WHEREVER you are in the world, feed your wanderlust and plan your next trip Down Under with virtual holiday experiences.
While the global coronavirus pandemic has meant travel plans and holidays have had to come to a halt, keen travellers can still explore many different parts of Australia – all without leaving their homes.
Whether it’s a live stream of baby koalas, cooking experiences with Australia’s top chefs, music from some of the country’s most loved singers and bands, or 360-degree tours from some of Australia’s most iconic natural and cultural destinations, Australia’s top attractions and artists are rising to the challenge and keeping people entertained at home.
Once it’s safe to travel again, make sure you plan to see their work in real life, but until then, settle in and let your mind travel.
DIVE INTO A 360-DEGREE VIDEO OF AUSTRALIA
With Tourism Australia’s collection of 360-degree videos at youtube.com/user/australia, you can feel what it’s like to be in Australia. Immerse yourself in some of Australia’s most beautiful aquatic and coastal experiences - all from the comfort of your couch. Look out for these clips:
* Watch the sunset over the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House to take in the city's atmosphere from one of the most beautiful harbours in the world.
* Kayak and trek through the ancient landscape of Katherine Gorge, part of Nitmiluk National Park in Australia's Northern Territory and discover Aboriginal rock art millions of years old.
* Go snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef in north Queensland through clear water off a secluded island. Swim with unique marine wildlife and explore this famous landmark from underwater.
* Feel the sea salt on your skin and experience an incredible wildlife encounter as you’re surrounded by a pod of dolphins in Fortescue Bay in Tasman National Park, Tasmania.
* Get up close to the 12 Apostles along Victoria's iconic Great Ocean Road, and imagine you're flying overhead and exploring in a helicopter.
TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR
Can't make it to your dream destination in Australia? You can still experience some of Australia's most iconic destinations from the comfort of your home with these virtual tours and experiences. Go on any one of these tours:
* Continue through Victoria’s cultural institutions by virtually touring the exhibitions in the Melbourne Museum. The team of museum experts will also be regularly hosting Q&A videos where you can submit your own questions.
* Down at the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Tasmania, in true Mona style, you can live stream between 10am and 4.30pm AEDT daily.
* Transport yourself to the Outback in the Northern Territory and explore the iconic Uluru via Story Spheres, which provides you with 360-degree images and storytelling to serve as excellent research for when you can visit this magical part of the world.
* For all the adrenalin junkies, Merlin Entertainments is offering live streams of their various experiences around Australia, including a virtual zipline tour at Illawarra Fly Treetop Adventures via their Facebook page.
BE ENTERTAINED BY SOME OF AUSTRALIA’S BEST ARTISTS
Artists across Australia are now streaming live performances, giving rise to a new era of virtual gigs for those at home. You can also find a huge back catalogue of content to consume from some of Australia's most loved institutions.
* For lovers of dance music, Australian DJ Hayden James has revealed he will be streaming a live DJ set each Saturday from 12pm AEDT from his backyard instead - a virtual house party, from his actual house!
* During its temporary closure, Arts Centre Melbourne is keeping the show going by live streaming its upcoming performances and then making them available for viewing on their YouTube channel.
* For lovers of classical music, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is hosting live streams of their scheduled performances so you can enjoy the works of Beethoven, Bach and Mendelsson live from the comfort of your own living room.
* Sydney Symphony Orchestra has a huge catalogue of live concert videos to explore.
* West Australian Symphony Orchestra has some fantastic webcast concerts for the entire family to enjoy, from classical to jazz and pop as well as Maximus Musicus Visits the Orchestra.
FIND NEW FRIENDS AT SOME OF AUSTRALIA’S BEST ZOOS
From the comfort of your home, wildlife lovers can live stream some of Australia’s most adorable animals online. Warning: if you’re meant to be working, these videos can be highly distracting.
* The Australian Reptile Park is live-streaming zookeepers daily showcasing their favourite animals and answering viewer questions as well as making educational videos to assist parents who are now home-schooling their children, the videos will be called 'Animal Tales With Tim Faulkner'.
* If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about Australia’s most colourful sea life, the amazing aquarists at SEA LIFE Melbourne will be live-streaming from the aquarium to take people at home on a journey of discovery into marine life at its Facebook page.
* Zoos Victoria has set up live streams at some Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo enclosures, including some adorable snow leopard cubs who nap frequently. Or watch over the Zoo’s friendly penguins, lazy lions and wandering giraffes.
* Tune in for heart-warming live streams of cute and cuddly koalas over at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Queensland. There’s a range of koala cams to tune into, from the koala cuddle train to young joyful joeys, this is the wholesome content you need.
* Fly high with Australia’s most beautiful birds via BirdLife Australia Discovery Centre’s EagleCAM, a live stream of a resident pair of Sydney’s white-bellied sea eagles. The live stream is an interactive, interpretive hub that provides opportunities for people to learn about and engage with the eagles in their natural habitat.
LEARN HOW TO DINE (AND WINE) LIKE AN AUSSIE
Australia has long been famous for its food and wine - and if you want to experience some of Australia’s best cooking or drinks, there are a number of places offering live stream tasting experiences and classes:
* Sydney’s bar and vegetarian diner Golden Gully is providing one-hour classes on mixing up some drinks from whatever you have in your liquor cabinet and cooking up something tasty, even using the most mundane ingredients in your pantry.
* Award-winning fermenter from Victoria Sharon Flynn is going live daily on The Fermentary’s Instagram page to #FermentTogether. See how she walks you through the flavours and techniques of the ancient art of slow fermentation, with influences taken from Malaysia, Japan, Europe and the US.
* Ben Ean winery in wine-region Pokolbin, New South Wales is also offering virtual wine tastings via Skype! Lovers of wine looking to learn more can order some bottles of wine and then Skype in with one of the cellar door staff to take you through a virtual tasting.