and footpaths following the voluptuous curves of beaches and honeycombed sandstone cliffs. The walk is do-able in 2 hours each...

Tiny Bouddi National Park, on NSW’s central coast, was dedicated in 1935 after a campaign inspired by Sydney lawyer Marie Byles. She explored the area on foot in 1922 with three girlfriends, one a trouser-wearing pistol-toting lass named Ester Waite. What enthralled Ms Byles were the coastal cliffs: great walls of cracked sandstone battlements besieged by crashing waves. Wind-tolerant walkers can see this splendour on...

Volcanoes are commonly perceived and portrayed as violent and destructive geothermal events. But the creative powers of lava under pressure are plain to see even before you set foot on a walking track in Warrumbungle National Park, in central north New South Wales. The grand scale of this artistry becomes clear treading the 14.5km Grand High Tops loop. How could you not stare at...

On sunny days, SydneyHarbour lives up to its reputation as one of the world’s most spectacular harbours. But you don’t need a million-dollar income to enjoy the million-dollar views. You can watch the pleasure boats and green-and-yellow commuter ferries, the swimmers and stick-chasing dogs, from the Manly Scenic Walkway. Linking the Spit Bridge, at Seaforth, and the world-famous beach suburb of Manly...

Dramatic volcanic geology and a rare and colourful cocktail of tropical and temperate marine life contributed to Lord Howe Island’s World Heritage listing in 1982. Visitors to the island, 550km into the Pacific Ocean, can snorkel reefs, cycle through Norfolk Island Pines and feast on sea-fresh catches. So why climb Mount Gower, which rears 875m from the sea on its southern tip? Because it’s there!...

Everest it’s not but Australia’s tallest mountain deserves a place on any bushwalking New South Wales “to tread” list. For although it peaks well short of the Himalayan giant, Mt Kosciuszko (2,228m) presents glorious mountain-and-valley views in multiple blues. Curious about the mountain’s name? Polish-born explorer and scientist Paul Edmund de Strzelecki climbed the Australian Alps from the Murray River valley in...

Built between 1826 and 1836, the Old Great North Road was a remarkable feat of colonial engineering. It is also one of 11 Australian convict sites inscribed as World Heritage in 2010. Treading it is a bushwalking New South Wales experience like no other. Some sections of the original road are now well-used roads, stone bridges and restored culverts the only clues to the...

Proximity to Sydney means lots of day-trippers visit Royal National Park, the world’s second oldest national park (after Yellowstone, USA). You can though escape the weekend and holiday throng walking The Coast Track. Proclaimed as “National Park” in 1879, and renamed after Queen Elizabeth II’s 1954 Australia visit, Royal National Park was dedicated “for public health and recreation, convenience or enjoyment.” That dedication initially allowed,...

Sliced through central Queensland’s sandstone belt by Carnarvon Creek over millions of years, Carnarvon Gorge is one of my favourite places on Earth. Centrepiece of Carnarvon National Park, it is a long drive – hours – from just about everywhere and the only way to find out what the fuss is about is to spend many more hours on foot. An almost flat walking track meanders 9km...

There’s more to Carnarvon National Park than the magnificent canyon carved by Carnarvon Creek over eons. As you’ll discover on the Carnarvon Great Walk, one of ten Great Walks of Queensland. This 86.5km loop exploresCarnarvon Gorge up to Big Bend camping area. It then follows sinuous Boowinda Creek, from which you clamber steeply up to Battleship Spur for your reward: an eagle’s-eye view of...

Leave Fraser Island‘s ocean beach to 4WDs and anglers. Forget, briefly, the humpback whales that loll off its west coast July to October. Because away from coastal distractions you can hug a tallowwood grown tall and 11m around, swim in a perched lake, and appreciate the hush in rainforest before dawn and the cacophonic birdsong after. To get a real feel for the other...

Following in the footsteps of an explorer whose expedition ended in the deaths of ten men might sound reckless. Pairing up with an army survival expert and a team of pack-carrying donkeys to retrace a section of Edmund Kennedy’s tragic 1848 Cape York journey is, however, a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Every few years, Tim Daniels of Wilderness Expeditions leads a Kennedy retrace trek in the rugged...

Great Walks of Queensland is a multimillion dollar state government initiative to create a system of world-class long-distance walking tracks through national parks and World Heritage areas. The ten completed tracks explore mountains, valleys, tangled rainforests and islands. They offer a range of options, from family-friendly single-leg strolls between villages to multi-day extended pack-carrying hikes in remote country. All showcase...

It shares its name with a square of sponge cake rolled in chocolate and desiccated coconut – the classic Aussie lamington – but Lamington National Park, a classic bushwalking Queensland heeadliner, is a very different kind of treat. Protecting 20,000 hectares of thickly forested and precipitous McPherson Range, the park is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Region. More than 150km of...

This slick hotel in a baronial-style mansion on the banks of Loch Lomond doesn’t seem to loose character for being part of a chain (the DeVere Group) or having furnishings that are more contemporary boutique than antique country-house. Instead the place does manage to reflect the “majestic world of heather-dappled glens and roaring open fires” as its marketing blurb puts...

The City of Churches, as Adelaide has long been tagged, is also blessed with abundant parklands, some green and manicured, others au natural. The George Driscoll Sea to Summit Trail links several of these, creating an almost continuous corridor of greenery between Mt Lofty and Kingston Park Beach. This 35km celebration of the state capital’s parklands was designed as a one-day, uphill hike...