The Best Day Trips in Australia for BackPackers
There are a tonne of day trips to head off on in Australia – one of the many reasons why Aussie is the number 1 travel location! Most of the top spots are along the East Coast, the most popular backpacker route in the country.
From sky diving to diving in the ocean, to some incredible coastlines and islands, you’re in for a treat.
We’ll be sharing with you all about:
- Skydiving at some epic locations on the coast…
- Day trips you can do from Sydney and Melbourne
- Can you see the Whitsundays in a day?
- The ultimate Great Barrier Reef day adventure
As you travel up or down the East Coast, you’re gonna want to be stopping off at all of these epic adventure spots we’re about to tell you about.
And don’t forget, when it comes to booking these trips, we can get you a load of fab deals so you don’t have to break the bank to see these beaut places.
You can book most of these trips with us around a week or two in advance, so you can be super spontaneous and flexible.
Click images to see more.
Day trips
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef 100% has to be on your Aussie bucket list – if it’s not, what are you playing at! It’s an epic spot, it’s one of the seven wanders of the world and it’s incredibly easy to access for a sick day trip…
- Scuba dive/snorkel day trip
- Scenic helicopter ride over the reef (cool huh?!)
Cape Tribulation / Daintree Rainforest
Cape Tribulation is just above Cairns. It is a coastal area within Daintree Rainforest and it is beaut! Just imagine it, stepping out of the rainforest straight onto the beach! Best of both worlds!!
Daintree Rainforest is a huge tropical rainforest and thought to be one of the oldest in the world.
Click here to check out the EPIC rainforest experiences
Cairns – Atherton Tablelands
A trip around the Atherton Tablelands is an epic roadie if you’ve got a camper, oooooorrr you can hop on a tour and see the sites that way.
This park is waterfall paradise – the whole environment is so beautiful and untouched. The top spots are:
- Millaa Millaa Falls – the home of Peter Andre’s Mysterious Girl vid.
- Lake Echam – a huge volcanic lake.
- Josepine Falls – natual waterslide and plunge pool.
- Babinda Boulders – this is a goooood view point.
Skydive
Feeling brave and up for an adrenaline rush like no other?? Experience the sky high activity thats on every backpackers aussie bucketlist and get your heart pumping for a crazy experience of falling out of a plane that you will never forget!
Where to skydive?
- Cairns
- Mission beach
- Airlie Beach
- Byron Bay
Need some more location inspo? Check out our locations here
Whitsundays day trip
Ever wanted to visit one of the worlds best beaches? Well here in the Whitsundays you can!
You can head off on a sailing trip around the islands for a couple of days or if you’re short for time, why not zoom around in a speed boat and see it that way?
Ocean Rafting is the ULTIMATE day tour of the Whitsundays, these legends from Ocean Rafting are at the top of the Whitsundays game and produce awesome memorable trips day in day out.
Thinking about a longer tour for the Whitsundays? Check out the overnight sailing trips here.
Byron Bay
We always have a lot to say about Byron as it’s the home to RatPack yeeeewwww. So, we have not 1, but 3 activities to head off on for a wicked day trip.
- Sea kayaking with dolphins – You’ll be able to get up close and personal with the locals and see the many pods of dolphins that live in the waters of Byron Bay.
- Nimbin day tour – Join the legends from the Happy Coach for the day to visit Australia’s most iconic hippie destination and alternative lifestyle capital, Nimbin!
- Surfing – When you hit up the bay come and hang with us and Blackdog surf school for a true ozzie experience of learning to surf.
In need of some more inspiration of things to do whilst you are in the bay? Click here to find out our TOP tips…
with RatPack Travel?
Sydney – Blue Mountains
Just outside of the hustle of Sydney city life is the incredible Blue Mountains National Park, if you are into unreal views and a bit of nature – this is a bit of YOU.
The Blue Mountain range offers one million hectares of tall forests, sandstone cliffs, canyons, caves, walking tracks and waterfalls! It’s here that you’ll find the famous three sisters rock formation – which is an EPIC site to see.
The legends over at Coast Warriors are the ultimate day trip to see the beauty of the Blue Mountains (and have some bants in the process).. click here to read more about this unreal experience..
Melbourne – St Kilda
St Kilda is a beachy suburb of Melbourne. You can get to it if you hop on the city tram.
