Grand East Coast: Sydney, Reef & Melbourne, 10 Nights

Land in the morning, into the hotel by midday, and out on foot as soon as the shower has done its work. Circular Quay, the Opera House forecourt and a first ferry ride to Manly and back — the cheapest great harbour cruise in the world — before an early dinner in The Rocks and a proper night’s sleep.

A guided tour through the Opera House concert halls in the morning, then the afternoon at Bondi for the clifftop walk to Bronte. The day ends the way Sydney should: a dinner cruise under the Harbour Bridge as the city lights come on, with the Opera House sails lit behind you.

Out west to the sandstone country: Echo Point and the Three Sisters, the Scenic World railway plunging into the rainforest, and the cableway back up with the Jamison Valley spread out below. A wildlife park stop on the return introduces the kangaroos and koalas the reef and city days cannot.

Three hours north into the tropics — the air changes the moment the doors open. The afternoon is easy: the saltwater Esplanade Lagoon where the town swims (the sea itself is stinger territory in season), the night markets, and an early night before the reef day. Dinner tip: the mud crab is the local dish worth the bib.

The day the trip is named for. A fast catamaran runs ninety minutes out to a pontoon moored on the outer reef, where the water is clearest and the coral healthiest. Snorkelling gear, a guided snorkel safari, a semi-submersible ride and lunch are all included; an introductory dive can be added on board with no licence needed. You are back at the marina by five with the day burned into memory.

The Kuranda Scenic Railway climbs through fifteen hand-cut tunnels and past the Barron Falls to a village in the rainforest, market stalls and butterfly sanctuary included. The return is by Skyrail, a cableway gliding just over the canopy with boardwalk stops in the forest itself. Two of Queensland’s great engineering works, one loop, no effort.

From the tropics to Europe-in-the-south in three hours. The afternoon is a guided walk through what Melbourne does best: Hosier Lane’s street art, the Degraves Street espresso strip, the grand arcades, and Federation Square. Dinner in Chinatown or Lygon Street, the original Italian quarter — the city argues about which and so will you.

A long, spectacular day: through the surf towns of Torquay and Lorne, a pause under the gum trees at Kennett River where wild koalas doze, lunch in Apollo Bay, and the Twelve Apostles in the late-afternoon light when the limestone turns gold. Loch Ard Gorge tells the shipwreck story next door. Home late; day nine starts slow on purpose.

A slow morning, then out mid-afternoon to Phillip Island: the Nobbies boardwalk over a seal colony, wallabies in the scrub, and at sunset the main event — hundreds of little penguins surfing ashore and waddling up the beach to their burrows, exactly as they have every evening for thousands of years. No photography is allowed; you simply watch, and it is better that way.

A free day, deliberately. Options briefed the night before: the Queen Victoria Market for last shopping, the MCG tour for the cricket-mad, the Yarra Valley wineries, or simply the free City Circle tram and a slow brunch. Ten days in, the best Australian luxury is an unscheduled one.

Transfer to Tullamarine for the flight home. Remember the biosecurity rule in reverse does not exist — but the duty-free macadamias do, and they are the correct final purchase. You will land in India having seen a harbour, a reef, a rainforest and an ocean road that belong to four different worlds.