Australia

• New Here? No Worries Mate - Beginners Guide
• Daydreamer Believer - Daydream Island, Great Barrier Reef
• Wonders of Wilderness Island - Fraser Island, Great Barrier Reef
• The Lizard of Oz - Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef
• 700-mile hop on Kangeroo Highway - Melbourne to Sydney
• Bush Tucker... without the trial - Outback
• Primeval Pamering - Queensland
• Sydney is Supreme - Sydney
• It's simply the best, Mate! - Sydney
• Continent Please Carol - Top End
• Whirlybird Wine Tours - Victoria
• Home from home for me Down Under - Sydney
• I can’t get enough of Melbourne! - Melbourne

NO ONE UNDERSTANDS better than me the fascination of a new life Down Under – because it’s what I planned when I was 19.

I initially went to Australia for eight months. My aunt and uncle live there and I fell in love with the place. I came back to the UK intending to emigrate. While I was waiting for my visa I got a job in the music business – eventually working as a publicist with stars including the Spice Girls and Take That – and my life took a rather different course.

I was there just before Neighbours and Home and Away appeared on TV in the UK and there were fewer Brits travelling around in those days. I think the shows have been hugely influential in attracting British tourists.

My most recent trip to film the third series of BBC1’s Wanted Down Under, which follows UK families investigating the prospect of a new life in Australia, was my ninth visit. I went a couple of years ago for my birthday, and even had my honeymoon there.

If I were going to live in any other city in the world, it would have to be Sydney.

It’s the perfect place: you have a cosmopolitan city but then you can enjoy the beach at the same time. And if you want to get out of town, wonderful countryside is a short drive away. My ideal would be to travel to work, as many people in Sydney do, on the ferry. Isn’t that the best way to start your day?

The Barrier Reef is an unmissable experience

I love the harbour and I love the northern beaches: everything from Manly up to Palm Beach is fantastic. People in Sydney work hard but they also know how to relax. A trip to the Barrier Reef is an unmissable experience.

I’ve been up to Queensland quite a few times. One of my favourite places there is Port Douglas which has changed so much in recent years. It’s now full of fabulous hotels and restaurants and I love the tropical feel.

My big new discovery is Western Australia. I had no idea it would be so special. I had never been to the West Coast before and I regret it’s taken me so long. I adored Perth, a very different place to Sydney, but just as beautiful in its own way.

I had a self-catering place in Sorrento, about 25 minutes’ drive from the city centre. There are lots of great self-catering apartments in Australia.

We ate out a lot and all the seafood was fantastic and it was very reasonably priced. The salads are also great: spinach and avocado, pumpkin – all sorts.

Get up close to the wildlife

Everywhere you look there are parks, green spaces and lots of water. The thing that most struck me was the blueness of the sky and the scattering of perfect little white clouds: I called it The Simpsons sky.

Flying into Australia, Perth would make a great starting point: the perfect place to get your bearings and to get to know the Aussies.

Travelling up and down the West Coast was surprisingly easy. Monkey Mia is a two-hour flight north of Perth. This is the place to see wild dolphins. You can get into the water and feed them, something which is very carefully managed to ensure that dolphins don’t become dependent on humans.

Broome is a resort that began life as a pearling town and there is a fascinating museum which explains this history. The main attraction is the 15-mile Cable Beach with its pristine sand.

I did the famous camel ride, although I was reluctant at first. But I’m glad I succumbed. I have a fabulous photograph of me riding a camel on the beach at sunset – the shadows of our camels etched on to the sand: mine was called Solomon, the King of the Beach.

And sitting out there to watch the sunset over a glass of wine is one of life’s great experiences. I knew Margaret River was famous for wine – I didn’t know that it was a top surfing venue.

Margaret River is a three-hour drive south of Perth. What you notice here is that the weather is a little cooler, the climate more like the UK, especially in the late spring. We had a fabulous meal at Leeuwin Estate, one of the area’s best-known wineries. They stage regular concerts as well and I’d love to go back to see one.

Margaret River has lots of lovely little quirky shops including the Margaret Chocolate Company where you can see chocolate being made. You can help yourself to as much as you like. Watching the surfers also really impressed me – their skill absolutely took my breath away.

And you can enjoy close encounters with wildlife (some times too close). I’ve seen kangaroos, turtles, whales, dolphins and all manner of lizards. I was doing a piece to camera in Perth when the cameraman started shouting: ‘Get up Nicki – move now!’ I turned round to see a highly venomous King Brown snake slithering towards me.

More than 'Once in a lifetime'

And one night I had a huge huntsman spider parked outside my bedroom window which was also a bit alarming.

I would be happy to go to Australia for a holiday every year. There is so much to do as it is very diverse. It’s such a hospitable country, the people are nice and with such a great sense of humour. And it is so easy to get around.

People think of Australia as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ place: it really isn’t. You need to go back again and again to see it all. It’s easy to get to and surprisingly affordable.