Most backpackers who come to Australia do the East Coast. Cairns to Sydney, or Sydney to Cairns, depending on which way you're going. It's a brilliant trip and there's a reason it's one of the most popular backpacking routes in the world. But it's also about a quarter of the country. Australia is a continent, not a destination, and if you fly home after the East Coast thinking you've "done Australia," you've barely scratched it.
The good news is that what comes after the East Coast is, in a lot of ways, better. Less crowded, less predictable, and the kind of places where you genuinely feel like you're somewhere most people never bother to go. There are four directions worth considering: Melbourne if you haven't already been, Western Australia if you want something that will completely reset your idea of the country, the Northern Territory if you want heat and wilderness, and Tasmania if you want the opposite of all of that.
Melbourne
If you did the East Coast from north to south and stopped at Sydney, go back for Melbourne. If you started in Melbourne and headed north, you probably already know why it's worth more time. Either way, skipping Melbourne is a mistake.
Melbourne is a different kind of Australian city. It doesn't have the obvious postcard stuff that Sydney has. No Opera House, no harbour. What it has instead is a city that feels like it was built for people who like to eat, drink, and wander. The laneways are the thing everyone mentions and they deserve it. Hosier Lane gets all the photos but it's the smaller ones that are more interesting, the ones where you turn a corner and there's a 12-seat bar hidden behind a bookshelf or a Japanese restaurant in what used to be a loading dock. Degraves Street, Centre Place, and Hardware Lane are good starting points but the whole CBD is threaded with them.
The food is genuinely world-class and it doesn't have to be expensive. Melbourne has the best Asian food of any city in Australia. Richmond's Victoria Street is lined with Vietnamese restaurants where you can get a massive bowl of pho for under $15. Chinatown is excellent. Fitzroy and Collingwood to the north of the CBD have a more alternative vibe with independent cafes, vintage shops, and some of the best coffee in a country that takes coffee very seriously. Queen Victoria Market is worth a visit for fresh produce if you're cooking at your hostel, and for the atmosphere even if you're not.
The free tram zone covers the CBD so you can get around without paying, which helps. St Kilda is the backpacker beach suburb, about 20 minutes on the tram, with bars, a foreshore, and fairy penguins at the pier at dusk if you're lucky. The MCG is worth visiting if there's an Aussie Rules game on, even if you don't understand the sport. The atmosphere alone is worth the ticket.
From Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road runs southwest along the coast towards the Twelve Apostles. It's one of the best drives in the country and easy to do as a day trip or overnight. The Yarra Valley wine region is about an hour east. Phillip Island, where thousands of penguins come ashore at sunset every evening, is about two hours south. All of these work as day trips if you're based in Melbourne.
You could easily spend a week in Melbourne and still feel like you're finding new stuff. A lot of backpackers who come for a few days end up staying for months, picking up work in hospitality and settling into the city. There's a reason it's consistently voted one of the most liveable cities in the world.
Western Australia
Western Australia is the one that most backpackers skip and most people who've been will tell you it was their favourite part of the country. It is absolutely enormous. The state alone is bigger than Western Europe. The distances are serious and the infrastructure is thinner than the East Coast, but that's also what makes it feel like a completely different country.
Perth is the starting point and it's a city that surprises people. It's often dismissed as boring or isolated, and it is isolated, but that's part of what makes it good. Perth sits where the Swan River meets the Indian Ocean and has this relaxed, slightly small-town feel despite being a proper city. Cottesloe Beach is one of the best urban beaches in Australia. Kings Park, overlooking the city and the river, is worth a walk. Fremantle, about 30 minutes south by train, is an old port town that's been done up with craft breweries, markets, and good restaurants. It has more character than central Perth and a lot of backpackers base themselves there instead.
Rottnest Island is an easy day trip by ferry from Fremantle or Perth. No cars allowed, you hire a bike and ride around the island. The quokkas are as friendly and photogenic as everyone says they are. The beaches are ridiculous, clear turquoise water that looks like it's been photoshopped.
South of Perth is where the road trip starts getting good. Margaret River is about a four-hour drive southwest and it's one of Australia's best wine regions, with around 100 wineries you can visit. The town itself is small and relaxed with good restaurants and surf at Prevelly beach nearby. Further south, Caves Road takes you through the Boranup Karri Forest and down to Augusta, where Cape Leeuwin lighthouse marks the exact point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. Busselton has a 1.8km wooden jetty with an underwater observatory at the end, one of only six in the world. Denmark and the surrounding area have the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk, where you walk through the canopy of ancient tingle trees 40 metres above the ground, and Elephant Rocks in William Bay National Park, which is one of those places that looks too perfect to be real.
