9 best places to see the Milky Way around Australia

Kassia Byrnes Kassia Byrnes
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Few things in this universe are more breathtaking than the Milky Way, and there are few better countries to gaze at it from than Australia.

There is nothing quite like leaving the city lights behind and swapping them for the twinkling lights of the Milky Way. The most wonderous expression I’ve ever seen on a face was on that of my boyfriend – a born and bred Rio local – who had never seen the stars outside of human light pollution before our road trip to Mungo National Park. I had warned him he would be blown away by the night sky, and he simply didn’t believe me. Until I made him get out of the tent at 1 am and take a look up.

The Milky Way in particular forms a fascinating and beautiful blanket splashed across the dark sky around Australia. For Astronomers, this spiral galaxy has provided a gives us a closer view of galaxy structure and content than any others, simply because we’re a part of it. For many Indigenous people, the Milky Way is associated with a river in the sky where the ancestor spirits live.

Spend a night soaking in its wonder at these places around Australia.

1. East MacDonnell Ranges, NT

The best views of the night sky come when you leave all man-made lights behind. That’s why heading into Central Australia is always a good idea for gazing at the Milky Way. Get a close-up look by heading to Earth Sanctuary, just outside Alice Springs. This award-winning, carbon-neutral outback venue overlooks the dramatic landscape of the East MacDonnell Ranges and offers Astro tours. With an experienced guide,  look through telescopes to spot planets, constellations and unearthly phenomena like dark nebulae.

Earth Sanctuary, East MacDonnell Ranges, Northern territory
See the sky close-up at Earth Sanctuary. (Image: Tourism NT/Matt Glastonbury)

2. Lincoln National Park, SA

Who says you have to be in the outback to see a clear night sky? Although remote and free of light pollution, Lincoln National Park is a place of stunning beaches and bays on the south-eastern tip of the Eyre Peninsula. Plenty of secluded campsites allow you to spend a night (or more) immersed in nature. Spend your days swimming and surfing, then lay out under the Milky Way, star clusters and nebula. All clear and crisp once the sun drops.

milky way above the Eyre Peninsula south australia
See the clearest of night skies around the Eyre Peninsula. (Tour South)

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3. Warrumbungle National Park, NSW

Warrumbungle National Park owns the title of Australia’s first Dark Sky Park, thanks to its remote location and perfect climate of high altitude and low humidity. It’s impossible to miss the Milky Way even with bare eyes, but get a really good look by booking a ticket with Coonabarabran Star Gazing to see Siding Spring Observatory at the edge of the park. It’s here you’ll find the largest optical telescopes in Australia. Make the most of it by booking a camping spot, most of which include picnic tables, barbecue facilities, showers and toilets.

camping under the milky way in Warrumbungle National Park, NSW
Sleep in Australia’s first Dark Sky Park. (Image: Destination NSW)

4. Charleville, Qld

Head into Queensland’s outback to leave the big city lights behind, but also to gain a different insight into the Milky Way and surrounding stars. Charleville’s Cosmos Centre has a range of star-gazing tours, with the Universal Dreaming tour providing a particularly standout experience. Discover some of the ways many different ancient cultures connected with the night sky as you sit around a fire pit (you’ll even get to toast marshmallows while you listen). You’ll need to book ahead for this as it’s only upon request.

Charleville's Cosmos Centre
Book a star-gazing tour at Charleville’s Cosmos Centre. (Image: TEQ)

5. Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park, SA

Typically, you might expect to head up as high as possible to catch a clear glimpse of the night sky. But, in fact, being Australia’s lowest point – up to 15 metres below sea level – makes Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park one of the darkest areas in Australia. This means that star-gazing is at an optimum, but also that the Milky Way can be found reflecting on the water’s surface whenever the elusive lake is full. Stay the night in one of several classic outback hotels, or bring the tent and set up in Halligan Bay Point Campground for bush camping, or Muloorina Station to enjoy toilets and some facilities.

Aerial view over Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park
The only thing better than gazing down at Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park, is looking up from it at night. (Image: Greg Snell)

6. The Dish, NSW

If you somehow missed the classic Aussie movie The Dish back in 2000, I strongly recommend you watch it before you arrive. It’s a fun way to learn the true story of how this CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope played an important part in communicating with the Apollo 11 mission. Located in Goobang National Park, part of its charm is due to seemingly being in the middle of nowhere – a great sign for stargazing and spotting the Milky Way. You’ll find free campgrounds here, and it’s recommended to visit in autumn when the night sky is typically clearest.

CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope at dusk
See the famous Dish up close, then stay for the stars. (Image: Destination NSW)

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7. Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park, NT

Few things could be more iconically Australian than seeing Uluru at night, framed by the Milky Way. In fact, settling into one of several vantage points along walking trails in the park from sunset means you’ll watch the rock and sky transform their colours through purple and orange hues as the sun drops to reveal all the starry twinkles of the universe. With little to no light pollution, the stars come out in full force. Every night is different – you may even see the rings of Saturn or a shooting star. There are a few tour options to help you see even better, including Uluru Astro Tour.

uluru under the milky way
See the stars in full force. (Image: Tourism NT/New Asia Pacific Travel)

8. Gravity Discovery Centre Observatory, WA

It’s pretty safe to say that all observatories in Australia are good places to start if you want to catch the Milky Way up close. Gravity Discovery Centre Observatory in Gingin allows members of the public to use its state-of-the-art technology every Friday and Saturday night. There are a few guided tour options, including lecture-style tours about fascinating parts of the universe and Aboriginal Astronomy. The latter partners with Indigenous Tours to showcase the connection between cultural storytelling and Astronomy.

Gravity Discovery Centre Observatory, WA
Use state-of-the-art technology at Gravity Discovery Centre Observatory. (Image: Tourism WA)

9. Karlu Karlu Reserve, NT

One of the outback’s more unique sights is the stacked, round boulders known as Karlu Karlu / The Devil’s Marbles. They cut a pretty impressive figure at any time of day, but silhouetted against a blazing Milky Way is particularly spectacular. This remote red desert has plenty of campsites so you can spend all night staring skywards. If you haven’t quite had your fill of the universe, you can also drive an extra hour to Wycliffe, known as the UFO capital of Australia. Cue X-Files music.

Devils Marbles / karlu karlu at night
See Karlu Karlu against the stars. (Image: Tourism NT/Sean Scott)
Can’t get enough of the night skies? Discover the best spots around Australia for stargazing.
Kassia Byrnes
Kassia Byrnes is the Native Content Editor for Australian Traveller and International Traveller. She's come a long way since writing in her diary about family trips to Grandma's. After graduating a BA of Communication from University of Technology Sydney, she has been writing about her travels (and more) professionally for over 10 years for titles like AWOL, News.com.au, Pedestrian.TV, Body + Soul and Punkee. She's addicted to travel but has a terrible sense of direction, so you can usually find her getting lost somewhere new around the world. Luckily, she loves to explore and have new adventures – whether that’s exploring the backstreets, bungee jumping off a bridge or hiking for days. You can follow her adventures on Instagram @probably_kassia.
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This scenic Victorian region is the perfect antidote to city life

    Craig Tansley Craig Tansley
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    Video credit: Visit Victoria/Tourism Australia

    The Grampians just might be the ultimate antidote for the metropolis, writes one returning Aussie ready to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect to the Great outdoors.

    There are no kangaroos back in Chicago: they’re all here in the Grampians/Gariwerd. In the heart of the Grampians National Park’s main gateway town, Halls Gap, pods of eastern greys are eating grass beside my parked rental car beneath the stars. Next morning, when I see the backyard of my rented villa on the edge of town for the first time, there are kangaroos feeding beside a slow-moving creek, lined with river red gums.

    Five hundred metres up the road, 50 or so of them are eating by the side of the road in a paddock. I pull over to watch and spot three emus. Yellow-tailed black cockatoos fly overhead towards the tall green mountains just beyond town.

    ‘Kee-ow, keee-oww’… their calls fuse with the maniacal cackle of a kookaburra (or 10). Gawd, how I’ve missed the sound of them. Far above, a wedge-tailed eagle watches, and there you go: the ‘great birds of Australia’ trifecta, all half a kay from the town limits.

