This hole in the rock is in the shape of Australia, and you'll come across it in Narooma on Highway 1, the Princes Highway, on the New South Wales South Coast.

But you don't need to simply look at the map of Australia — etched out of a rock or drawn on paper — you can, if you wanted to, take Australia's circumferential Highway 1 all around the continent with side trips to your destinations of choice.

Of course, there's no need to take the whole circle route but it's easy enough to travel convenient sections of it.

Unless you go inland, you'd miss the nation's capital, Canberra, which isn't on Highway 1. You'd also miss Tasmania across Bass Strait but you'd have the option to catch the ferry from Melbourne.

• Narooma: 'Land of Many Waters'
• Around Australia on Highway 1
• Australia by Train
• Take the Ferry to Devonport

Photo: Australia Rock at Narooma © Larry Rivera licensed to About.com, Inc

So, have you skied in New Zealand? And how did you find it?

Wherever you are in New Zealandn in the winter, and particularly in the South Island, you’re never too far from a ski slope. In fact, you should be able to go cross-country skiing in New Zealand almost anywhere there’s snow.

The two skiing destinations on the South Island which come immediately to mind are Queenstown, which calls itself the Adventure Capital of the World, and Christchurch with its major international airport.

On the North Island, travel to the snowfields from Auckland or Wellington.

• Skiing on the North Island
• Skiing on the South Island
• Skiing on Mt Cook
• Glaciers of the West Coast
• Where to Stay in New Zealand

Photo: Skiing at Treble Cone on the South Island of New Zealand © Tourism New Zealand

With the southern half of the Australian continent suffering some of its coldest winter days and nights this past week, the tropical north basks luringly in the sun. And you don't even have to go all the way to the Top End for warm weather.

In Broome, Western Australia, the "winter" weather has hovered around the 30-31°C (86-87.8°F) mark this week.

Seems Broome and nearby Cable Beach don't know it's midwinter in Australia... well, early midwinter anyway.

Have you been to Cable Beach in the winter... or in the summer, autumn or spring? Tell us about it.

• Broome: It's One Pearl of a Town
• Cable Beach: Tropical Playground
• Find a Suitable Flight to Broome (BME)
• Find Suitable Accommodation in Broome

Photo: Cable Beach, Western Australia © Tourism Western Australia

Closer to Darwin than either Kakadu or Katherine Gorge, the Northern Territory's Litchfield National Park is arguably a more convenient daytrip destination.

Litchfield National Park is, of course, known for its amazing magnetic termite mounds, but you'll also find there numerous waterfalls dropping from the sandstone plateau known as the Tabletop Range and the weathered sandstone pillars which as a group comprise The Lost City, much like the ancient ruins of some fabled land.

• Litchfield National Park
• Kakadu National Park
• Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park
• Where to Stay in the Northern Territory

Photo: Florence Falls at Litchfield National Park © Tourism NT

I'm not sure if that's the longest name for a canoe. But the canoe called Ngatokimatawhaorua is reputed to be the largest war canoe in the world. You find this canoe at Waitangi, birthplace of the New Zealand nation, near the Treaty House where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. Also close by is the Maori Whare Runanga (Meeting Place) which was completed in 1940 and is a finely detailed construction with carvings representing the major Maori tribes.

Ngatokimatawhaorua is named after the great canoe of Kupe, traditional Polynesian ancestor of the Maori people. Waitangi is in New Zealand's scenic, historic Bay of Islands north of Auckland.

• Waitangi: Birthplace of a Nation
• What Is the World's Longest Place Name?
• Visit the Bay of Islands
• Bay of Islands Photo Gallery
• Where to Stay in the Bay of Islands

Photo: The canoe at Waitangi © Tourism New Zealand

It must be Migaloo. They think it's Migaloo. If it is, Migaloo's back.

For several years since 1991, the albino humpback whale named Migaloo has been spotted off the eastern Australian coast during the whale migration season.

As the whales travel north from the Antarctic to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, they have been seen close to the coast and have been spotted frolicking in Sydney Harbour close to the Sydney Opera House and in Manly Cove... and near many towns and islands along the New South Wales and Queensland coasts.

But what about Migaloo? According to the Pacific Whale Foundation, Migaloo is the only known occurrence of an all-white humpback whale, and has been compared to the fictional Moby Dick.

Now Migaloo has been sighted off Queensland's Gold Coast after having been spotted in Byron Bay yesterday.

Welcome back, Migaloo. Glad to see you back in Australia.

• Migaloo: The All-White Humpback Whale
• Whale Migration Season

Photo: Migaloo © Pacific Whale Foundation

July in Australia is one of the best months for skiing and other snow activities.

You can ski in New South Wales in the Snowy Mountains, Victoria in the state's Alpine regions, and Tasmania in some of its high-altitude national parks.

The Australian ski season, which by tradition started on the Queen's Birthday holiday weekend in June, ends on the Labor Day weekend in October. Depending on snow conditions, ski resort operations may end earlier or later than October.

In the New South Wales Blue Mountains — because Christmas occurs in the Australian summer — the Winter Yulefest celebrates Christmas in July.

• Australia in July
• Skiing in New South Wales
• Skiing in Victoria
• Skiing in Tasmania
• Yulefest in the Blue Mountains

Photo: Cross-country skiing in Kosciuszko National Park © Australian Tourist Commission

There's much of history in the Victorian goldfields and much to visit in Ballarat, Victoria's largest inland city. Experience colonial times and the search for gold at Sovereign Hill... feel the breath of rebellion at the Eureka Stockade... and view the Eureka flag the rebels fought under.

• Relive the Past at Soverieign Hill
• Eureka Stockade: Site of Goldfields Rebellion
• Eureka Flag: Flag of the Southern Cross
• Australia's Theme Parks

Photo: Sovereign Hill, courtesy Tourism Victoria

Caves and blackwater rafting: Come down into the bowels of the earth and on a dark, night-black river, catch a vision of a starry sky...

• The Wonders of Waitomo>
• The North Island in Five Days

Photo: Waitomo Glow-Worm Cave © Tourism New Zealand