Best Australian East Coast Deep Heritage Tour: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Fraser Island, Blue Mountains, Great Barrier Reef Destinations
Browse more guides: Australia travel | Oceania destinations Best Australian East Coast Deep Heritage Tour: Sydney Opera House (UNESCO 2007), Royal Exhibition Building (2004), Greater Blue Mountains (2000), Fraser Island (1992), Great Barrier Reef (1981) TL;DR I planned my East Coast Australia loop around five UNESCO inscriptions and a single rule: every long driving day had to end at a beach, a sandstone escarpment, or a reef pontoon. That filter pulled me from Sydney Harbour up through the Greater Blue Mountains, north into the sand dunes of K'gari (Fraser Island), onto the silica beaches of the Whitsundays, and out to the outer Great Barrier Reef off Cairns. I came home with sunburn on the back of my hands and 312 photos I actually liked. Australia carries 20 UNESCO World Heritage Site inscriptions, and the East Coast alone gives you five of the most famous ones in a single linear run. The Great Barrier Reef was listed in 1981 and covers 344,400 square kilometres across 2,3...