This beachside spot makes for an epic day trip. After a day soaking up the sun on the beach or checking out Luna Park, head to the breakwater at the end of St Kilda pier at sunset for the chance to spot some wild penguins.
Let the adventure begin...
Are you planning your trip and wondering HOW to put it all together? It can feel pretty overwhelming right? We have been there and felt exactly the same and now the RatPack crew are here to help YOU!
We can help you by:
- Planning you an EPIC route that works perfectly with your timeframe and budget
- Hook you up with discounted campervan rentals
- Sharing with you REAL advice from our crew that have all backpacked Australia
- Get you EPIC discounts on every trip and tour and method of transport.
- AND we’ll be there for you every step of the way…
From our RatPackers
I booked my campervan to travel in NZ via RatPack Travel, who managed to find me the perfect van at relatively short notice and with a discount! It was a real help to have someone do the searching and mediate with the company, once they had dates and information from me. Thanks for the prompt and friendly service!
Great service! Jenner was so much help and gave us lots of options to suit our journey. Very attentive and made it an easy process.
This was the best customer service I ever experienced! I highly recommend you if you are looking for a Van or Camper to leave your email address so somebody of their team can get in touch with you. They compare for you all camper hire company’s and you can choose with one suits you the best. I literally talk to this awesome lady from Holland (as I’m only available after 8pm MEL time, so the arrange for me a call with somebody from the EU team for free) and she got our dream van for the most incredible price few minutes after we talked! And not even one day later I got my booking confirmation from the camper company. Their service is free of charge as they earn commission of your booking but this doesn’t cost you a cent. I did my own research before but the deals they give me was way better than I could find by my own. I highly recommend to get in touch with this team and let them find your Van. They literally saved us our fuel cost for a 3 weeks travel from Cairns to Sydney. Yes- that’s almost $1000 they saved us! Go and get your van! You won’t regret it.
So far, so so good. I should have started with RatPack to begin with and saved all that time searching for a camper and feeling like I was getting nowhere. Jenna was incredibly helpful -doing all the hard yards and getting us the best deal. Very prompt service. Thanks for making it so easy !
Very friendly service with Tammy. Super attentive and keen to help us. Got us a discount and one of the last available options.
Ratpack was super helpful! They were extremely responsive and helped us get an amazing deal on two 3-person camper vans. Highly recommend giving them a shot!
Really straight forward helpful and friendly people!
Mike helped us with finding the best van for us for our 3 week trip and was very knowledgeable. With some quick phone calls he gave us the best quotes and walked us through the process in detail. Everything was made clear and we booked our trip in just an hour! I would highly recommend their service.
Great experience with the RatPack travel team! Really went out of their way to help us book our Van’s for two different trips! They have great rapport with the various Van companies, were able to help us book the last available Van for our time in WA and were able to get us some discounts as well. Zan and Mikey were both so easy going, made it feel like we were chatting with friends who genuinely cared about our travels haha, awesome guys! Definitely recommend the RatPack service, will save you time and money fellow travellers!
Mike was amazing - helped me find a van and gave me quotes, a full breakdown, etc super quickly no stress! Just what I needed. Can't wait to start my trip. Thanks dude!
Booked a 3 week trip with MIKEY! Customer service was on point. No Buls**t straight to the point. Saved us a further % on the original price of the campervan and sent me a map of the east coast with highlighted areas he highly recommended to stop at. looking forward to our trip! 🇮🇪 🇦🇺
Highly recommend this company! Mike was incredibly helpful; he gave us lots of useful info and managed to get an excellent deal on a camper for our trip. The whole process was quick and easy. Thank you! Alison and Amy x
Mikey was amazing at helping us plan our 3 week schedule for the east coast. He went over and above to make sure that we were able to fit everything in that we wanted to in the time we have. His knowledge has been a great asset for us making an itinerary. Can't recommend enough!
If you want to book a camper for your trip, you should only do so with Ratpack. The team is incredibly fast and provides great service. No annoying comparison of providers, since Ratpack takes over. They are looking for the best deal and can offer great discounts. they respond individually to your wishes and give you additional tips for the trip. Since there is also an EU team, you could make calls at individual times of the day - simply excellent all around - thanks for everything
Absolutely delighted with the service provided by RatPack Travel. In particular, the excellent guidance and support offered by Jules! We explained our plans and she found a suitable solution to meet our needs. Very grateful and suggest other travellers use this facility. Thank you 😊
