Best time of year to...
By David Wilson | theage.com.au | 08 May
If you have an urge to experience Australian piste, you must know where the snow will fall, and when. Learn the facts via a sprinkling of sites focused on the slopes of NSW and Victoria.
Ski New South Wales
www.ski.com.au/snowcams/nsw.html
To know how NSW's ski resorts look in real-time, see the Ski New South Wales snow cams page, which affords a bird's-eye view of Perisher Blue, Thredbo, Selwyn and Charlotte Pass. A snappy site, www.ski-nsw.com.au has material on NSW ski holidays, facilities, resorts and weather.
Official Victorian Snow Report
www.vicsnowreport.com.au
Run by the Victorian Snow Reporting Service, this website gives the lowdown on snow, roads, weather and events around the alpine resorts.
Skivic
www.skivic.com
Run by Visit Victoria, Skivic tells you how near resorts are to Melbourne, plus offers advice on snow fitness and snow gear. Matching bright writing with bold photography, the site should engage both the know-all and novice.
Explore the great outdoors
As you would expect of Australia's capital, the museums and galleries of Canberra boast well-designed websites that are a breeze to explore.
The National Museum of Australia
www.nma.gov.au
The museum has more than 200,000 objects representing Australia's heritage and its slick easy-to-navigate website uses indigenous art-influenced graphics. For a populist view of Canberra's cultural institutions, see www.tripadvisor.com, click on Things to Do then type in Canberra.
VisitCanberra
www.visitcanberra.com.au
VisitCanberra casts the capital as the perfect destination for a short break, but offers plenty of other possibilities and practical information. It also has links to the websites of Canberra's many national attractions, including Parliament House, the Film and Sound Archive and the National Portrait Gallery.
godo australia
www.godo.com.au
Equipped with an ACT section, GoDo Australia gives you specific tour information and lets you book on the spot. Browse via the category list that runs the spectrum from "pamper" to "flying". Or run a key word search. Or, without inputting any terms, just hit "find an activity" and see what rolls up at random.
Hang out in the Top End
To experience the Top End's cooler dry season, hang out in Darwin and investigate its offshore islands.
Tiwi Islands - Darwin Tourism
http://en.travelnt.com/explore/darwin/tiwi-islands.aspx
Melville and Bathurst Islands, known as the Tiwi Islands, lie 80 kilometres north of Darwin and are home to stunning rainforests and beaches. Also see www.tourismtopend.com.au.
What's on Darwin
www.whatsondarwin.com
For a party-animal take on the town, this no-nonsense website flags pubs, clubs, hotels, gigs, restaurants, dining, cafes and events.
Swim with the fishes
If you do not have the courage or inclination to scuba-dive, but like to peer into the sea, have a stinger-free snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef off Far North Queensland.
Tropical north Queensland
www.tropicalaustralia.com.au
Vividly illustrated, Tropical Australia features a "hot deals" page and a quaint listings section that details events such as turtle hatchings.
Queensland Holidays
www.queenslandholidays.com.au/dive-queensland
The snorkel section of this absorbing site smartly describes the sport as "an easy and awesome way to immerse yourself in the reef". An interaction section includes diving with sharks and swimming with dolphins.
Enter the chill-out zone
Head to the coldest state - Tasmania - for a true winter experience of cosy cottages, open fires and hearty pub meals.
Classically Tasmania Accommodation
www.classicallytasmania.com.au
Classically Tasmania offers a spectrum of upmarket old-world options such as Windmill Hill Tourist Lodge, Launceston; Fox Hunter's Return, Campbell Town; Schouten House, Swansea, and Trinity House, Hobart.
Discover Tasmania
www.discovertasmania.com
The definitive guide, this Tourism Tasmania site is slick and swish. A good one-stop shop.
Tasmania Restaurant Guide
www.menufeast.com.au/restaurants/TAS/Tasmania
This guide aims to be the home of restaurants in Tasmania. For tips on where to eat out, it is hard to beat.
Take the comfy option
If your winter desire is to be pampered rather than rugged up, Western Australia's Broome offers five-star resort indulgence.
Broome Pearls
www.pearlluggers.com.au
Broome has a rich pearling past. Use this site to book a tour to learn what drove pearl divers to risk shark bites, suffocation and the bends.
Broomestay
www.broomestay.com
Broomestay tries to corner the luxury accommodation market and showcases some alluring options. Also see www.hotel.com.au/broome for clearly laid-out book-a-bed choices.
Australia's northwest
www.australiasnorthwest.com
This no-frills but friendly site is packed with interesting information about Broome. For example, the wreck of three Royal Dutch Air Force flying boats zapped in a 1942 Japanese air raid can still be seen offshore at low tide. There's plenty, too, about accommodation, tours and transport (including car hire).
Focus on the middle
With its meteorite craters, canyons and valleys, the Red Centre is often compared to Mars. It's certainly not somewhere to explore alone. Hire a guide with the help of the net.
Auswalk
www.auswalk.com.au
Showcasing our best natural and cultural assets, Auswalk organises expeditions into the outback's heart. Not wildly interesting, the website is nonetheless clear and honest.
Australian Explorer
www.australianexplorer.com/red_centre.htm
The relevant section of this catch-all hub covers every Red Centre holiday planning angle. Explorer is friendly and simple to navigate.
Stateside
For the official lowdown on a particular state or territory, see one of the sites below.
Tourism Australia - www.australia.com
ACT - www.visitcanberra.com.au
NSW - www.visitnsw.com.au
Northern Territory - www.travelnt.com
Queensland - www.queenslandholidays.com.au
South Australia - www.southaustralia.com
Tasmania - www.discovertasmania.com.au
Victoria - www.visitvictoria.com
Western Australia - www.westernaustralia.com
First published by TheAge.com.au on May 08 2008
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