Deep chasms, cascading waterfalls, emerald waterholes. Rocks that pierce blue skies. Hyper-green rainforest. Night-sky phenomena. This wide, brown land holds plenty of natural colour and beauty.
This article is part of our 100 Australian Wonders series. Throughout the series, we explore our nation’s wonders across culture, nature, food, islands and many more. We hope it inspires your own exploration of Australia’s many wonders.
1. Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area
Travelling with: Fleur Bainger
Bring tissues on a nature cruise down the Gordon River, meandering through the lesser-visited western edge of Tasmania where the Franklin Dam project was proposed. You may well be brought to tears by the beauty of Huon pines rising from riverbanks, reflected in mirror-like stillness. Some of these conifers are aged at up to 3000 years, mere saplings at the time of Alexander the Great. They were nearly all lost to damming in the 1980s – cue more tears.
This, and about one-fifth of Tasmania, is protected by the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. It’s one of only two places on the planet to meet seven out of 10 UNESCO criteria.
The zone also scoops up Cradle Mountain, where more than 20 self-guided walks, most on narrow, slatted boardwalks, encourage repeat visitation. The Dove Lake Circuit, with its Instagrammable boatshed, might be the most recognisable, and the Overland Track the most challenging. But it’s the Enchanted Walk and King Billy Walk that will steal your heart as you’re enveloped by moss-clad trees that will shelter you from the feathery rain.
2. Aurora australis, Tas
Travelling with: Elizabeth Whitehead
The northern lights top bucket lists around the globe, but this natural phenomenon is closer than many realise. The aurora australis, or the southern lights, are often spotted dancing across Tasmania’s otherworldly starscapes.
The further south you go, the more likely you’ll catch the mysterious ribbons of light billowing out in a technicolour show of red, green and blue. Some of the best spots to stake out include Bruny Island, Cradle Mountain and kunanyi/Mt Wellington. Bring a camera and a coat.
3. Gorgeous gorges across Australia
Travelling with: Megan Arkinstall
The second widest gorge in the world, pipped only by the Grand Canyon, is in NSW’s backyard. Capertee Valley is cradled by sandstone cliffs that have been carved over millions of years.
Australia’s vast landscape is punctuated by manifold gorges, including Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge in the Top End, which comprises 13 ravines sliced by the Katherine River.
Towards the navel of the country, the mighty red cliffs of Kings Canyon span up to 300 metres in height, providing breathtaking views across the desert.
Western Australia’s claim to gorge fame is the spectacular Karijini National Park, a tropical semi-arid landscape where fern-lined swimming holes and gushing waterfalls are hidden within the vertical rock faces.
4. Kiama Blowhole, NSW
Travelling with: Carla Grossetti
When the tide is right, the whoosh of water that blasts out of Kiama Blowhole splits the silence open. In fact, when the vertical blowhole on the NSW South Coast hits its peak at more than 30 metres, it is so loud that it drowns out the delighted squeals of the thousands of visitors who congregate here each year. The foundation for this geological wonder – the largest blowhole in the world – was laid from volcanic lava more than 260 million years ago. And while the nearby Little Blowhole is not as flamboyant, it’s also a wonderful place to watch the water wash in.
5. Australia’s wonderous waterfalls
Travelling with: Carla Grossetti
Waterfalls in Australia can go from a tumbling trickle to a thundering roar after a sheeting downpour in the wet season.
Expect a couple of jungle nymphs to swing from the liana vines near Fairy Falls in Tropical North Queensland. Pack your bathers for a bracing dip in the natural rock pool at Kondalilla Falls, which you’ll often find swathed in mist in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Seek out the falls and swimming holes of El Questro and spectacular four-tiered Mitchell Falls (Punamii-Uunpuu) in WA’s mighty Kimberley region.
And while Horizontal Falls (Garaanngaddim), also in the Kimberley, is not technically a waterfall, it deserves special mention for being spectacular when the tides are at their highest in the winter months and it morphs into a churning mass of fury.
