Australia with kids

The gentlest of the parks and the best for under-fives, with a genuine rescue and rehabilitation programme behind it.

Koalas, a lorikeet feeding twice a day and a hospital you can watch working. Better than a zoo and better value.

A skywalk through the canopy and a glow-worm cave, forty minutes inland and several degrees cooler than the coast.

Seventy-seven floors up over Surfers Paradise, eighteen dollars. The fastest way to see how thin the strip actually is.

A horse-and-stunt dinner show in an arena, with the meal included. Loud, corny and children love it.

A lit night walk through the wildlife sanctuary after closing. Separate ticket from day entry, and a different place in the dark.

The oldest koala sanctuary in the world, an hour north at Brisbane. Kangaroos loose in a paddock you walk through.

The Irwin family zoo up on the Sunshine Coast, with transfers included. Ninety minutes each way, and a full day once there.

Rainforest waterfalls in the hinterland, including the cave you look up into. Cooler and wetter than the coast.

A night walk to a glow-worm cave, which is genuinely dark and genuinely quiet. Late finish for young children.

The most rides of the four parks and the one for older children. A multi-park pass pays for itself on day two.

The widest age spread, with a big-cat enclosure and a water park next door on the same ticket.

Patrolled, wide and consistently surfable. Nippers and beginner lessons run most mornings in season.

The water park of the four, on the same multi-park pass. Heated in winter, which on the Gold Coast genuinely matters.

Two hours in the whitewater with a board and a rash vest, on a patrolled beach. Schools run group lessons from about seven up.

Humpbacks pass the coast between June and early November. Sightings are never guaranteed and the boat keeps its distance.

A hop-on ferry along the Broadwater between Surfers, Marina Mirage and Sea World. Cheap, and a boat instead of a bus.

Pulling crab pots on the Tweed River, with yabby nets and boomerang throwing. Hands-on and squarely aimed at families.

A catamaran to the sunken wrecks off Tangalooma for snorkelling and sandboarding. A long day and a real crossing.

Language, tools and dance with a Yugambeh guide. Short, and the one thing on this coast that is actually about the place.

The arts precinct with a river cruise and a meal on one pass. A quieter half-day when the theme parks have won.

Cafes along the headland, a grassy park to run in and whales offshore between June and October. The Gold Coast's best morning.

A ferry, then bikes or the island bus. Quokkas walk right up; do not feed them and do not pick them up.

A moving walkway through a tunnel of sharks and rays. Two hours, twenty minutes north of the city.

Reached by ferry across the Swan, which makes the journey half the outing. Strong on Australian animals and small enough to finish.

Hand-feed kangaroos and stand beside a wombat, in the Swan Valley. Smaller and far more hands-on than the zoo.

Hands-on science in West Perth with a planetarium and a dedicated under-fives gallery. The reliable wet-day answer.

A gold pour demonstration and the largest coin in the world. Nineteen dollars and about an hour.

A working native-animal hospital you visit rather than a zoo, with an interaction session. Twenty-nine dollars.

An underwater observatory at the end of the longest timber jetty in the southern hemisphere. Eleven dollars.

A huge free park above the river with a treetop walk and one of the best playgrounds in the country.

A protected swimming beach with no waves, a playground and the aquarium next door. The easiest half day in Perth with small children.

A short public ferry, then a free water playground on the quay. Costs almost nothing and fills an afternoon.

Ferry across plus a bike for the day, which is how the island is meant to be done. Flat-ish, but there are hills at the far end.

Perth to Fremantle down the river with commentary. Better than the train for a first look at the city.

The canals and estuary an hour south, where a resident bottlenose pod lives. Sightings are common but never promised.

Behind the scenes at the stadium — changing rooms, the tunnel, the pitch. Cheap, and a hit with a sports-minded child.

Humpbacks and southern rights off the south-west coast between September and December. Sightings are never guaranteed.

Friday to Sunday markets, then chips on the harbour with the gulls. Take the train down and leave the car.

Limestone spires in the desert two hours north, plus a koala stop and sandboarding down the dunes. A long day.

A fifteen-metre granite wave four hours inland, with an Aboriginal cave site. Mostly driving — a lot of car for one rock.

Little penguins coming ashore at dusk, watched from tiered seating. Ninety minutes out, cold whatever the month, and unforgettable.

A planetarium, a lightning room and a whole floor built for hands. Cheap and rarely oversubscribed on weekdays.

A tram ride from the centre, with a butterfly house and a lemur walk-through. Twilight concerts on summer weekends.

Eighty-eight floors up, with a glass cube that slides out over the edge. The Edge costs extra and is the only reason children come.

