With over 7.5 million sq km of sparsely populated territory, it's not surprising that Australia is an adventure playground. You can chew up the km with a 4WD, or explore smaller regions by foot, horseback or even on the back of a camel. You can also find some fine touring country for cycling, though only the very experienced should tackle the dry centre. There are fabulous walks for hikers in the Northern Territory's MacDonnell Ranges, South Australia's Flinders Ranges, New South Wales' Blue Mountains and Snowy Mountains (straddling the border with Victoria) and Tasmania's vast wilderness. Australia's best skiing and snow-boarding is in the Snowy Mountains, while in the warmer months you can clip-clop along the Snowy's excellent horse riding trails.

There are countless surfing beaches along the Australian coast, some of them in the cities (Sydney and Perth), some in beach towns (Lorne in Victoria, Byron Bay in New South Wales and the Gold Coast in Queensland) and some in remote areas (the south-west of South Australia and the north-west of West Australia). Apart from the diving mecca which is Queensland's Great Barrier Reef, diving spots include South Australia's Kangaroo Island (where there are several accessible shipwrecks) and West Australia's Esperance, Rottnest Island, and Carnarvon.

Whalewatching is possible at many places; the most popular are Eden in New South Wales, Warrnambool in Victoria, Albany in Western Australia and Fraser Island in Queensland. White-water rafting and/or canoeing are possible at Coffs Harbour on New South Wales' Nymboida River, on the upper Murray near Khancoban also in New South Wales; along Queensland's Tully and North Johnstone rivers between Townsville and Cairns; and in Tasmania.

Christmas is part of the long summer school vacation and during December and January you can be forgiven for thinking that half of Australia is on holiday. This is when accommodation is almost always booked out.

Australia's arts festivals attract culture vultures from all over Australia to see mainstream and fringe drama, dance, music and visual arts. The huge Festival of Sydney, which takes up most of January, is the umbrella for a number of events from open air concerts, to street theatre and fireworks. The Adelaide Arts Festival takes place at the beginning of March in even-numbered years. In odd-numbered years, Womadelaide, Adelaide's outdoor festival of world music and dance, takes care of February. Melbourne has a Comedy Festival in April, the world's biggest Writers' Festival in September and the fabulous Melbourne International Festival in October. A couple of festivals to celebrate Aboriginal arts and culture include the Stompen Ground Festival, which is held in Broome in October and the Barunga Wugularr Sports & Cultural Festival, held near Katherine in June.

Sporty fun includes Darwin's Beer Can Regatta in August, when a series of boat races are held for craft constructed entirely of beer cans; Alice Spings holds the Henley-on-Todd, a boat race 'run' on a dry river bed. More mainstream events include the Sydney to Hobart yacht race (from Boxing Day); the Australian Open tennis championship (Melbourne in January); the Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne in March); Australian Rules Football (around the country from March to September); and the country-stopping Melbourne Cup on the first Tuesday in November.

Gay festivals include Sydney's massive, outlandish Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, in February/March, and Melbourne's January/February Midsumma Festival.