If you head east from there along the south coast, Lucky Bay near Esperance has kangaroos on the beach. Literally on the beach, sitting on the white sand. It's one of those moments that feels absurdly Australian.
North of Perth, the distances get much bigger and the rewards match. Ningaloo Reef is Western Australia's answer to the Great Barrier Reef, except you can walk into the water from the beach and be on the reef within minutes. Between March and June you can swim with whale sharks, and from June to October humpback whales migrate through. Coral Bay, the small town near the reef, is not a resort. There's barely anything there except the water, which is the entire point.
Further north still is the Kimberley, one of the most remote regions in Australia. The Gibb River Road is a 660km dirt track through gorges, waterfalls, and savannah. A 4WD is absolutely non-negotiable. Budget at least a week, bring extra water and fuel, and know your limits. Cable Beach in Broome, at the western edge of the Kimberley, is 22km of flat white sand where you can ride camels at sunset. It sounds touristy but it's genuinely beautiful.
A practical note: flights from Sydney or Melbourne to Perth are about five hours and direct routes run daily. Once you're in WA, you need a car. There's no Greyhound network like the East Coast. Budget car hire starts around AUD $50 a day for a standard vehicle. For the Kimberley, a 4WD rental is more like $150 or more per day and you'll want to book ahead.
The Northern Territory
The Top End is a completely different climate and a completely different Australia. Tropical, humid, intense. Saltwater crocodiles in the rivers, thundering waterfalls in the wet season, and some of the oldest rock art on earth. It feels remote in a way that the East Coast never does.
Darwin is the base for everything up here and it's worth more than just a transit stop. It has a strong Southeast Asian influence in the food. The Parap Village Market on Saturday mornings runs all year and Mary's laksa stall has been winning awards for years. The Mindil Beach Sunset Market, running Thursday and Sunday evenings from April to October, has food stalls covering everything from fresh oysters to Indonesian and Sri Lankan food. The sunsets from that beach are some of the best in the country.
From Darwin, Kakadu National Park is the main event. It's Australia's biggest national park and it deserves at least two or three days. The rock art galleries at Ubirr are up to 20,000 years old and the late afternoon ranger-guided walk, which finishes at the top of Ubirr in time for sunset over the floodplains, is one of those experiences that stays with you. The northern entrance is about 150km from Darwin on sealed road so a 2WD gets you to the main sites, though a 4WD opens up more of the park.
If you're short on time, Litchfield National Park is closer to Darwin and more accessible. It has waterfalls, natural swimming holes, and the magnetic termite mounds, which are these enormous structures all aligned north-south to regulate temperature. They look completely alien. There is nothing else like them.
Timing is everything up here. The dry season from May to October is when you want to visit. Warm sunny days, cooler nights, roads open, waterfalls flowing. The wet season from November to April brings extreme humidity, flooding, road closures, and the kind of thunderstorms that make you understand why people respect the weather up here. The busiest tourist period is the Australian winter school holidays in late June to late July, so if you can go in May or early October you'll have popular spots like Gunlom Waterhole largely to yourself.
South of Darwin, the Red Centre is another world again. And somewhere in the middle of it is Uluru.
Uluru is one of those places that divides people. Some visitors arrive expecting more and leave thinking it's just a big rock in the desert. Others find it genuinely moving. The difference usually comes down to what you go for. If you go expecting spectacle, you might be underwhelmed. It's not the Grand Canyon. There are no dramatic elevation changes or vast chasms. What there is, is a 348-metre sandstone monolith rising out of completely flat red desert, with nothing around it for hundreds of kilometres. The sheer emptiness is the point. You are standing in the middle of a continent and there is nothing else there. That either does something to you or it doesn't.
What makes it worth the trip is the cultural experience. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu people, who have lived in the area for tens of thousands of years. The ranger-guided Mala Walk around the base explains the rock art and the stories behind different sections of the rock, and it turns what could be a "look at that, take a photo, leave" visit into something much deeper. The base walk is about 10km and takes three to four hours if you don't rush. Kata Tjuta, a group of 36 domed rock formations about 25km from Uluru, is arguably even more impressive. The Valley of the Winds walk there is one of the best short hikes in the country. Kings Canyon, about three hours' drive from Uluru, is worth the detour too if you have the time.
Practically: the nearest town of any size is Alice Springs, which is about a five-hour drive or a short flight from Uluru. Ayers Rock Airport is right next to the resort area, with direct flights from Sydney (around AUD $300 return), Melbourne, and Cairns. Accommodation at Yulara, the resort village near Uluru, ranges from campsites and a backpacker lodge to five-star hotels. Everything there is expensive because everything has to be trucked into the middle of a desert, so budget accordingly. Two full days is enough to see Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and do the key walks. Go in the cooler months (May to September) unless you enjoy 45-degree heat and flies that will test your patience.
