Short on time? 4 itineraries that turn a long weekend into an epic escape

Need a break but can only squeeze in a few days away from work or home? These four itineraries are proof that it is possible to pack a lot of punch into a short break or long weekend.

Outback Australia

Rock-art gorges, starlit dining, underground jewels – a trip aboard The Ghan offers a front-row seat to Australia’s ever-changing outback.

There is a giddiness at the Darwin train station. It’s 7.30am, and we line up for lanyards, sparkling wine and croissants. Local musician David Spry croons What a Wonderful World. Perky staff in khaki shorts and Akubra hats take photographs of passengers posing beside the red engines of The Ghan that will pull 36 carriages almost 3000 kilometres to Adelaide.

For many Australians, The Ghan is a bucket-list trip, promising the romance of a sleeper train with the grandeur of the outback. I am in a Gold Premium cabin, a step up from Gold – a Baileys nightcap is delivered to my cabin – but more modest than Platinum, with larger cabins and a personal attendant.

Still, there is an egalitarianism to The Ghan, named in tribute to Afghan cameleers who helped explore the centre in the 19th century. Staff are attentive and laidback, including on the off-train excursions, and the locally inspired food – think buffalo curry and honey and macadamia frozen parfait – is delicious.

My cabin is modest but stylish, with timber veneer finishes, cream upholstery and a small but adequate bathroom. But I’m here for the view from the picture window. I soak it in for the nearly four-hour journey to Katherine. Termite mounds as high as two metres rise like alien sculptures. Spindly trees and scrubby grass give way to red dirt.

Food and drinks are included, as are most off-train excursions (you will pay extra, for instance, for a flight over Uluru). In Katherine, I choose a cruise down Nitmiluk Gorge, a 13‑gorge system named by the traditional owners, the Jawoyn, who believe the landmark was carved by the rainbow serpent.

It’s majestic. We meander through the first gorge, looking up at the jagged sandstone all around us. We walk to the second gorge, passing Aboriginal rock art on the way. Our guide points out Jedda’s Rock, the precipice where the heroine falls to her death in the 1955 movie Jedda, the first movie to star Aboriginal actors.

Dinner is served in four-person booths and any social awkwardness soon disappears. My bed is set up while I am dining, and I sleep like a baby, soothed by the rocking of the train. The following day, we are in Alice Springs and I choose the Desert Park excursion. Host Louise leads a show that stars native birds, trained to turn up on cue. A white eastern barn owl, with perfect timing, pops out from a hole in a tree trunk. Its extraordinary hearing means it can pinpoint prey in complete darkness.

Dinner is under the stars at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, a crucial cog in faster communication through the overland telegraph line. It’s a spectacular venue for linen-clad tables and lashings of food. When we are full and satisfied, we take to the dance floor.

Our final full day off rails is in the town of Coober Pedy, 850 kilometres north of Adelaide. It’s startling, an end-of-the-world moonscape dotted with what look like giant pink anthills. These are opal-mining workings, mostly abandoned, scattered across a stony desert. Coober Pedy is known as the opal capital of the world, but there are no big mining companies here. It’s for chancers who get the “fever”. About half its population of 2000 people live in underground houses dug from the rock to temper the 45-degree summers.

There’s one more night as the train moves towards Adelaide. In the morning, the window offers a different glimpse of Australia – green fields and the outskirts of a city. The Ghan traverses 2979 kilometres, but is over in just three nights and four days – a short escape of comfort and contrast, not to be missed. Gay Alcorn

The writer travelled on The Ghan as a guest of Journey Beyond.

Christchurch, New Zealand

A food safari reveals a lively culinary and cultural scene, and a Maori influence that gives the renewed New Zealand city its unique flavour.

Before starting our kai (food) safari, Ash Jefferys, lead guide from Maori-owned Amiki Tours, has a question: Do I want to join her in a hongi – that traditional greeting where you press noses and share the breath of life? Definitely, yes, but I panic too, breathing in when asked to breathe out. At least I don’t accidentally headbutt her.

Just a short flight from Australia’s eastern seaboard, Christchurch makes a delightful destination for a four-night long weekend. It is renowned as the most English city outside of England, but you can also find the warm embrace of Maori culture here. Nowhere is this dichotomy more apparent in Ōtautahi Christchurch than on the willow-framed Ōtākaro/Avon River, where you can glide past daffodil woodlands on a punt poled by an Edwardian-attired guide but also, on a different stretch of the picture-perfect waterway, make like a fearsome Maori warrior and help paddle a waka (canoe).

Since 2010/11’s devastating earthquakes, Christchurch has renewed and reframed itself, embedding “Maorification” into its low-rise civic rebuild. Stroll around the river precinct and you might spy 14 Maori weaving patterns – representing woven mats of welcome – embedded into the pavement. The one at the Bridge of Remembrance and its commemorative WWI archway, incorporating a jolt of red poppies, is especially poignant.

