SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The Southern Ocean waters off the Eyre Peninsula are cold enough to take your breath away,even in summer,but you'll forget the pain once you make eye contact with the puppy dog of the sea,the Australian sea lion. They like to play,so the more you splash and swim,the more they respond. Two operators offer half-day trips to known sea lion haunts:one off Port Lincoln,the other at Baird Bay on the western side of the Eyre Peninsula. Seebairdbay.com andadventurebaycharters.com.au.

Abseiling for beginners

BLUE MOUNTAINS

When your bottom is hanging out over the edge of a cliff with nothing between you and a rocky gorge floor except a lot of air,it's hard to feel elegant. Yet abseiling is actually almost as easy as it looks:all you have to do is take a big step backwards and ignore the voice screaming inside your head. The Blue Mountains area is one of the best spots for nervous first-timers,as the scenery is gorgeous enough to distract you from the terror and you can work your way up (or down,as the case may be) from easy five-metre drops to scary 30-metre cliffs with overhangs. Seerdmh.com.au.

Rally-car driving

GOLD COAST

Head to WRX Experience's purpose-built track,where you can let loose your inner Stig behind the wheel of a rally-spec Subaru Impreza WRX STi. The adventure starts with a safety briefing and rundown on the principles of rally driving,then you're strapped in to the car beside a professional rally driver,who helps you work your way around the track. By the sixth lap,you'll be flinging yourself (safely) around the circuit,thankful that the"trees"you keep ploughing into are plastic traffic cones. Seethewrxexperience.com.

White-water rafting

TASMANIA

The Franklin River is not only one of the world's big wild rivers,it is Australia's best destination for the sport of white-water rafting. Take the challenge here and you are sure to be thoroughly tested,with rapidly fluctuating water levels,unpredictable weather and demanding portages.

All this means that on occasion it can feel a bit like a bushwalk with a raft rather than the other way around. But it's a magnificent adventure nonetheless,through gorges,superb rapids and some spectacular scenery that will change the way you think about our wilderness areas.

Most of the trips take between five and 10 days to complete. Seeworldexpeditions.com.au andraftingtasmania.com andtas-ex.com.