Gina Chick strides down Bathers Way in Newcastle on a stunning coastal walk that reflects how this harbour city – home to coal and steel, shipwrecks and Silverchair – has reinvented itself. Established in 1801, Newcastle – or ‘Newy' as the locals refer to it – is Australia's second-oldest city, having long played bridesmaid to Sydney.

Susie Youssef heads to South Australia's renowned wine region, walking the contours of a disused railway track from Auburn to Clare while hearing women's stories of survival and tasting wine from the valley's first viticulturalists.