The red centre is where most people go to see the "real" Australia, but for an adventure with a little more wildlife and a lot less desert, the country's top end is an attractive alternative. The northerly end of the Northern Territory has some of the largest national parks in the world, and Malaysia Airlines' new route from London to Darwin via Kuala Lumpur makes them more accessible than ever.
An hour and a half south of Darwin, Litchfield national park is packed with animals and birds that sound more fictional than factual – the spangled drongo, the agile wallaby, the orange horseshoe bat. You can encounter them all on a variety of walks – from short strolls to the Tabletop Track, a 39km bushwalk through a mixture of woodland and monsoon rainforest, at the end of which you can cool off with a swim below Wangi Falls.
Even grander sights await at Kakadu, the Unesco-listed park that is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Everglades combined. At least half of that is Aboriginal land – Indigenous Australians have been its custodians for more than 50,000 years. The park is so vast it incorporates many kinds of landscape, from wetland and woodland to "stone country" – huge sandstone formations – as well as hundreds of miles of coast. One of the best ways to take it in is by helicopter, flying above its magnificent gorges and rock formations.
If you're exploring on the ground (preferably with a guide who can introduce you to the ancient rock art along the way), be very careful where you swim and always obey the warning signs as the top end is famous for its saltwater crocodiles – they're a natural phenomenon you really don't want to encounter.
tourismtopend.com.au
Treetop surfing, Queensland, Australia
A novel way to enjoy the Daintree rainforest north of Cairns is jungle surfing, where you zip from one forest platform to another with a guide and the help of flying fox ziplines. After the success of its original tours and after-dark walks, the Jungle Surfing Company has a new feature starting this Easter. Instead of being hoisted up to the first platform in a winch, visitors will ascend via a giant cylinder powered by their own walking motion – sounds like a Brobdingnagian hamster wheel.
• Two-hour canopy tours from £49pp. +61 7 4098 0043, junglesurfing.com.au
Rooftop tours, Melbourne, Australia
Meyer Eidelson and Amanda Palmer are founders of an imaginative range of walks in and around Melbourne. One of their latest is a rooftop tour across the higher reaches of cafes, parks, car parks, office blocks and hotels all over the city. Taking in the historic Melbourne Club, an attic photography studio in the Salvation Army Temple and Curtin House's rooftop cinema, the two-and-a-half-hour excursions offer a bold new way to see the city and its heritage – as well as some great views.
• From £14pp. +61 3 9090 7964, melbournewalks.com.au
Stay on a sheep station, Gnaraloo, Western Australia
Gnaraloo is about as raw, remote and beautiful as Australia gets: a working sheep station at the end of an unpaved road 650 miles north of Perth that also welcomes adventurous travellers. The desert meets the sea here at Ningaloo Reef, and the gnarly wilderness and salt-licked scenery appeals to hardy campers. There's a small shop on site, but otherwise you bring in what you need. Surfers camp by the beach and strike out for the big Tombstones break; windsurfers and fishermen put up in stone cabins at the homestead and enjoy barbecues with ocean views and possible sightings of whales and dolphins. Snorkellers can step off empty sands into an undersea world brimming with pipefish, seadragon, seahorses, parrotfish and reef sharks. There is also an award-winning conservation programme for nesting hawksbill, loggerhead and green turtles. Those wanting the full experience can even bed down in the sheep-shearing quarters.
• Camping from £10 a night, cabins for three from £75 a night, sheep-shearing quarters (sleep six) from £125. +61 8 9315 4809, gnaraloo.com
Wilderness camp, Tasmania, Australia
Until recently, the only way you could visit the South West national park was by making an arduous 10-day trek. A new lodge, the South West Wilderness Camp, with five tented huts, is helping open up this remote area to slightly less hardy (but no less adventurous) travellers. To get there, you have to brave changeable weather systems on a six-seat seaplane, from which you can peer down on the creeks, gorges and quartzite ridges that can be explored from the lodge.
• Two nights from £1,100pp including flights from Hobart and all meals. International flights extra. 01534 735449, tasmanianodyssey.com
Bike adventure New Zealand
New Zealand is an adventure playground of vast lakes, gentle valleys, dark forests and dramatic mountain ranges, perfect to stretch the legs of the intrepid cyclist. This year will see the completion of the Nga Haerenga Cycle Trail, a 2,500km network of 23 dedicated routes across both islands. The 289km Alps 2 Ocean route on the South Island is the longest continuous ride. It begins at Lake Pukaki in the shadow of Mount Cook and finishes at Oamaru on the Pacific.
• Five-day Alps 2 Ocean tour with all meals and accommodation but not flights, from £727pp (bike hire extra), from Nov-May. +64 21 178 8287, puretrailsnewzealand.co.nz/alps-ocean.htm
Kayak the Pelorus, Marlborough, New Zealand
From the relative comfort of an inflatable tandem canoe, you paddle past dramatic waterfalls and over clear emerald pools and frothing rapids on a guided trip down the Pelorus. The river stood in for Mirkwood in last year's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. One of the trip's most memorable stops is the setting for the "escaping in barrels" scene, and fans can add overnight forest camping 100m from where the filming took place.
• From £43pp for a half-day tour. Overnight camping from £6 a night (doc.govt.nz). +64 3 574 2212, kayak-newzealand.com
Land Rover safari, Central Otago, New Zealand
With Land Rover transport, lodge accommodation, wildlife spotting and dinners at the Botswana Butchery these new five-night safaris may sound like the closest Central Otago gets to an African safari experience. In reality, they're more Switzerland than Serengeti. Starting and ending in Queenstown and taking in vineyards, lakes, historic towns and snow-capped peaks, the tours are a chance to explore some of New Zealand's wildest mountain landscapes. And for petrolheads to try their hand at off-road driving.
• From £1,988pp full-board excluding flights. 01737 214250, discover-the-world.co.uk