These subtle artworks mingle with more in-your-face street art such as the country’s tallest mural – the 53-metre-high Narcissa that Jacob Yikes painted along the side of a Cathedral Square hotel. With hundreds of murals enlivening the city, you can cut straight to the more interesting ones via a street-art tour. Reuben Woods, the creative director of local street-art guide Watch This Space, leads me to nooks, carparks and alleys, and says the artworks “aren’t just a response to a post-disaster environment, but allow you to see the other complexities that go on here in rebuilding place”.

“Ōtautahi continues to change and evolve,” he says.

Those changes include a brand-new covered stadium featuring what’s been called New Zealand’s most expensive lawn (a secret mix of three rye grasses); Robbie Williams becomes its first international headliner this month.

For foodies, the big news is this year’s arrival of the New Zealand Michelin Guide. Of Christchurch’s 16 recognised establishments, I squeeze four into my visit. The Athens Yacht Club, near my digs at Hotel Montreal, is all Aegean tableside theatre – think exuberantly flamed haloumi (don’t hold your phone too close to the show), moussaka piled with crispy potato straws, and Greece-meets-Italy “baklamisu” to finish.

My kai safari includes Roca (renowned for its use of fire and smoke, a stand-out dish is the fish crudo with burnt mandarin segments and saffron vinaigrette) and Cellar Door, a wine bar within the same Arts Centre heritage complex as my second stay, The Observatory Hotel. Brunch at riverside Miro includes a life-changing cheese scone with kimchi butter. “Your soul will go to South Korea and back again,” the waiter promises. He’s right, it does.

Kiwis love their scones. The date scones at Sign of the Kiwi – a cosy arts and crafts-style teahouse perched on the Crater Rim Walkway – are justifiably famous. I head out of the city for a half-day guided tramp around Godley Head with Crater Rim Walks. Inclement weather, however, limits our explorations to the World War II coastal defence battery (muralists have been busy here, too) so plans pivot to include defrosting at the teahouse.

More sweet treats – namely lolly cake, an NZ classic – star in my day trip to the seaside town of Akaroa with Adventure by Nature’s Alan Haslip. For morning tea, the bushcraft enthusiast and keen birder finds us a pocket of remnant bushland to relax within. Several stops later (Birdlings Flat’s rocky beach, Little River Gallery), it’s time for an elevated lunch with water views at Caldera Vineyard Estate.

Finally, I can’t leave Christchurch without dining on Tram 411. It plied Melbourne’s streets until 1982 then spent time inside a Sydney pub as a novelty dining space before relocating across the ditch. Unlike the daytime tram rides, there’s no commentary as you trundle around the city centre and pass between New Regent Street’s pastel Spanish Mission facades. That means you can easily shoot the breeze if, like me, you’re seated near friendly fellow diners. As Haslip noted during our outing, “You haven’t met someone until you’ve shared some kai.” Katrina Lobley

The writer was a guest of ChristchurchNZ.

Fiji

It has hotels and dining options galore, plus colourful reefs within easy reach. Could Fiji’s Denarau Island be the ultimate short-break escape?

It’s early evening in Fiji, and I’m standing barefoot on Denarau Beach as the incoming tide laps at my feet. The setting sun is a golden orb suspended against a blue horizon, its warm glow catching the rim of my wine glass like a tiny flare. Somewhere in the distance, drums beat. Blink. Just like that I’ve been teleported from Sydney’s winter chill to tropical paradise.

I’ve been coming to Fiji regularly for decades, often torn between a fly-and-flop holiday or venturing beyond to explore islands and culture. By staying on Denarau Island, I can do both. First, there’s the ease of it all; a four-hour flight from Australia’s east coast, a modest one- to two-hour time difference (goodbye jet lag my old friend) and a 20-minute drive from Nadi International Airport. Not an island in the Robinson Crusoe sense, Denarau is a purpose-built resort destination connected to the mainland by a narrow strip. Perfect for a short-break getaway.

The next tick goes to Port Denarau Marina, looking sharp after a recent multimillion-dollar berth expansion; it’s a lively hub for dining, shopping and departures to the Yasawa and Mamanuca islands.

Rounding it out are nine accommodation options, including the Sheraton Denarau Villas, Radisson Blu Resort and the Westin Resort and Spa. For foodies, this translates to more than 40 dining options. For our family’s first multi-generational holiday, we’ve chosen the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa, as much for its waterslides and Niu kids’ club as for its adults-only Waitui Beach Club. And, let’s be honest, the promise of French pastries at breakfast.

Come morning, we walk the length of the dark-sand beach, pausing to build sand castles and hunt for hermit crabs. My five-year-old grandson collects sand dollars, while his nine-year-old brother looks for fallen coconuts. I catch my husband’s eye. Fiji is where we honeymooned and, now, sharing time here with our grown family is a gift beyond compare.

Later, we board the thatched-roof Bula Bus for the short ride to the marina, where we stroll past superyachts, stopping for ice-creams along the way. At just $FJD38 ($24) for a five-day pass (kids ride free), the hop-on, hop-off bus is the most fun and relaxed holiday commute you’ll ever take.

