The ultimate bookish packing list for Australia
Packing list for Australia, book girlie edition: Aussie-set reads, beach essentials and long-haul must-haves for your trip Down Under.
Turquoise water, red dirt roads, flat whites that will ruin every other coffee for you and a sun that sets over the ocean like it's showing off. Australia is a long way to go for a holiday for most of us, but here's the secret: twenty-odd hours in transit is basically a bonus reading day, and the beaches on the other side were made for finishing what you started on the plane.
Whether you’ve just booked one of our Australia Reading Retreats or you’re on an outback adventure all your own,here's what's going in our suitcase: the reads that put you right in the landscape, and the essentials that keep you sun-safe, hydrated and contactable from Bondi to the bush.
Best books to pack for a trip to Australia
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
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A sleepy beachside town, a school trivia night that gets wildly out of hand, and somebody who doesn't make it home. Moriarty follows three mums on the Pirriwee Peninsula (Madeline, Celeste and newcomer Jane) through the weeks leading up to it, and the result is sharp, funny, gossipy and far darker than its playground politics first let on. It's the queen of Aussie page-turners for a reason, and reading it with sand between your toes makes the whole thing feel uncomfortably close to home. Just maybe don't make eye contact with the other parents at the beach café.
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
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Two brothers meet at the fence line between their cattle properties in outback Queensland, hours from their nearest neighbour. Below them, at an old grave in the middle of nowhere, is their middle brother Cameron, dead in the blistering heat with no obvious reason why he'd be there. Harper makes the landscape a character in its own right: vast, beautiful and completely unforgiving. It's a slow-burn family mystery that'll have you very grateful for your air con and your full water bottle, and it's the one to pack if you're heading anywhere near the red centre.
Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
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Kerry Salter has spent her whole life avoiding two things: her hometown and prison. Now her Pop is dying, so she rides south on a stolen Harley into Bundjalung country, planning to stay 24 hours, tops. Spoiler: it's longer. Family wounds reopen as the Salters fight to save their river from developers, and a good-looking whitefella keeps getting in her way. Gritty, furious and genuinely laugh-out-loud, it won the Miles Franklin Award and gives you a side of Australia the postcards don't.
Lyrics of Summer by Tierney Page
Summer Hayes left her small coastal hometown of Ocean Grove at eighteen and swore she wasn't coming back. Ten years later, unfinished business and a house full of memories drag her home, and Chase Whitmore, the boy next door, is still right there. He never left, and it turns out he never stopped loving her either. Melbourne-based author Tierney Page delivers all the good stuff: second chances, friends to lovers, unsent letters, serious yearning and plenty of spice. Set on the Victorian coast, it's the one to devour on a beach towel, preferably with the actual ocean doing its thing in the background.
A Piece of Red Cloth by Leonie Norrington, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga and Djawundil Maymuru
Long before Captain Cook turned up, the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land were trading every wet season with Macassan trepang fishers from across the sea. This year, the birds are warning that the visitors bring menace, and grandmother Batjani will do whatever it takes to protect her granddaughter Garritji as she comes of age. Written with Yolngu cultural custodians and based on oral history, it's a rare, immersive story of Australia told from the inside. It takes a few chapters to find your feet among a big cast, but stick with it and you'll be gripped. (Please check content warnings first: sexual violence is central to the plot.)
Becoming Venus by Esmé Louise James
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If you fancy a spicier read but still want to stay immersed in where you are, this is your feminist Fifty Shades with a queer twist, set in Melbourne's underground kink scene. PhD student Rose has just walked away from a long-term relationship when one impulsive message pulls her back towards Adrian, the man from a single unforgettable night five years ago. What follows is a journey through masked parties, private clubs and play that's all about consent, curiosity and finally working out what she wants. The debut novel from Kinky History creator Esmé Louise James, dare to read it outside your hotel room to signal to fellow smut girlies.
Beach essentials for an Australian holiday
SPF that's built for Aussie sun
Australia's UV is no joke: even on a cloudy day it'll catch you out, and the locals take their sunscreen as seriously as their coffee. Ultraviolette was born in Melbourne, so it's basically made for this trip, and it's our exclusive SPF partner. The formulas feel more like skincare than sun cream, sit nicely under makeup, and come in enough textures that there's one for every skin type. The result? You'll actually top up between chapters instead of "forgetting" until your shoulders turn pink.