6. Remarkable rocks
Travelling with: Megan Arkinstall
Billions of years in the making, unique rock formations draw people in far and wide for ogling and photo ops. Some are easy to get to – such as the Blue Mountains’ Three Sisters and Victoria’s 12 Apostles – but others rise out of barren landscapes seemingly in the middle of nowhere, making them even more awe-inspiring.
On WA’s Coral Coast, thousands of natural limestone Pinnacles stand up to five metres tall. Four hours inland, the 110-metre-long, 15-metre-high Wave Rock is the only swell you’ll find this far from the coast. Kangaroo Island’s Remarkable Rocks perch above the sea in Flinders Chase National Park. And the NT’s Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) is a sacred site for the Warumungu, Kaytetye, Alyawarra and Warlpiri peoples, comprising giant granite boulders mysteriously scattered across a wide valley.
7. Cassowaries of Mission Beach, Qld
Travelling with: Steve Magdwick
A few chilled days in utopian Mission Beach, two hours south of Cairns, is its own reward but also perhaps your best chance to see a weird, wonderful cassowary in the wild. Don’t go chasing the tropical dino bird, just observe it* (Mother Nature willing) from a safe distance as you explore the surrounding rainforest and beaches. Cruise down to South Mission Beach by bike. Stride through the flourishing forest of the Dreaming Trail circuit. Eat breakfast at hippy-chic Bingil Bay Cafe . Mission Beach overflows with tributes, from the aptly named Cassowary Drive to kitsch effigies and murals galore. (*A sticky beak around Garners Beach and behind Tasman Holiday Parks may be fruitful.)
8. Daintree Rainforest, Qld
Travelling with: Carla Grossetti
Standing in the beautiful green dappled light of the Daintree in Tropical North Queensland is akin to being in a cathedral. The world’s oldest living rainforest was recognised by UNESCO in 1988 as having one of the most important ecosystems in the world containing relics of the Gondwanan era, which existed more than 180 million years ago.
Take a guided tour deep into the Daintree with one of the Traditional Owners from the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre. Here you will hear birds that only know how to screech, not sing. Inhale air that is thick with the cloying perfume of the forest floor. And understand why the Daintree is so deserving of our devotion.
9. Christmas Island
Travelling with: Fleur Bainger
The Jurassic feel of Christmas Island’s black volcanic rock and fluttering leafy plants is elevated when you look up to the skies and down to the forest floor. Creatures synonymous with the Galápagos Islands are found here: brown booby birds shrouding fluffy white chicks or nesting atop sheer cliffs, and inky frigatebirds soaring overhead with bright throat pouches flashing red.
There are more than 20 species of crab, with an estimated 60 million iconic red crabs flooding the streets during their October or November migration to spawn.
Christmas Island National Park covers 63 per cent of the wild isle and efforts to protect it are collaborative. Regular marine debris clean-ups are held on beaches to clear reams of ocean plastics – voluntourism at its best. WA’s Tangaroa Blue Foundation is holding a series of clean-ups from 14–21 June as part of its Keep Christmas Island Beautiful Week.
10. Ningaloo/Nyinggulu, WA
Travelling with: Christine Aldred
While Ningaloo/Nyinggulu is rightly known for its coast-hugging reefs and stunning ocean blues, the adjoining desert landscapes and nearby gulf are more than worthy counterpoints.
The superlatives used to describe life-spawning reef that hugs the north-west coast of Australia – the remarkable sea creatures that live there including the famous whale sharks, and the vibrance of its colours – are all accurate.
But the other two arms of this triple treat of nature also deserve attention: the rugged wilderness of Cape Range National Park; and Exmouth Gulf, the reef nursery where whales, dugongs and turtles go to rest and play, and the home of ancient life forms. Book into tented eco-luxury resort Sal Salis, the only serviced accommodation within the national park, for the awe of the landscape to be really revealed.