With everything close at hand, switching pace is easy, making our brief time away feel twice as long. One day, it’s a morning by the pool followed by an excursion to Nadi Town (15 minutes by taxi) for the fresh produce markets and a fragrant, Indo-Fijian curry. Another, it’s a half-day cruise to South Sea Island where we swim and snorkel through a kaleidoscope of blues, the offshore reef a carnival of fish and coral. For our youngest, the semi-submersible submarine offers a first glimpse at the hidden world below. “Just like in Finding Nemo,” he exclaims. By mid-afternoon, we’re back by the resort pool. No plans. No pressure.

Day four. Spa treatment day. Need I say more? Dinners alternate between themed family buffets to toes-in-the-sand dining at the adults-only Waitui Bar and Grill, to a Bula Bus ride to the marina for seafood and -sundowners. One night it is room service on our balcony under a fairy-floss pink sky.

The thread tying it together is the genuine warmth of the Fijian people, whose wide smiles and “Bula, family!” greeting make you feel instantly at home. It’s a welcome rarely found in the world today. Heading home is a breeze, thanks to Sofitel’s onsite Fiji Airways check-in counter where guests can drop luggage and receive boarding passes before leaving the resort (depending on destination and flight time). This means a sleep-in and more time by the pool.

Can a short, international escape get any better than this? Not even close. Kerry van der Jagt

Norfolk Island

The former penal colony of Norfolk Island provides a feast for history buffs – and there are plenty more pleasant surprises in store.

If Norfolk Island hasn’t won a Tidy Town award yet, the organisers should get there, pronto. Nearly 1500 kilometres off the coast of Brisbane, the Australian territory is not just beautiful but has the vibe of a place that’s tenderly cared for by its locals.

Their determination to keep trash at bay extends beyond actual rubbish. There’s no McDonald’s. No ugly high-rises or clifftop McMansions. No pokies. No commercial fishing. Cows have right of way and many will be munching grass roadside as you drive by, which you will because holiday rental cottages such as The Ridge, where we stayed, tend to -include a car in the package. Everyone you drive past will raise a barely perceptible index finger from their steering wheel by way of hello – if they don’t, they’re not local. Returning the greeting will help you get into the Norfolk spirit and avoid greasy looks from other motorists.

None of this is what I expected when we booked to visit the island for a long weekend. It’s a doable two-and-a-half hour flight from Sydney (two hours from Brisbane; no direct flights from Melbourne) and while not cheap, with sale fares it’s possible to get there for around $1000 return. (Inexplicably, the flight from Sydney leaves from the international terminal, requiring an earlier than usual domestic flight check-in.)

We went for the history and there’s plenty of it. A British penal colony twice in the 18th and 19th centuries, Norfolk Island was gifted in 1856 by Queen Victoria to the so-called “Pitcairners”, a group who overthrew William Bligh on the British ship HMS Bounty in 1789 and ended up on Pitcairn Island, where many married locals. A good number of Norfolk’s nearly 2200 residents have ancestors among this group, which they’ll proudly tell you about. Some will also speak of their desire to secede from Australia, which took over in 1914 and removed the island’s self-governing autonomy in 2015. That campaign is yet to gain traction – or indeed, much profile at all – on the mainland.

We booked a bus tour for the morning after our arrival, and it was a genius move, giving us a good sense of the lay of an island that measures only eight kilometres long by five kilometres wide.

We visited the deep port where boats deliver the island’s food and grog; a lookout with views down to the historical relics of Kingston, where the first settlers and prisoners once lived; and that World Heritage site itself, where we walked along a row of Georgian homes and through a cemetery with gravestones for the likes of Kezia, who died of typhoid in 1868, aged 24. The island’s most famous resident, writer Colleen McCullough, was buried here too, following her death in 2015, aged 77. You can take a tour of her home elsewhere on the island, should you be a fan of her books.

For more on the history of the place, buy a  ticket to Fletcher’s Mutiny Cyclorama, a  360-degree panoramic painting that evocatively tells the story of The Bounty and its  mutineers.

St Barnabas was a revelation, too. Built by missionaries, the 19th-century chapel has stunning stained-glass windows designed by William Morris, together with mother-of-pearl inlaid pews. A jewel-like beauty.

Perhaps most pleasantly surprising was the quality of food on the island, from the freshly butchered meat at Slick & Sons to the most excellent coffee and croissants next door at Cafe La Perouse to dinner at The Homestead, a short drive away. Check out the Moreton Bay fig trees on the road out the front of that upmarket restaurant; their exposed roots are big enough to hide a toddler.

Get more short-break inspiration from Good Weekend’s 2026 52 Weekends Away round-up:

• Miami? Mykonos? No, it’s Mooloolaba: 6 new spots for a Queensland weekend away
• 17 stays redefining the weekend away in Victoria – including adults-only experiences
• Short on time? 4 itineraries that turn a long weekend into an epic escape
• Your weekend starts now: 15 new and reimagined NSW getaways
• Sleep on water and wake to wilderness at this new Tasmanian getaway

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