If you’re a keen fossicker or looking for a unique family-friendly activity, Obrien’s Creek in Far North Queensland is one of the best places in Australia to unearth gem-quality topaz.

From Sulphur Creek to Narawntapu National Park and everywhere wild in between, we discover the richness of life scattered across Tasmania’s rugged coastline.

At the northernmost tip of the Great Barrier Reef, just out of reach of the seasonal crowds, the happily secluded Lizard Island is every contemporary castaway’s dream destination.

Home to rolling rust-red dunes and an opalescent ocean teeming with colourful underwater characters, Shark Bay is every nature lover’s paradise.

We spend three days paddling the Katherine River to fall in love with its thrilling rapids, sheer-rock gorges and palm-fringed thermal pools.

Fitzroy Island, home to hidden gem Nudey Beach, boasts stunning coastlines, magnificent hikes and a magical underwater world for the whole family to enjoy.

In South Australia, you’ll find countless places to rise and shine, but this pick of lesser-known spots is for lovers of the path less travelled.

Planning your next adventure? Mitchell Falls, or Punamii-unpuu as it’s known to the local Wunambal people, is located at the tip of Western Australia, and is about as far as you can go without your passport.

The Danish philosophy for living, hygge, pronounced “hoo-gah”, hygge translates as “cosiness of the soul”. Here, we take a tour around wild Victoria and learn hoot create your own hygge.

Just over an hour’s drive away from the Hilton Hua Hin, Thailand’s biggest herd of wild elephants roams free, safe in a little-visited sanctuary that has become the country’s best conservation story.

They are Far North Queensland’s most incongruous neighbours: tourists, sea changers and land developers chasing a slice of tropical paradise versus the world’s most at-risk ratite — the flamboyant, flightless and very much endangered southern cassowary.

Kuching is Malaysia’s most beautiful riverside town offering escapes to beaches, wildlife and tantalising cuisine.