The Ghan train runs from Darwin to Adelaide through Alice Springs and is one of those rail journeys that people specifically come to Australia to do. It's not cheap but it crosses some of the most dramatic landscape in the country.
Tasmania
Tasmania is the one that always gets mentioned last but probably shouldn't. It's an island about the size of Ireland, sitting off the southeast corner of the mainland, and it's 40 per cent national park. It feels nothing like the rest of Australia. Cooler, greener, quieter, with a food and arts scene that punches well above its weight.
Hobart is the starting point. It's small enough to walk around in an afternoon but has more going on than you'd expect. MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, is unlike any museum you've been to. It's built into a cliff face, it's confrontational and weird and brilliant, and the ferry over from Brooke Street Pier is part of the experience. It's open Friday to Monday, 10am to 5pm, and worth booking ahead. The Farm Gate Market on Sundays is where Hobart's food scene shows up in one place, farmers and producers selling everything from local cheese to native botanicals. If you want a proper restaurant experience, The Agrarian Kitchen in New Norfolk was named Gourmet Traveller's 2024 Restaurant of the Year. It's about 45 minutes from Hobart and you'll need a reservation.
Beyond Hobart, the island opens up quickly. Freycinet National Park on the east coast has Wineglass Bay, which consistently appears on lists of the world's best beaches. Bruny Island is a short ferry ride south of Hobart and has coastal scenery, fairy penguins, seals, and local producers doing excellent cheese and oysters. Both are easy day trips or overnight stops if you have a car, and you will need a car in Tasmania. Public transport outside Hobart is limited.
Cradle Mountain in the northwest is the start of the Overland Track, a 65km walk through alpine moorland, rainforest, and button grass plains that takes about six days. Even if you're not doing the full track, a day walk around Dove Lake at the base of Cradle Mountain is one of the best short hikes in Australia.
The best time to visit is the summer months, December to February, when temperatures sit around 17 to 23 degrees. Perfect for hiking and the beaches. Winter brings snow to the highlands and shorter days, but also truffles, cheaper accommodation, and the Dark Mofo festival in late June, which is one of the more interesting festivals in the country. Strange, rowdy, and very Hobart.
Getting there: the Spirit of Tasmania ferry runs from Melbourne to Devonport and you can bring a vehicle, which is worth doing if you're planning a road trip around the island. Flights from Melbourne and Sydney to Hobart are frequent and usually cheap if you book ahead.
Getting Between Regions
If you did the East Coast on Greyhound buses, the good news is the network extends further than most people realise. Greyhound runs from the East Coast inland to Alice Springs through the Red Centre, and from there up to Darwin via Tennant Creek. So if the Northern Territory is your next stop, you can get there on a bus pass without flying. The National Whimit pass covers the entire Greyhound network, including these inland and northern routes, and starts from around AUD $329. It's the budget backpacker option for getting to the Top End.
Where Greyhound doesn't go is Western Australia and Tasmania. For those you're looking at flights or driving.
Flights are the fastest way to cover the big gaps. Sydney or Melbourne to Perth is about five hours direct. Melbourne to Hobart is about an hour. Sydney or Melbourne to Darwin is roughly four hours if you'd rather fly than bus. Budget airlines like Jetstar run most of these routes and if you book in advance you can often find fares under $150 one way.
Driving is how you see the most, especially in Western Australia where the best stuff is spread along long stretches of coast and there's no bus network to speak of. Car hire runs from about AUD $50 a day. Campervan rentals start around $60 to $100 a day and save on accommodation. Look for relocation deals where rental companies need vehicles moved between cities, these can be as cheap as a dollar a day. For the Kimberley and parts of the Northern Territory, a 4WD is essential and costs more.
The Ghan train from Adelaide to Darwin through Alice Springs is a bucket-list option if you have the budget. The Indian Pacific runs from Sydney to Perth across the Nullarbor Plain, one of the longest straight railway lines in the world. For Tasmania, the Spirit of Tasmania ferry from Melbourne to Devonport lets you bring a vehicle, which is worth considering if you're planning a road trip around the island.
The Difference
The East Coast is easy. Hostels everywhere, buses between every stop, tour operators competing for your attention. The places in this guide are less forgiving. Some require planning around seasons. Some require a 4WD and real preparation. But that is also what makes them feel like a different country. Because in almost every meaningful sense, they are.