The 10 Best Adventures in Australasia

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, stretching 2,300 kilometres along the Queensland coast and visible from space.

Home to over 1,500 species of fish, 4,000 types of mollusc, and 600 types of coral, it is the largest living structure on earth and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Fiordland is a vast wilderness of glacier-carved fjords, rainforest, and waterfalls in southwest New Zealand, and its famous feature, Milford Sound, is reachable by boat cruise even on a single day trip.

Sheer cliffs rise over a kilometre straight out of the water, often streaked with waterfalls after rain, which falls here more than almost anywhere else in the country.

Beyond Milford, the park holds some of the country's toughest multi-day tramps.

Aoraki/Mount Cook is New Zealand's highest peak at 3,724 metres, rising above the Mackenzie Basin surrounded by glaciers and turquoise lakes.

The Hooker Valley Track provides one of the most accessible and rewarding walks in the country, leading to views of the mountain across three swing bridges.

The steel arch Sydneysiders call the Coathanger, carrying eight lanes, two rail tracks and a pedestrian walkway high above the harbour.

The classic view pairs it with the Opera House from Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

Climbers can walk the outer arch on a harnessed BridgeClimb, 134 metres above the water.

Bay of Islands is a sheltered stretch of Northland coastline scattered with around 144 subtropical islands, sandy coves and clear, sailable water.

Paihia and Russell serve as bases for game fishing, dolphin cruises and trips through the natural archway at Piercy Island, and the nearby Waitangi Treaty Grounds mark where New Zealand's founding document was signed in 1840.

It rewards a slower visit by boat rather than a quick stop on shore.

Turquoise Bay sits inside Ningaloo Marine Park, one of the few places on earth where a fringing coral reef comes close enough to shore to snorkel directly from the beach, no boat required.

Its signature "drift snorkel" lets swimmers enter up-current and float down the reef edge past coral and fish without swimming against the current.

Remote and undeveloped, it rewards the long drive up Australia's northwest coast.

Kings Canyon slices through the Watarrka range with sheer 100-metre sandstone walls, best seen on the Rim Walk, a 6-kilometre loop across a domed rock landscape locals call the "Lost City.

" A steep climb, nicknamed "Heart Attack Hill," leads onto the rim, passing the Garden of Eden, a permanent waterhole shaded by palms.

It's a serious outback hike best done at first light.

New Zealand's best-known Great Walk runs 53.

5km through Fiordland from Lake Te Anau's Clinton Valley, over the alpine Mackinnon Pass, down to Milford Sound.

Along the way are hanging valleys, the country's tallest waterfall at Sutherland Falls, and dense temperate rainforest.

Only 40 independent walkers a day are allowed onto the one-way trail, and hut bookings for the season sell out within minutes.

A vast field of parallel red sand dunes stretching across central Australia's outback, crossed by one of the country's classic 4x4 adventure routes via the notoriously steep Big Red dune outside Birdsville.

The dunes run in improbably straight lines for hundreds of kilometres, turning deep crimson at sunset against a sky with almost zero light pollution.

Crossing it is a genuine expedition, not a casual day out - self-sufficiency and proper 4x4 preparation are essential.

A converted 19th-century railway line runs 150km through Central Otago's high-country landscape, crossing viaducts and old tunnels between Clyde and Middlemarch.

Riders pass abandoned stone stations, schist rock outcrops and wide tussock valleys with barely another soul in sight.

Most riders spread the flat, gravel trail over four or five days, staying in small towns like Ranfurly and Naseby along the way.