If you’re used to e.g. Discovery’s Vitality or eBucks, you’ll want to know about the best rewards programs in Australia.

Woolworths and Everyday Rewards

Woolworths Australia has a programme called Everyday Rewards. It doesn’t cost anything to join so you may as well, and it feeds nicely into Qantas points, explained below. This is way better than using the Everyday Rewards as cash.

There is a fuel spend benefit but it’s nothing like some of the savings you’ll get in SA. Consider it a nice to have rather than motivational.

Flybuys

Flybuys has a wide array of partners for both earning and spending points, including Coles (groceries, competitor to Woolworths) and Bunnings (equivalent to Builders Warehouse). The primary travel partnership is with Velocity, described below.

Travel

Australia is an island. It’s a big one so there are a lot of places to visit, but at some point infinite beaches and safety might get a bit old. It’s possible that you could develop the smallest desire to travel overseas. Travel generally means flights, and flights means Qantas, with Virgin’s Velocity program second.

Qantas

Qantas has developed quite the partner ecosystem. You can get points for buying fuel at BP or food at Woolworths. You can get points for walking 10k steps per day, or doing a sleep habits challenge. You can get points for checking your tyres or car lights. You can get points from simply spending on a reward-linked card. This is all very similar to Discovery’s Vitality program, as Qantas has partnered with various banking and insurance companies to offer financial products and benefits.

Importantly, Qantas has direct flights to SA, around 12 hours when flying Sydney to SA and 14 flying SA to Sydney. This is way better than flying to SA via the Northern Hemisphere, and can often be price-competitive with far longer flights if you book early enough.

Velocity

Velocity is Virgin Australia’s loyalty program, which partners with a wide range of companies including multiple airlines such as South African Airways, various banks, car rental etc. If much of your travel will be to places that Qantas doesn’t service directly, consider Velocity.