Image © Diluvi

As the last snowflakes of winter melt away, spring begins to blossom before our very eyes, warming our pale skins and filling us with a yearning for a vacation.

Yet in our bid to escape our everyday and explore foreign lands, we often overlook the beauty of our surroundings right under our noses.

As we head to work in the morning or hastily pick up our week’s grocery during the weekend, we often rush past landmarks, parks and museums which visitors may spend hours gazing at in awe. With the global economy failing to deliver any promise of improving, this is the perfect opportunity to rediscover those gems in your own backyard, saving you plenty of cash along the way. All you need is a dash of imagination and an open heart, and you will discover that perceiving those familiar landscapes with a different frame of mind is a vacation in itself.

For those of you living in Australia, Alaska and Brazil and who think you have seen it all your home has to offer, here are a few tips on what to do and see that will have you change your mind.

Australia

Natives will know that every day can become an adventure if they simply stop and look outside of their ordinary routines. Blessed with picturesque coastal areas, the world’s vastest coral reef and vibrant metropolises, Australia is a place of idyllic recreation. With its abundant and varied flora and fauna, an experience close to nature–such as that offered by the Kakadu National Park in Northern Australia– is unforgettable. For something a little different, spend the night camping under the stars in the rugged outback (such as in the outback oasis in Mildura, Victoria) or swim with the whale sharks on Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia.

For those dreaming of a romantic getaway, take a weekend to explore the vast wineries spread around Australia, which offer only the most authentic taste of locally made wine. Head to Darwin’s Mindil Beach Sunset Market, where you can eat and drink local specialties to your heart’s content from May to October, or go cellar hopping in the Barossa, which has been described as Australia’s wine capital due to its immense selection of wines. For something a little closer to the sea, sail away and enjoy a picnic with your loved one on one of 74 islands quietly tucked away in Queensland’s Whitsundays, or dive into the blue abyss in South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, where numerous shipwrecks wait on the ocean floor may be explored.

If you’re looking to get away from it all, Australia offers plenty of secluded beaches that are wrapped in tranquility and which will reinvigorate the most stressed of minds Murray’s Beach in New South Wales, Bowen Island and Waterfall Beach in Western Australia are some of the best hidden beaches of the country, whilst Yuraygir National Park in South Wales is home to some of the lesser know beach gems of the region.

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