Destination: Australia

Itinerary: Inland East Coast

ONE MONTH/SYDNEY TO CAIRNS

This trip parallels the immensely popular east-coast route but avoids the almost perpetual traffic. It exposes you to introspective old settlements and some singular Australian back country.

If you're starting in Sydney, breathe in the gorgeous indigenous scenery of the Blue Mountains and take a light-headed detour to the wineries of the Lower Hunter Valley before linking up with the New England Hwy to reach the nation's self-titled 'horse capital', Scone.

A visit to the boot scootin', stretch-denim nexus of the country music scene, Tamworth, is followed by stops in the cool, well-educated environs of Armidale, and quaint Tenterfield, the self-titled cradle of Australian Federation.

Over the Queensland border is the Granite Belt, an elevated plateau of the Great Dividing Range that's renowned for its boutique wineries. Just up the road are the view-blessed historic buildings of Toowoomba, while a trio of sunburnt roads (Burnett, Dawson and Gregory Hwys) takes you past the sandstone splendour of Carnarvon Gorge. Then it's a long and dusty drive to the gold-rush town of Charters Towers and an equally long trek to the formidable lava tubes of Undara Volcanic National Park before you arch east to Cairns.