    Exchanging city chaos for country calm

    kangaroos near Halls Gap, Grampians National Park
    The park is renowned for its significant diversity of native fauna species. (Image: Visit Victoria/Robert Blackburn)

    I’ve come to the Grampians to disconnect, but the bush offers a connection of its own. This isn’t just any bush, mind you. The Grampians National Park is iconic for many reasons, mostly for its striking sandstone mountains – five ridges run north to south, with abrupt, orange slopes which tumble right into Halls Gap – and for the fact there’s 20,000 years of traditional rock art. Across these mountains there are more than 200 recorded sites to see, created by the Djab Wurrung, Jardwadjali and Gunditjmara peoples. It’s just like our outback… but three hours from Melbourne.

    I’ve come here for a chance at renewal after the chaos of my life in America’s third-largest city, Chicago, where I live for now, at the whim of a relative’s cancer journey. Flying into Melbourne’s airport, it only takes an hour’s drive to feel far away from any concept of suburbia. When I arrive in Halls Gap two hours later, the restaurant I’m eating at clears out entirely by 7:45pm; Chicago already feels a lifetime ago.

    The trails and treasures of the Grampians

    sunrise at Grampians National Park /Gariwerd
    Grampians National Park /Gariwerd covers almost 2000 square kilometres. (Image: Ben Savage)

    Though the national park covers almost 2000 square kilometres, its best-known landmarks are remarkably easy to access. From my carpark here, among the cockatoos and kangaroos on the fringe of Halls Gap, it only takes 60 seconds’ driving time before I’m winding my way up a steep road through rainforest, deep into the mountains.

    Then it’s five minutes more to a carpark that serves as a trailhead for a hike to one of the park’s best vantage points, The Pinnacles. I walk for an hour or so, reacquainting myself with the smells and the sounds of the Aussie bush, before I reach it: a sheer cliff’s edge lookout 500 metres up above Halls Gap.

    walking through a cave, Hollow Mountain
    Overlooking the vast Grampians landscape from Hollow Mountain. (Image: Robert Blackburn)

    There are hikes and there are lookouts and waterfalls all across this part of the park near town. Some are a short stroll from a carpark; others involve long, arduous hikes through forest. The longest is the Grampians Peaks Trail, Victoria’s newest and longest iconic walk, which runs 160 kilometres – the entire length of Grampians National Park.

    Local activities operator Absolute Outdoors shows me glimpses of the trail. The company’s owner, Adrian Manikas, says it’s the best walk he’s done in Australia. He says he’s worked in national parks across the world, but this was the one he wanted to bring his children up in.

    “There’s something about the Grampians,” he says, as he leads me up a path to where there’s wooden platforms for tents, beside a hut looking straight out across western Victoria from a kilometre up in the sky (these are part of the guided hiking options for the trail). “There are things out here that you won’t see anywhere else in Australia.” Last summer, 80 per cent of the park was damaged by bushfire, but Manikas shows me its regrowth, and tells me of the manic effort put in by volunteers from town – with firefighters from all over Australia – to help save Halls Gap.

    wildflowers in Grampians National Park
    Spot wildflowers. (Image: Visit Victoria)

    We drive back down to Halls Gap at dusk to abseil down a mountain under the stars, a few minutes’ walk off the main road into town. We have headlamps, but a full moon is enough to light my way down. It takes blind faith to walk backwards down a mountain into a black void, though the upside is I can’t see the extent of my descent.

    Grampians National Park at sunset
    Grampians National Park at sunset. (Image: Wine Australian)

    The stargazing is ruined by the moon, of course, but you should see how its glow lights up the orange of the sandstone, like in a theme park. When I’m done, I stand on a rocky plateau drinking hot chocolate and listening to the Aussie animals who prefer nighttime. I can see the streets of Halls Gap off in the distance on this Friday night. The restaurants may stay open until 8pm tonight.

    What else is on offer in The Grampians?

    a boat travelling along the Wimmera River inDimboola
    Travelling along the Wimmera River in Dimboola. (Image: Chris McConville)

    You’ll find all sorts of adventures out here – from rock climbing to canoeing to hiking – but there’s more to the Grampians than a couple of thousand square kilometres of trees and mountains. Halls Gap may be known to most people, but what of Pomonal, and Dimboola, and Horsham? Here in the shadow of those big sandstone mountains there are towns and communities most of us don’t know to visit.

