Best means different things to different people. So the best we can do is share with you our personal favorites. Australia’s scenery, wildlife, culture, beaches, lodgings, food, and weather can all — in various guises — lay claim to being world-class. The landscape, in places, is almost unbelievable, all bathed in a special light that’s found nowhere else in the world. There are, of course, the “big three” — Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, and the magnificent monolith Uluru, known affectionately as “the Rock.” These should be on your list, but don’t forget that Australia has so much more to offer: charming country towns, isolated and pristine beaches, rustic sheep stations, rain forest villages, and mountain lodges. To find out what you’ll be missing if you don’t — even occasionally — take the road less traveled, check out this chapter, in which we try to narrow our personal choices in the “Best of” stakes.
