Outback and beyond: Places to visit in Australia

MANILA, Philippines — Government agency Tourism Australia said that the Philippines is a growing market in Australia based on post-pandemic aviation arrivals.

Sharing data from Oxford Economics, Tourism Australia told Philstar.com at the recent International Media Marketplace in Singapore hosted by TravMedia last October 24 that the Philippines is indeed a standout market, likely because of travelers wanting to visit family and friends living in the country.

Tourism Australia confirmed that large Filipino communities can be found in three major cities — Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide — and scattered ones are in smaller towns, indicating opportunities for Filipino tourists to venture around Australia when visiting loved ones.

Philstar.com has compiled a list of interesting and unconventional travel ideas in Australia outside of the previously mentioned cities, save for one.

Victoria

Representatives for tourism marketing leader Visit Victoria told Philstar.com that there was a large Philippine market visiting the state pre-pandemic, likely because of the Filipino community in Melbourne.

Post-pandemic, the Philippine market is still emerging (though Vietnam is catching up) at a better pace compared to countries like India and Singapore.

Melbourne is a popular city because of its numerous food markets. Self-titled “Coffee Capital of Australia,” most coffee shops in Melbourne use beans from Brazil and Ethiopia. These shops, however, roast their own beans, giving their coffee offerings a distinct flavor.

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Elsewhere in Victoria are the equally popular Puffing Billy ride, the Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road, the Tesselaar Tulip Festival held in September in October, and trips to the Grampians National Park for nature lovers.

Driving to see the Twelve Apostles often takes a daytrip from Melbourne, as do visits to the wineries of Yarra Valley and the Penguin Parades on Phillip Island.

Numerous vineyards and natural hot springs can be found on the Mornington Peninsula.

Western Australia

A lot of Filipinos may not be entirely aware of places to go to in Western Australia, except for Perth, given that it is situated so far away from the other major cities and a huge portion of the Outback can be found in the state.

What may entice Filipinos to visit it are the three beaches, which were included in the Top 30 of The World's 50 Best Beaches list. Its Lucky Bay area is where wild kangaroos can be found on the shoreline.

The other two beaches are Little Hellfire Bay — where whale sharks, manta rays and humpback whales can be seen — and Turqouise Bay in Exmouth. Not to be dismissed is Cable Beach, where visitors can ride camels at sunrise and/or sunset.

The southwest part of the state is full of beaches and wineries, though increasing in popularity are the underwater sculptures of Busselton Jetty and Dryandra Woodland, which recently became a national park and home to native marsupials like the bilby, the woylie, the mala and the boodie.

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Rottnest Island, home to over 10,000 quokkas (the largest population in the world) and some top-rated snorkeling, received a huge boost when Lisa from K-pop group Blackpink visited the island and documented her trip, prompting fans and non-fans to consider a visit too.

Northern Queensland

Liz Inglis from Tropical Tourism North Queensland shared with Philstar.com there was a time in the 2000s when there were flights from the Philippines to the beach haven city of Cairns, which she said was comparable to sceneries in Hawaii.

Those flights only lasted for a year or two. Today, it entails traveling to Brisbane before reaching the northern part of Queensland.

Located in this part of the state is the closest point of land to the Great Barrier Reef, with boats available to take visitors out to see the beautiful outer portions of the reef.

On the other side of the stretch of land near Cairns is another World Heritage Site, the 80 million-year-old Wet Tropics rainforest that is home to two Indigenous cultures, the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander people.

Other beachside trips to consider are the resort town of Port Douglas and the rest of the Cape York Peninsula, the largest wilderness in northern Australia. Visitors should not count out a drive through the savannah grasslands of the Outback found on Australia’s northeastern side.

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