Use code LADIESWHOLIT20 at checkout for 20% off at ultraviolette.co.uk
Ladies Who Lit x Dock & Bay Beach Towel
From Bondi to Byron, Aussie beaches are some of the best reading spots on the planet, and they deserve better than a scratchy hotel towel. Ours shakes off sand in seconds, dries before you've finished your chapter, and rolls up small enough to squeeze into a tote alongside your book, SPF and snacks. Lie down, open up, stay there until sunset.
Shop the Ladies Who Lit x Dock & Bay Beach Towel
A water bottle for hydrated beach days
Australian summer heat is a different beast, especially if you're heading inland. Good news: the tap water is safe to drink across the country, so there's no excuse not to stay topped up. Fill your Ladies Who Lit insulated water bottle at breakfast, which keeps it cool all day, and never abandon your shady spot on the sand for a drinks run again.
Shop the Ladies Who Lit Water Bottle
A cap for Team Slip, Slop, Slap
Australians have been chanting "slip, slop, slap" (slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat) since the eighties, and we're firmly on board, but the hat has to be cute. A Ladies Who Lit Dad Cap keeps the glare off your page, the sun off your face and your salty beach hair under control. Choose from a range of bookish designs, including a few for the smut girlies who like to let the whole beach know what they're reading.
Bookish extras for travelling to Australia
Comfortable earplugs
Crying kids, chatty seatmates, engine hum for hours: long-haul flights aren't known for their peace and quiet, and Australia flights are the longest of hauls. Loop earplugs turn the volume down without blocking everything out, so you can sink into your book (or finally get some sleep) and still hear the drinks trolley coming. They're just as handy on arrival, when the wildlife starts stirring outside your window at dawn and your body clock still thinks it's teatime.
A good travel pillow
There's no getting around it: the journey Down Under is a marathon. A proper travel pillow is the difference between stepping off the plane feeling human and stepping off it with a neck that won't turn left. Don’t wait until the airport, either: find one like this bestseller that squishes down small in your carry-on and actually holds your head up, then use it on long coach transfers and lazy afternoon naps on the beach too.
Shop the SnoozEasy™ Travel Pillow
A waterproof phone pouch
Taking your e-reader or phone to the beach means sand, sunscreen fingers, rogue waves and the occasional splash from someone cannonballing into the pool. A waterproof pouch keeps the lot protected, so you can read from a lilo, film the reef from a boat or bob about in the shallows without worrying about your device. Bonus: it also stops sand getting into every crevice of your phone case.
Shop the YOSH Waterproof Phone Pouch
An insect repellent travel candle
Australian evenings are warm, golden and perfect for reading outside, but the mozzies think so too. A little citronella travel candle on the balcony table keeps the bugs at bay while you squeeze in one more chapter before dinner. It's compact, smells like summer, and makes even the most basic holiday apartment feel cosy. (Just check the local rules and skip it on total fire ban days.)
Shop the WiDEYE Citronella Candle
Travel essentials for a trip to Australia
Audible
The flight to Australia is the longest leg of most people's travelling lives, and there are only so many in-flight films you can watch before your eyes give up. Enter the audiobook: lights off, eye mask on, story still going. It's just as good for the Great Ocean Road, long coastal drives and stretches of outback highway where the view barely changes for hours. Your TBR doesn't have to stop just because you're behind the wheel.
Holafly eSIM
You've landed after a day in the air, you're jet-lagged and you need to find your hotel. The last thing you want is a queue at an airport phone shop. Set up a Holafly eSIM before you fly and you'll switch on with data the moment you touch down, ready for maps, rideshares, restaurant bookings and posting your first beach read pic. (Australia is huge and signal gets patchy in remote areas, so download offline maps before any outback adventures.)
World Nomads Travel Insurance
When you're flying halfway around the world, a lot can happen between check-in and the beach. A lost suitcase full of carefully chosen paperbacks, a missed connection, a domestic flight that vanishes from the departures board, a scrape on a coastal walk: travel insurance is the quiet hero of every big trip. World Nomads is our trusted insurance partner, and getting a quote takes about five minutes.
We receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.
And that's your bag packed, ladies. All that's left is to claim a patch of sand, crack open something cold and let the waves keep time while you read. If you'd rather someone else handled the planning (and the book chat), come and join us on one of our Australia Reading Retreats.
Happy reading, ladies!
Want more reading and bookish recommendations from the book club that takes you places? Take a look at our other articles below.
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