When it comes to winter in Australia, it can be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-type-situation.

On the other hand, when the temperature drops and the days get shorter, it can be easy to retreat into your man or woman cave for weeks (or months!) at a time. 

When kids are involved, you can't get away with that type of behaviour and not expect a winter full of meltdowns and melodramas. Long story short: if you value your own sanity, you’ve got to get away in winter too! 

To help you out, here are some of our favourite Australian winter playgrounds the whole family will love. 

1. Hit the ski fields! NSW/VIC/TAS 

It is winter after all, so why not experience the peak of it on Australia’s best snow-capped mountains?

^{Discovery Parks - Jindabyne is a winter wonderland.}

New South Wales and Victoria are home to various sections of the Great Dividing Range, the Snowy Mountains and Victorian Alps, where all your snowman dreams can come true. 

Jindabyne is prime alpine territory at the base of Mount Kosciuszko, while Victoria’s High Country is punctuated by cosy cool towns like Bright and Porepunkah, which are popular all year round near the entrance to Mount Buffalo National Park.

^{You can book a whole house that sleeps 8 at Bright Caravan Park}

Across the Bass Strait, parts of Tasmania experience thrilling snowfall, adding a new level of romance to pure Tasmanian wilderness! 

If you’ve never witnessed a humpback whale breaching from the deck of a tour boat or even from a nature trail in one of hundreds of national parks dotted along Australia’s coast, it’s time you did!  

^{Make Bowen Holiday Park your Whitsunday Island winter escape!}

Towns like Hervey Bay on Queensland’s Fraser Coast, Eden on NSW’s Sapphire Coast and all the way down to Warrnambool on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road provide superb backdrops to this annual spectacle. 

^{No filter required in the NT. Credit: Tourism NT}

While Australia's Top End is beautiful all-year-round, we can't deny that there is something special about winter. 

Holiday parks are packed with adventurers at this time of the year, all in the Northern Territory to enjoy tropical locations, balmy nights and that famous Territory hospitality. 

^{Dundee Beach Holiday Park is your very own piece of paradise.}

Darwin is as good a place to start as any, but once you’ve had a few days to acclimatise there, you’d be silly not to get into national parks like Kakadu, Litchfield and Berry Springs. 

^{Mount Field National Park in Tasmania is a ripper. Credit: Tourism Tasmania.}

With mountain bike trails and markets, wildlife reserves and all of the history that comes with this port city, you’ll never be bored. 

Mt Wellington, in the heart of Hobart, is one of the best places to see the Southern Lights - Aurora Australis - the aerial light show that happens when electrically charged solar particles and atoms collide with airborne gases, causing them to emit spectacular fields of light. 

^{The views from these decks at Discovery Parks - Hobart are superb.}

People come from everywhere to visit the edgy Museum of New and Old Art (Mona) with its out-there exhibitions, including the Pharos light exhibition, described by those who know as a refresher course in being a child! 

The historic Port Arthur site is not to be missed, the amazing Bruny Island is easy to get to, and the food and wine is amazing in the nearby Huon Valley. 

^{Discovery Hahndorf Resort puts you amongst the best hospitality in the Adelaide Hills.}

While you’re there, stop by any number of wineries the region is famous for. Children are always welcome to play on the big stretches of lawn or clamber over stacks of hay bales, while parents watch with a glass of wine… or two. 

^{The Superior Studio Lakeview Cabin is a great place to start your hills morning.}

^{Bunbury Foreshore looks like this. Book early to avoid disappointment! Credit @4boysandacaravan}

Not far from Margaret River is the seaside town of Bunbury.

Perched at the edge of Koombana Bay, where long white beaches and sandy bay inlets stretch into the distance, you can wind your way along the walking paths before heading to the water, where you can swim, snorkel, fish, dive or meet bottlenose dolphins.

^{Treat yourself to a Deluxe Cabin at Margaret River Tourist Park.}