The 14 Most Iconic Destinations in Australasia

Bora Bora is a small volcanic island in the South Pacific surrounded by a technicolour lagoon of electric blues and greens enclosed within a coral reef.

The island's dramatic basalt peak, Mount Otemanu, rises 727 metres from the lagoon and is mirrored in the still waters below.

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.

Uluru is a 348-metre monolith of rust-red sandstone rising sheer out of the Central Australian desert, sacred to the Anangu people.

It performs twice daily, smouldering orange at dawn and deepening to violet after sunset, and the colour show alone justifies the pilgrimage.

Up close, the base walk reveals waterholes, rock art and lush pockets of desert life.

The Twelve Apostles are a collection of limestone stacks rising up to 45 metres from the Southern Ocean off the Port Campbell National Park on the Great Ocean Road.

Carved from the cliffs by erosion over millennia, they are most spectacular at sunrise and sunset when the low light turns the limestone golden.

Bora Bora's only public beach, a tapering spit of pale sand running out into a lagoon clear enough to see reef fish and passing rays from the shore.

Palms back the sand, and Mount Otemanu rises across the water behind it.

It is the free counterpoint to the island's resort strips, and the calm, shallow lagoon makes it one of the safest swimming beaches in the Pacific.

Jorn Utzon's Opera House is the building that gave a whole country its silhouette.

The white shells, actually more than a million cream and white tiles, change character constantly: blinding at noon, golden at sunset, glowing like lanterns at night.

Shoot it from Milsons Point on the Harbour Bridge side, from a ferry, or up close where the tiled geometry turns abstract.

The Great Ocean Road hugs 243 kilometres of Victoria's coastline, curling past golden surf beaches, sheer cliffs, and the wind-carved limestone stacks of the Twelve Apostles.

The route swings from crashing Southern Ocean views to fern-draped rainforest in Otway National Park.

Koalas doze in roadside eucalypts near Kennett River, and small surf towns like Lorne and Apollo Bay make easy overnight stops.

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.

A single willow stands alone in the shallows of Lake Wanaka, backed by the Southern Alps - improbable, minimalist, and famous well beyond New Zealand.

The lake itself is a vast glacier-carved expanse ringed by mountains, with lakeside walks and the Roys Peak track nearby for anyone wanting more than a quick stop.

Still water at dawn doubles the tree in near-perfect reflection.

A pristine 7-kilometer beach in the Whitsunday Islands with powder-soft white sand made of 98% pure silica, and turquoise water shading a coral-fringed shoreline.

Reachable only by boat or seaplane, it remains genuinely remote despite its fame, with almost no development along its full length.

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 limestone cave system with an underground river, reachable only by boat across Lake Te Anau.

Deep inside, a grotto ceiling is studded with thousands of glowworms, their bioluminescent threads creating a silent, star-like constellation in total darkness.

Second only to Edinburgh in size, Adelaide's Fringe fills the South Australian capital with comedy, cabaret, circus, and theatre across hundreds of pop-up and permanent venues each austral summer.

The Garden of Unearthly Delights, a temporary carnival-like hub of tents and string lights in the city's East Park Lands, anchors much of the programme, and the whole festival runs alongside the more traditional, curated Adelaide Festival.