Top places to visit in each of Australia’s states

Chapter 1 of 8

Introduction

Australia is a massive country (and continent!), so working out how and where to spend your 12-month Working Holiday Visa (WHV) can be daunting.

I made it a mission to visit every state/territory to see as much of the country as possible during my WHV. I have compiled the top locations in each state that shouldn’t be missed, based on my experience, for you to use as a starting point for planning your own WHV adventures.

Let’s start with Queensland. QLD is the second-largest state in Australia (after Western Australia) and is one of the most visited by backpackers tackling the east coast. Brisbane (or Brissie) is its most famous city, with other honourable mentions going to Cairns and the Gold Coast. QLD is known for its tropical climate, which brings me to my first QLD must-do: the rainforest.

Daintree rainforest

When staying in Cairns, we drove about two hours’ north for a day trip to the Daintree rainforest, the largest rainforest in Australia. The Daintree is where I saw my first ever wild saltwater crocodile. It’s also where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) at Cape Tribulation.

Some more fun facts about the Daintree: it’s a UNESCO heritage site, it’s the oldest tropical rainforest in the world, and David Attenborough endorsed it as “the most extraordinary place on Earth”!

The Daintree is also incredibly important to Aboriginal culture. When you enter, you feel like you’ve stepped back in time to how Australia (and the Earth) used to be, which is a much-needed palette cleanser from the touristy, party city of Cairns.

Kuranda Skyrail and Scenic Railway

Kuranda itself is a bit of a hippy village located in the mountains of far north QLD—it’s nice, but nothing to write home about. The excitement actually comes from how you get to Kuranda—you can choose from the scenic railway or the Skyrail cable car (or opt for the best of both worlds and do the train one way and the cable car on your return).

This was one of those surprise trips that I didn’t expect to enjoy that much, but the railway delivered some of my favourite scenery from my whole WHV. (This is saying a lot, because QLD was one of my least favourite states…). The views of the rainforest canopy are simply unbeatable, and there’s a good chance of seeing Australian wildlife, too.

The Whitsundays

When you dream of Australia, you probably picture white-sand beaches and crystal-clear waters. This dream can become your reality in The Whitsundays, a collection of islands off the coast of QLD, near Airlie Beach. It’s a haven for relaxing, sailing, diving and snorkelling (and another great location for exploring the GBR).

Even as someone who doesn’t love beaches, I fell in love with the beauty of The Whitsundays. It’s cliche to say “picture-perfect” but that’s the truth; you will be amazed at how much like a postcard The Whitsundays looks.