On the Yarra in the centre, with a penguin enclosure and a shark tunnel. Nineteen dollars and firmly indoors.

A safari bus through open plains of rhino, giraffe and zebra, forty minutes west. A full day and quite unlike Melbourne Zoo.

Native animals in bushland in the Yarra Valley — platypus, wombats, a raptor display. The best wildlife day near the city.

A small wildlife park where you hand-feed kangaroos, paired with the painted bathing boxes at Brighton.

A rebuilt gold-rush town at Ballarat where you pan for gold in the creek. Ninety minutes out and a whole day.

Sandstone ranges three hours west, with lookouts, a waterfall and wild kangaroos. Mostly short walks rather than hikes.

Through the giant mouth to a 1912 scenic railway with a brakeman still riding it. Small, old and much better than it looks.

A theme park with a water section and a wildlife area, an hour east. Eighteen dollars, which is remarkable for what it is.

A trick-art gallery in Docklands built for photographs. An hour, and a reliable wet-afternoon answer.

Koalas at Kennett River and the Twelve Apostles at the far end. A long day in a car — do it as a tour and let someone else drive.

A century-old steam train through the Dandenongs, with children's legs out of the open windows. The one thing everyone remembers.

An hour on the river through the city, eighteen dollars. Cheap, sheltered and it fills a gap.

Out to the Seal Rocks colony, the largest in Australia. Sightings are reliable, the crossing is not always calm.

Thermal pools terraced up a hillside on the Mornington Peninsula, with a family bathing area. Book the time slot.

Doughnuts from the van at the Elizabeth Street end, then cheese, fruit and a picnic. Closed Mondays and Wednesdays.

The city takes breakfast more seriously than anywhere in Australia. Go before nine at a weekend or queue.

A choice of the city's paid attractions on one ticket. Worth it only if you will use three or more.

On the harbour headland, reached by ferry, with the skyline behind the giraffes. The ferry is half the day out.

At Darling Harbour, with dugongs and a shark tunnel. Thirty-two dollars and easy to pair with the zoo next door.

A compact native-animal zoo beside the aquarium — koalas, a kangaroo walk-through. An hour rather than a day.

Out west near Blacktown, and the one where you can actually stand beside a koala. Nine dollars.

The observation deck over the city and harbour, twenty-nine dollars. Go late afternoon.

At Darling Harbour, and usually bundled with the aquarium and zoo on a combo. An hour at most.

Free permanent collection with paid exhibitions, in two buildings joined underground. Good rainy-day ground.

A hands-on animal park two hours north, twenty dollars. The family half of a region otherwise given over to wine.

A two-day pass between Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, Watsons Bay and Taronga. Twenty-four dollars and the best value on the water.

Ninety minutes under the bridge and past the Opera House with something to eat. Calmer than the jet boats.

Humpbacks pass the heads from May to November. Open ocean beyond the harbour — this one gets rough.

Three hours south to some of the whitest sand in the country, with a resident dolphin pod. Sightings are common, never promised.

The steepest passenger railway in the world, a cableway and a boardwalk through the valley floor. The Blue Mountains without the hiking.

A loop around Katoomba and Leura stopping at the Three Sisters and the lookouts. Twenty-five dollars and no car needed.

A half-day round Bondi, the cliffs and the eastern beaches. Useful because the coast road is awkward without a car.

Afternoon tea on the water for about seventy-nine dollars. Steadier and cheaper than the dinner cruises, and finishes in daylight.

Scenic World, the Three Sisters and a koala stop, with the ninety-minute drive each way handled. The easy version.

The aquarium, WILD LIFE, the tower and Madame Tussauds on one combination ticket. Cheaper than two of them separately.

A small park in Kuranda village, seventeen dollars. Pairs with the Skyrail day rather than standing alone.

A walk-through aviary where the parrots land on you. Also in Kuranda village and also seventeen dollars.

An amphibious army-duck ride through the rainforest, a koala park and a Pamagirri dance performance on one ticket.

A working croc farm with a boat cruise through the lagoon. Forty minutes north and better than it sounds.

A small wildlife dome in town, fifteen dollars. Handy on an arrival or departure day.

A Spanish castle built by hand in the rainforest in the 1930s, now ruins and waterfalls. Lit at night on this tour.

Cableway over the rainforest canopy one way, a century-old railway back down the gorge the other. The signature day here.

A coral cay forty-five minutes out, with a glass-bottom boat and snorkelling straight off the beach. The gentlest reef day.

A rainforest island with a beach you can snorkel from and a turtle rehabilitation centre. Transfers only, so you build the day.

A moored platform on the outer reef with a semi-submersible and an underwater observatory, so nobody has to swim. Ninety minutes each way.