Australia Vacation: Bushwalks By-the-Day

Aborigines went walkabout in Australia for thousands of years before the first Europeans set foot on the world's oldest continent. They continue to walk, keeping alive the traditions that connect them to the landscape through stories called the Dreamtime. Today, "going bush" is a term heard from hip bars in Sydney's Rocks district to outback pubs.

It's always good weather somewhere in Australia. But it is critical to plan bushwalking around the weather. Summer in the outback can reach 120F, and flash floods are dangerous. Winter brings warm days and cool nights in the outback, and cooler, wet weather in the southeast.