Wineglass Bay, Tasmania by spin spin (Creative Commons)
If you are looking for weekend getaways, even romantic ones, Australia has no dearth of destinations. Pick the Coral Coast, the North West, Perth, the South West region in Western Australia and you will find affordable, cosily charming retreats to make your weekend a memorable one. Go to Queensland or hire a cottage nestling in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. Pick a retreat in the Outback or visit the Yarra Valley in Victoria or Phillip Island. If you are in Tasmania the Derwent Valley, East Coast, South Coast, Hobart and Launceston all offer equally romantic and charming locations for a perfectly pleasant weekend. The great thing about Australia is its vastness and range of attractions ranging from the Great Barrier Reef and hours of sunshine to cool mountains or windy deserts. Travel blogs online are a great way to find those hidden and enchanting places, off the beaten track.
If you are in quaint Tasmania, you will find weekend retreats not far from where you live. The
is idyllic as is the Launceston and Tamar Valley. It is just as easy in New South Wales. You can find self contained apartments, houses and cute cottages on rent for the weekend. A typical cottage in Blue Mountains, just two hours from Sydney, amid sprawling lush greenery gives you plenty of privacy and serenity while a short trip takes you on a trek to view the local wildlife. You do not have to rough it up. Each such cottage has TV, DVD, fireplace and kitchen.
If finding a cottage and making travel arrangements is not your forte you can simply have a travel agent make arrangements for cheap getaways for two. It is like transitioning from one time-space continuum to another for the weekend and all at a discounted rate if you search for the right deals. Ask for a retreat in a valley or along the Gold Coast and you can spend the weekend soaking in the Sun, taking a dip or a dive to shake fins with a shark. With Cairns as the central point you can just as well take a trip to the Daintree National Park or the Kuranda rainforest. A weekend, as you will find, is simply not enough and probably you will make plans to return and do a lot more.
A trip, however short it is, entails expenses by way of travel, accommodation and food. The experience, however, more than makes up for it and if you have chosen Magnet Island, it gets as near perfect a weekend trip as is possible. The island is a natural paradise, the National Park its chief attraction. You can stay at a caravan park or a camping ground, have fun with other revellers till late at night and rub shoulders with koalas. It is a 20 minute ride on the ferry from Townsville and there you are ready to swim the crystal clear waters. Just make sure you have the best travel coupons from an online discount voucher website to make your stay sweet.