If you plan to go to Australia, it is important that you take a look into Australia travel guides first. Australia travel guides are a great source of information that will help you better enjoy your trip to this beautiful country. There are a lot of things you likely do not know about Australia, and these travel guides can help educate you before your trip.

The number one most important thing about reading a travel guide before your vacation is you will learn how Australia works. From the banks to the post office to their business hours, you will learn everything you need to know to get by in Australia.

Another very important aspect of these guides is that they will teach you about Australian language. Sure, they speak English just like we do, but they have their own unique slang terms that do not get used in North America. It is best you know these terms before you go, so that you are not confused during conversation.

You will learn how to interact with people in Australia. Just like every country, they have their own set of customs and their own way of doing things that makes them unique. To make sure you know what you are doing, a guide can tell you.

The reason most people check out a travel guide is in order to find out about the tourist attractions so that they can better plan your visit. From the beaches to the city, you will find plenty of things to do in Australia.

Australian travel guides are just as important as packing your toothbrush. Without one, you will simply be entering this foreign country that you know nothing about. Keeping yourself educated before you get there is your first step to having a wonderfully fun and unforgettable visit.

Australia’s chief draw is its natural beauty. The landscape varies from sunny beaches to tropical rainforests to the rugged outback of the Northern Territory. Its cities combine a European gusto for art and fine dining with a blithe love of sport and nightlife. Visitors expecting to see an opera in Sydney one evening and go gold prospecting the next day should study the topography. It is its sheer enormity that gives Australia — and its diverse population –a distinct personality.

Sydney may resemble a British colonial town at the first impression, but as you approach the harbor, the region boasts a vibrant nightlife, beaches, parklands, skyscrapers, restaurants, and malls. The rugged cliffs and stunning Bondi beach are popular haunts. Interestingly, gay venues make up a sizeable chunk of Sydney’s nightlife. While the Opera House is a key attraction, exploring the hidden coves is a good option, too. The harbor features a myriad of aqua sports including snorkeling, parasailing, jet jaunts, water skiing, and motorized paddle boating.

Tourists flock to cosmopolitan Melbourne on the banks of the Yarra River for its discount shopping, fine restaurants, and sporting calendar. An hour’s drive out of Melbourne, Yarra Valley is Australia’s finest wine-growing region. It is the country’s foremost producer of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. Picnics and jazz shows, fuelled by wine tasting, are key tourist attractions here.

Brisbane, too, is a progressive city at the centre of the South-East Queensland corridor, which runs from the Sunshine Coast to the New South Wales limits. Known as Bris Vegas (coined when a dilapidated building was transformed into a glitzy casino), the region is also the arts capital of Queensland, characterized by a myriad of theatres, concert halls, galleries, and museums.

Perth, Western Australia’s capital, is popular for its sunny climate and immaculate coastline. Sadly, sterile skyscrapers lord over the quaint riverside locality. Note: a visit to Perth is incomplete without a trip to The Berndt Museum of Anthropology, which features contemporary Aboriginal art and artifacts.

In Hobart, Australia’s second largest city, shopping, nightlife, art galleries, and fine dining are popular, yet rainforests and secluded beaches are within easy reach. Hundreds of stallholders gather on Saturdays in the Sullivans Cove precinct for the celebrated Salamanca Market, which hawks miscellaneous goodies, including sushi trays, organic vegetables, sand sculptures, and salmon! The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, which displays a Tasmanian Aboriginal display and relics from the state’s colonial heritage and Tasmanian colonial art, forms an important part of the riverside precinct.

Amongst other tourist options, Adelaide is a tranquil city characterized by magnificent churches, botanic gardens, cycling paths and fabulous markets; while Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, is a multicultural community with an exotic mix of Asian, European, and Aboriginal cultures, with a distinctly Australian feel.

There is so much more to Australia than kangaroos and koala bears. In Sydney, that so much more can even be frugal. After much contemplation, the top frugal choices were narrowed down to the ferry system, the Royal Botanical Gardens, and the Art Gallery Of New South Wales.

Ferries

Seeing Sydney from the water is a must. Frugal tourists don’t pay for a boat ride. They take the ferry.

Ferries have been operating in Sydney for more than 135 years. Today, for the price of a day pass (including ferry service), tourists can travel to Manly Beach to watch the surfers and play beach volleyball, to Darling Harbour to see the Australian Maritime Museum (the museum is free), Taronga Zoo (admission charged), and be able to snap great photos of the cityscape, the Opera House, and the interesting Luna Park. All from their seat on the ferry.

Royal Botanical Gardens

The Royal Botanical Gardens is 30 hectares of parkland in the heart of Sydney, hugging the shoreline. Highlights are the iconic Opera House on one side (tourists can peak inside for free but for a better look, they need to either pay for a tour or buy an event ticket) and Mrs. Macquaries Chair, a seat carved into stone where the wife of Governor Macquarie liked to sit and watch the ships come in, on the other. Wildlife include the grey-headed flying foxes (giant bats), cockatoos, and other colorful birds. A kind local gave me some food to feed the birds.

The Royal Botanical Gardens are also a great place for the fitness buff. Nothing like jogging along the shoreline at dawn or dusk.

Art Gallery Of New South Wales

My favorite experience in Sydney is taking the guided tours of the Aboriginal Art Collection in the Art Gallery Of New South Wales. Not only am I given an understanding of the fascinating art styles by an enthusiastic guide (I’ve done the same tour twice with different guides and received new information with each tour) but she also explains bush tucker, hunting styles, religion, women’s lib, and other topics of interest. Admission and the tour is free.

Sydney is a world class city with world class tourist sights. Using the ferry system to get around, visiting the Royal Botanical Gardens, and taking the tours at the Art Gallery Of New South Wales will allow the frugal tourist to experience more for less.