    And who knew that the Grampians is home to Victoria’s most underrated wine region? My disconnection this morning comes not in a forest, but in the tasting rooms and winery restaurants of the district. Like Pomonal Estate, barely 10 minutes’ drive east of Halls Gap, where UK-born chef Dean Sibthorp prepares a locally caught barramundi with lentil, pumpkin and finger lime in a restaurant beside the vines at the base of the Grampians. Husband-and-wife team Pep and Adam Atchison tell me stories as they pour their prize wines (shiraz is the hero in these parts).

    dining at Pomonal Estate
    Dine in a restaurant beside vines at Pomonal Estate. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    Three minutes’ drive back down the road, long-time mates Hadyn Black and Darcy Naunton run an eclectic cellar door out of a corrugated iron shed, near downtown Pomonal. The Christmas before last, half the houses in Pomonal burnt down in a bushfire, but these locals are a resilient lot.

    The fires also didn’t stop the construction of the first art centre in Australia dedicated to environmental art in a nature-based precinct a little further down the road (that’s Wama – the National Centre for Environmental Arts), which opened in July. And some of the world’s oldest and rarest grape vines have survived 160 years at Best’s Wines, outside the heritage town of Great Western. There’s plantings here from the year 1868, and there’s wines stored in century-old barrels within 150-year-old tunnels beneath the tasting room. On the other side of town, Seppelt Wines’ roots go back to 1865. They’re both only a 30-minute drive from Halls Gap.

    Salingers of Great Western
    Great Western is a charming heritage town. (Image: Griffin Simm)

    There’s more to explore yet; I drive through tiny historic towns that barely make the map. Still part of the Grampians, they’re as pretty as the mountains behind them: full of late 19th-century/early 20th-century post offices, government offices and bank buildings, converted now to all manner of bric-a-brac stores and cafes.

    The Imaginarium is one, in quirky Dimboola, where I sleep in the manager’s residence of an old National Australia Bank after a gourmet dinner at the local golf club, run by noted chef and teacher, Cat Clarke – a pioneer of modern Indigenous Australian cooking. Just south, I spend an entire afternoon at a winery, Norton Estate Wines, set on rolling calico-coloured hills that make me think of Tuscany, chit-chatting with owners Chris and Sam Spence.

    Being here takes me back two decades, when I lived here for a time. It had all seemed as foreign as if I’d driven to another planet back then (from Sydney/Warrane), but there seemed something inherently and immediately good about this place, like I’d lived here before.

    And it’s the Australian small-town familiarity of the Grampians that offers me connection back to my own country. Even in the better-known Halls Gap, Liz from Kerrie’s Creations knows I like my lattes with soy milk and one sugar. And while I never do get the name of the lady at the local Ampol station, I sure know a lot about her life.

    Kookaburras on a tree
    Kookaburras are one of some 230 bird species. (Image: Darren Donlen)

    You can be a local here in a day; how good is that? In Chicago, I don’t even know who my neighbour is. Though each day at dusk – when the kangaroos gather outside my villa, and the kookaburras and the black cockatoos shout out loud before settling in to sleep – I prefer the quieter connection I get out there in the bush, beneath these orange mountains.

    A traveller’s checklist

    Staying there

    Sleep beside the wildlife on the edge of Halls Gap at Serenity.

    Playing there

    abseiling down Hollow Mountain
    Hollow Mountain is a popular abseiling site.

    Go abseiling under the stars or join a guided hike with Absolute Outdoors. Visit Wama, Australia’s first environmental art centre. Check out Dimboola’s eccentric Imaginarium.

    Eating there

    steak, naan bread and beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap
    Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap serves a great steak on naan bread.

    Eat world-class cuisine at Pomonal Estate. Dine and stay at much-revered icon Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. The ‘steak on naan’ at Halls Gap brewhouse Paper Scissors Rock, can’t be beat.

    Dunkeld Arboretum in Grampians National Park
    The serene Dunkeld Arboretum.

    For Halls Gap’s best breakfasts head to Livefast Cafe. Sip local wines at Great Western’s historic wineries, Best’s Wines, Seppelt Wines and Norton Estate Wines.

    two glasses of beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap
    Sink a cold one at Paper Scissors Rock.