A love letter from someone who spent way too much money and has absolutely no regrets
So here's what happened. I booked Australia on a random
Tuesday night when I was tired and bored and slightly delirious. I told myself
it was just a trip. Just another country. Reader, life did not continue as
normal.
I came back a completely different person who now has strong opinions about
Australian coffee, cries at nature documentaries featuring the reef, and has
genuinely considered moving to Perth at least four separate times. Australia
broke something in me and fixed something else simultaneously and I don't fully
understand what happened but I need you to go find out for yourself.
Here are the 10 places that did it to me. In no particular order of damage.
01 — New South Wales
Sydney
Listen. I know Sydney is the obvious choice. I know you've
seen the Opera House approximately ten thousand times. Like actually. Mid-yawn,
stopped breathing, forgot to be tired. The harbour at dusk with the bridge lit
up behind you is one of those views that does something to your chest
regardless of how cynical you are about tourist spots. Go to Bondi. Eat somewhere
in Surry Hills. Walk across the bridge. Be the tourist. It's worth it every
time.
02 — Victoria
Melbourne
Melbourne people will tell you Melbourne is better than
Sydney within approximately thirty seconds of meeting you. And the truly
unhinged thing is — they're not entirely wrong? It's a different kind of city.
Weirder, artier, more obsessed with coffee than anywhere I've ever been in my
life (and I mean obsessed — they will have opinions about your order). The
laneways are genuinely magical, the food scene goes embarrassingly hard, and
the Great Ocean Road nearby is the kind of drive that makes you pull over every
ten minutes because your brain can't process something that beautiful while
also operating a vehicle. Block out a full day for it. Trust the process.
03 — Queensland
Great Barrier Reef
Okay, so I need you to understand something. I am never a
dramatic person. I will not exaggerate. The colours are not real. They cannot
be real. And yet there they are, absolutely real, right in front of your face.
Fish that look photoshopped. Coral formations that look sculpted. This alive,
thrumming, extraordinary world that exists just under the surface and asks
nothing of you except to show up and pay attention. If you've never dived
before — do the beginner dive. No excuses. None.
04 — Queensland
Brisbane
Brisbane is that friend who was always kind of great but
nobody noticed until recently and now everyone's finally giving them their
flowers. It's warm and easy and genuinely lovely — the South Bank riverside
area alone is worth an afternoon of just existing near it with nowhere specific
to be. The food scene has properly levelled up in the last few years. And
location-wise? Chef's kiss. Gold Coast is under an hour south.
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https://www.theglobaltraveltips.com/2026/03/a-complete-travel-guide-to-london.html
05 — Western Australia
Perth
Perth is so far from the rest of Australia. It is literally
closer to Singapore than to Sydney. I'm not making that up. Look it up right
now if you don't believe me. And that absolute geographic isolation has
resulted in this city that just exists on its own terms, completely unbothered,
doing everything beautifully with zero need for your validation. The beaches
will make you want to cancel your return flight. Kings Park will eat two hours
of your afternoon before you even notice time passing. The pace of life feels
like someone turned the whole world down to a manageable volume. I think about
Perth more than I should.
06 — Northern Territory
Uluru
This is the one where I cried. In front of strangers. At a
rock. It's 550 million years old. It has been there through everything. And
you're standing next to it like a tiny confused tourist and it doesn't care at
all and somehow that's the most moving thing about it. The sunrise. The sunset.
The stories. The Anangu people's history with this place. All of it. Go. Let it
get you. That's the whole point.
07 — South Australia
Adelaide
Adelaide is my secret favourite and I'm officially done being quiet about it. Everyone skips it. Everyone flies past it on the way to Sydney or Melbourne and I genuinely grieve for them every time. This city is elegant and calm and shockingly good at food and wine, and the Barossa Valley — one of the best wine regions on the entire planet — is forty-five minutes away. Forty-five. You could have a slow breakfast in the city and be sitting on a sun-drenched vineyard terrace before noon. I have recommended Adelaide to every single person I know who went to Australia. Every a single man came back and thanked me. That is a one hundred percent success rate and I am very proud of it.
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For Switzerland, visit here:
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08 — Queensland
Gold Coast
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09 — Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania looks fake. And the wildlife — wallabies just
crossing roads casually, wombats existing with incredible confidence, and if
the universe likes you, a Tasmanian devil sighting that will rocket straight to
the top of your "things I've seen with my own eyes" list. For anyone
who needs to actually, properly exhale — this is the place.
10 — Australian Capital Territory
Canberra
I'm including Canberra and I need you to not scroll past
this one. I get it. The jokes write themselves. But I went in with low
expectations and came out genuinely moved, which is maybe the best possible
outcome for any travel experience. The Australian War Memorial is free, it's
extraordinary, and it will make you feel things you weren't planning to feel on
a Tuesday afternoon. The National Gallery is legitimately excellent. The city
is clean and green and easy and pleasant in a way that bigger cities rarely
manage to be. It won't blow your mind the way the reef does. But it'll earn
something quieter and more lasting than that. Give it a real chance.
Things I'm telling you now so you don't have to learn
them the hard way
✓Seasons are completely
flipped in Austalia. Here summer is from December to February, winter is from
June to August. Going to the tropics in summer means humidity so thick you will
feel like you are breathing through a wet towel. Plan accordingly.
✓Book your flights early.
Not "oh I'll sort it eventually" early. Actually early. Australia is
far from everything and the prices will remind you of that if you wait too
long.
✓Sydney and Melbourne have
decent public transport. Everywhere else — especially if you want to actually
explore — get a car. The distances between things in Australia will surprise
you in ways Google Maps cannot fully prepare you for.
✓The sun is genuinely
dangerous and Australians are not being dramatic when they tell you this. SPF
everything, hat on head, light layer on arms. Even when it's cloudy. Especially
when it's cloudy actually.
So here's the most honest thing I can say: these 10 places
are the ones I'd tell my closest people to go to. Not because they're the most
famous or the most photogenic — but because they all gave me something real. A
moment. A feeling.
And if you end up crying at a rock in the middle of the
desert surrounded by strangers — congratulations. You did it right.
If you want a blog for Nepal, visit here:
https://www.theglobaltraveltips.com/2026/03/top-places-to-visit-in-nepal.html
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