Next......?

You sound pretty experienced at travelling and you've been to a fair few destinations by the sound of it. So, I have to ask what kind of things are you interested in? Culture, beaches, people, partying?

I'm partial to Canada, prejudiced perhaps. There are many different destinations depending on your interests. I highly recommend a mid-winter full moon evening away from any city lights up north (Quesnel or Prince George) or even further north to Yellowknife. I used to look forward to every fullmoon clear night every winter. It is COLD but nothing short of magical.

Your wife may prefer something warmer - check out "Via Rail" trips across Canada or portions of Canada. Going the whole way may get tedious especially while crossing the prairies. I once took the train from Montreal to Halifax and that was pretty interesting.

I've never been too interested in the US but I would like to go to Florida to swim with the Manattee (dugong).

Just a few thoughts for your consideration.

Have you been to Spain - Seville, Cordova, Granada, etc. i.e. Andalucia?
And from Spain you could cross to Morocco....

Yes, been there done that. Not jaded yet ,just running out of places. Morocco 3 times first in 1966 - great country. All of Spain but really, as I tried to imply, Europe and US/Canada were a bit tame, Nepal,Tibet, all of India several times - loved nearly every minute of it, Sri Lanka too. Cuba,Guatemala, Mexico - blimey, backpacked those too.
There's this gap before we buy a van and "grey nomad" the unseen parts of our Australian home - would be great to find the place that isn't highly expensive, mundane,or too tourist infested to again learn the basic language,taste the exotic food and glory in the sights and people.

What about South America? If you want to travel in Asia, there is always Borneo or New Guinea.

How about somewhere in the South Pacific? Easy for you to get to from Australia and if you want excitement there's always Port Moresby. With Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia to choose from there's plenty of diversity. Best place in the world, IMO - but then I'm biased :-)

I have two suggestions. South America. We spent about 9 weeks in Peru and Bolivia a couple of years ago. We used local buses and visited a combination of those countries 'must sees' plus a whole array of small towns and villages to get that dimension you describe with the language, food, sights and people. We spent about a week kayaking in tributaries of the Amazon, walked down into the famous Canyon del Colca plus the rather busy 4 day Inca Trail. Northern Peru is particularly charming.

My second suggestion picks up on Watsoff's proposal. Husband and I ignored the Pacific until recently believing that it was predominantly a 'resort' style destination. Some years ago we had great fun when we hired a 4 wheel drive and explored the hinterland of Fiji's main island before spending a couple of days in Fiji's time-warp island of Ovaleu. We kayaked also for about 9 days off the Yasawa islands. That certainly was a great way to spend time in various villages plus the sheer delight of camping on uninhabited islands.

And on the island theme. Have just returned from Hawaii's Big Island where we went to explore its active, walking a couple of hours at night to watch molten lava enter the sea and wander below ground along a sector of the world's longest lava tube. Quite a different trip if you like geology and walking.,

Oh! And what about China? You don't mention it. We spent a month there and enjoyed it so much that we will go back next year for another 2 months.

Mexico, which is where I am going again this year. Definitely more than the beach resorts, lots to explore in the smaller cities and mountains. Latin America is my next area of interest to discover, having also done significant travel in Asia, especially China which could take a life-time to just scratch the surface.

Mmmm...thanks for the great input. At the risk of being boring we've done Fiji and Mexico but could return to see more of Mexico easily. A bit too Americanised, but they can't help that of course. It would be a good link to seeing more of Central and South America too...
I'd urge anyone considering Cuba not to hesitate, one of the great destinations!
I have a problem with China. Two actually. We are long time practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism and it is very hard to ignore the atrocities forced on Tibet (seen first hand) but also don't find the Chinese a very endearing people....sorry, but there it is.

Well may I suggest Laos I have been twice and for me it is like Thailand was when I first went there many years ago. My next tip would be Syria it is on my list has been a while but the pull of asia is still far too great for me at the moment, maybe when I retire and have more time I will try it but they do say Syria is the place, back me up someone please.