Australia Violet

Nature tours and city tours are a great portal to Australia if you've never been there before. It's impossible to see and do even a fraction of all that's offered in a week or two, but you can ensure action-packed, stress-free days by arranging an all-inclusive with your travel agent.

Popular destinations include Sydney, which is home of the world-renowned Opera House, a really massive tower, the Harbor Bay Bridge and the Immigrant Detention Center; Adelaide, which is close to Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, the Darwin Safari, Kangaroo Island and the Australian outback; as well as Melborne, Queensland and New South Wales for the beaches and surfing.

If you're looking for flights to Australia, then you may want to first check one of the four main air carriers, which are Qantas, JetStar, Tiger Airways and Virgin Blue. Qantas has been around the longest and, as a result, offers the most options.

They have a flyer miles program and offer specials, like a flight from LA or San Francisco to Sydney for $1098 round trip. Flying from NYC would cost you $300 more. Tiger Airways is new as of 2007 and offers cheaper fares, as does discount airliner JetStar.

Once you're in Australia, if you need to fly around, then you'll likely go through Regional Express (Rex Airlines), which flies to South Australia, Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Maryborough, Broken Hill, Olympic Dam and Coober Pedy. Australia sometimes offers "value travel passes" for as low as $499, which covers unlimited standby travel for a month.

If you're flying to smaller cities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, then you can catch a flight with Skywest. You can fly into Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Cairns, Darwin or Tasmania.

Foods unique to Australia include: Chiko rolls (deep fried spring roll), violet crumble (honeycomb chocolate bar), Tim Tams (chocolate biscuit), Weet-Bix cereal, pie floaters (meat pies in pea soup), Boston buns (spiced bun with coconut icing), and desserts like: Anzac biscuits, frozie cups, Lamingtons, Pavlova, vanilla slices and musk sticks. Also keep your eye peeled for exotic meats like emu, kangaroo, wild boar, camel, barramundi and crocodile. If you're feeling homesick, then you could always grab Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, "Hungry Jacks"/Burger King, Domino's Pizza or McDonalds/"Maccas."

According to "Viator", there are some things not to be missed on your trip to Australia. In Melbourne Australia, you can ride the Puffing Billy Steam Train tour into Yarra Valley wine country or the Yarra Valley Wine Experience, take the Great Ocean Road High Adventure Day tour or the Great Ocean Road small eco-tour, soar over the city at sunrise on a balloon ride, eat and drink at the Spirit of Melbourne Cruising Restaurant or the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant.

In Sydney, you can eat and drink at the 360 Bar and Dining in the Sydney Tower, go on the Blue Mountains and Australian Wildlife Day Tour or the Blue Mountains Deluxe Eco Day Tour, enjoy the Sydney Harbour Sunset Dinner Cruise, attend a Sydney Opera House or Australian Ballet Dinner performance, or buy the See Sydney and Beyond Smartvisit Card. Additionally, don't miss Ayers Rock (and the Sounds of Silence Restaurant), Kuranda Rail, Rainforestation and Skyrail Tour in Cairns or the Kangaroo Island day tour out of Adelaide!