Hiking tours across Australia's south-east, where koalas doze above the Great Ocean Walk and the sea cliffs of Tasmania's capes drop 300 metres to the water.
Highlights
- Tree-fern canyons and waterfalls below the Blue Mountains' sandstone cliffs
- Orange lichen on Bay of Fires granite
- Eastern grey kangaroos and emus on the grassland below the Grampians
- The mainland's oldest lighthouse still standing, at Cape Otway since 1848
Australia Hiking Tours
Hiking tours across Australia's south-east, where koalas doze above the Great Ocean Walk and the sea cliffs of Tasmania's capes drop 300 metres to the water.
Highlights
- Tree-fern canyons and waterfalls below the Blue Mountains' sandstone cliffs
- Orange lichen on Bay of Fires granite
- Eastern grey kangaroos and emus on the grassland below the Grampians
- The mainland's oldest lighthouse still standing, at Cape Otway since 1848
Why Visit Australia on a Hiking Tour?
In Australia the rock decides the walk. Limestone, sandstone, dolerite and granite each make a different kind of day on foot, and these hiking tours cover all four within the country's south-east.
On the Victorian coast the Great Ocean Walk heads west from Apollo Bay for a little more than 100 km and finishes at the Twelve Apostles, where the limestone stacks stand just off the shore. Coaches stop at the lookouts; walkers get the beaches in between. For a shorter trip, the Great Ocean Walk Highlights keeps the best days.
Inland, the sandstone of the Grampians, or Gariwerd, tilts out of the farmland in long ridges. The Grampians Peaks Trail opened in full in 2021, and our walk strings its finest sections together between Halls Gap and Dunkeld. Gariwerd holds the largest collection of Aboriginal rock art in southern Australia, some of it in shelters open to visitors.
West of Sydney the Blue Mountains are the same sandstone cut into canyons, World Heritage-listed since 2000. Trains from Central reach the trailheads in about two hours, and the walking works in every month of the year.
Tasmania adds the other two rocks. On the Three Capes, dolerite columns fall almost 300 metres into the Tasman Sea, the highest sea cliffs anywhere in Australia. On the east coast the Bay of Fires and Freycinet are granite country, pink in the Hazards and orange with lichen at Binalong Bay. Between the two lie the convict ruins and wombats of Maria Island.
Victoria and Tasmania are at their best between October and April; the Blue Mountains have no closed season. On these hiking holidays every night is spent in a hotel, motel, guesthouse or cabin, and the trains, coaches and transfers between walks are booked for you, so there is no hire car to collect. Tell our agents your dates and they will match you to a walk.
About Hiking in Australia
Three states, three kinds of walking:
Victoria: coast and sandstone ranges, October to April
New South Wales: the Blue Mountains, cool in summer at 1,000 metres and walkable all year
Tasmania: the wildest coast and the coolest summers, October to April
Pick one state for a week, or pair Victoria with Tasmania for two.
Every walk crosses Aboriginal Country, and the old names are coming back onto the maps:
Gariwerd: the Grampians
Gadubanud Country: Cape Otway and the Otways coast
Darug and Gundungurra Country: the Blue Mountains
Larapuna: the Bay of Fires
Wukaluwikiwayna: Maria Island
Rock art in Gariwerd and shell middens at Freycinet show how long these routes have been walked.
The wildlife is out at dawn and dusk, when the walking is coolest.
Koalas asleep in the gums around Cape Otway
Kangaroos, emus and wedge-tailed eagles in the Grampians
Superb lyrebirds in the Blue Mountains gullies
Wombats and Tasmanian devils on Maria Island
Southern right whales off Warrnambool, June to September
Snakes move off at footsteps; give them room and carry a bandage. Australia's native animals →
Summer brings a daily fire danger rating, Moderate to Catastrophic. On a Catastrophic day Victoria closes its parks; Tasmania and New South Wales can shut tracks at short notice.
If that costs you a day, our agents rebook the night and the transfer. Check today's rating →
Trains, coaches and ferries do most of the moving:
2 hours: Sydney Central to Katoomba by train
About 4 hours: Melbourne to Apollo Bay by train and coach
30 minutes: the Maria Island ferry from Triabunna
Under 2 hours: Sydney or Melbourne to Hobart by air
Coaches also link Melbourne with Halls Gap, and Hobart with the east coast. The gaps a timetable cannot cover are booked as transfers.
Australia's end-to-end trails run far beyond a week:
Bibbulmun Track, 1,000 km through Western Australia's forests
Heysen Trail, 1,200 km from Cape Jervis to the Flinders Ranges
Larapinta Trail, 223 km along the West MacDonnell Ranges
Overland Track, 65 km from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair
Our tours walk the best stretch of a trail, not the whole line. For the rest, read the guide to multi-day hikes in Australia on our sister site, Australia Walking Tours.
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