The nation’s most prestigious network of guided multi-day hikes has expanded to 15 with the addition of two spectacular new experiences – the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa Signature Walk and the Kangaroo Island Signature Walk, both operated by the Tasmanian Walking Company.
Launched in 2013 as part of Tourism Australia’s Signature Experiences program, Great Walks of Australia represents the gold standard in nature-based tourism – think all-inclusive, fully guided adventures through the country’s most breathtaking wilderness areas.
Hiking to the heart of Australia
The Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa Signature Walk is a first-of-its-kind experience. (Image: Tasmanian Walking Company)
The five-day journey traverses 54 kilometres. (Image: Michael Peters)
This walk redefines what it means to travel respectfully on Country. (Image: Tasmanian Walking Company)
Explore from the domes of Kata Tjuṯa to the base of Uluṟu. (Image: Michael Peters)
The walk is a decade in the making. (Image: Tasmanian Walking Company)
A decade in the making, the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa Signature Walk is a first-of-its-kind experience offering exclusive overnight stays inside the World Heritage-listed national park. Developed in partnership with Aṉangu Traditional Owners, the five-day journey traverses 54 kilometres from the domes of Kata Tjuṯa to the base of Uluṟu, blending premium comfort with deep cultural connection.
Walkers stay in new eco-sensitive camps and a private lodge, feast on chef-prepared meals under desert skies, and learn stories passed down over tens of thousands of years. Guided by Indigenous partners and expert storytellers, this walk redefines what it means to travel respectfully on Country.
The island is back
The Kangaroo Island Signature Walk celebrates SA’s wild southwest coast. (Image: Declan Hartley Brown)
The 4-day guided journey goes through Flinders Chase National Park. (Image: Declan Hartley Brown)
Across the water, the Kangaroo Island Signature Walk celebrates South Australia’s wild southwest coast on a four-day guided journey through Flinders Chase National Park. Traversing the most scenic stretches of the 46-kilometre Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, the experience pairs rugged cliffs and ancient forests with heritage lighthouse accommodation at Cape du Couedic, chef-prepared local produce and premium South Australian wines.
Guests walk lightly, supported by expert guides, and can expect encounters with sea lions, wallabies and echidnas along the way. True to the Tasmanian Walking Company’s sustainability ethos, the walk is 100 per cent carbon neutral and certified under Advanced Ecotourism Australia.
A new chapter for Great Walks of Australia
Stay in heritage lighthouse accommodation at Cape du Couedic on the Kangaroo Island Signature Walk. (Image: Declan Hartley Brown)
Executive Officer of Great Walks of Australia, Genevieve Matthews, says the new additions add “both heart and a new edge" to the collection.
“One experience has guests journeying through the ancient landscape of Australia’s Red Centre, and the other set along the spectacular rugged coastline of South Australia," she said.
“These new additions to the collection extend the offering to our loyal walking community, showcasing some of the most globally recognised and breathtaking landscapes in the country."
Tasmanian Walking Company co-owner Brett Godfrey said it was a privilege to share these landscapes through responsible tourism.
“Both Uluru-Kata Tjuta Signature Walk and Kangaroo Island Signature Walk represent not only world-class hiking experiences, but also a profound respect for the landscape, cultural heritage, and environment in which they take place," Godfrey said.
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Emily Murphy is Australian Traveller's Email & Social Editor, and in her time at the company she has been instrumental in shaping its social media and email presence, and crafting compelling narratives that inspire others to explore Australia's vast landscapes. Her previous role was a journalist at Prime Creative Media and before that she was freelancing in publishing, content creation and digital marketing. When she's not creating scroll-stopping travel content, Em is a devoted 'bun mum' and enjoys spending her spare time by the sea, reading, binge-watching a good TV show and exploring Sydney's vibrant dining scene. Next on her Aussie travel wish list? South Australia and The Kimberley.
The country’s rawest places offer some of its most transformative, restorative experiences.
Australia offers sublime opportunities to disappear into the ancient, untouched wilderness, worlds away from modern stress. Wild Bush Luxury offers a collection of experiences that are a portal into the continent’s wildest, most undiscovered landscapes, from wide floodplains to vast savannas, where the only distractions are birdsong, frog calls, curious wallabies and the daily drama of sunset. With a focus on conservation and Indigenous knowledge, these all-inclusive experiences allow guests to slow down and quiet their minds for intimate encounters with the natural world.
1. Bamurru Plains
Let nature take front row.
In the remote Top End, just outside Kakadu National Park on the fringes of the spectacular Mary River floodplains, you’ll find Bamurru Plains, a peerless Australian safari camp. After a quick air transfer from Darwin to the camp’s private airstrip, you’ll be whisked away via 4WD to a vivid natural wonderland of shimmering floodplains, red earth, herds of peacefully grazing water buffalo and 236 bird species (Bamurru means magpie goose to the Gagadju people).
Accommodations consist of 10 mesh-walled bungalows and two luxe stilted retreats where guests enjoy panoramic, up-close views that invite them into their rightful place in the landscape (and binoculars to see it even better). Being an off-grid experience designed to help guests disconnect, the only distractions are birdsongs, frog calls, curious wallabies, the occasional crocodile sighting and the daily drama of the spectacular golden sunset.
It’s a place where nature’s vastness rises to the level of the spiritual, and Bamurru’s understated, stylish, largely solar-powered lodgings are designed to minimise human impact and let nature take front row. Guests relax in comfort with plush linens, an open bar, communal tables that allow for spontaneous connections and curated dining experiences from the in-house chef using local ingredients and bush-inspired cooking methods.
Zoom across the floodplains. (Image: Adam Gibson)
It’s a restorative backdrop for days spent zooming across the mist-covered floodplains in an airboat, birding with expert guides, taking an open-sided safari drive or river cruise through croc country. Spend time at the Hide, a treehouse-like platform that’s perfect for wildlife spotting.
In fact, nature is so powerful here that Bamurru Plains closes entirely during the peak monsoon season (October to April), when the floodplains reclaim the land and life teems unseen beneath the water. Yet Wild Bush Luxury’s ethos continues year-round through its other experiences around Australia – each designed to immerse travellers in a distinct Australian wilderness at its most alive and untouched.
2. Maria Island Walk
Maria Island Walk offers sweeping coastal scenes.
Off Tasmania’s rugged east coast, the iconic Maria Island Walk is an intimate four-day journey through one of the country’s most hauntingly beautiful and unpopulated national parks, encompassing pristine beaches, convict-era ruins, and wildlife sightings galore. Accessible only by a small ferry, Maria Island feels like a place reclaimed by nature, which is exactly what it is: a penal settlement later used for farms and industry that finally became a national park in 1972.
These days, the island is known as ‘Tasmania’s Noah’s Ark’ and its only human inhabitants are park rangers. It’s a place where wombats amble through grassy meadows, wallabies graze beside empty beaches, dolphins splash in clear water just offshore and Tasmanian devils – successfully reintroduced in 2012 after near-extinction on the mainland – roam free and healthy.
Each day unfolds in an unhurried rhythm: trails through coastal eucalyptus forests or along white-sand bays, plateaus with sweeping ocean views, quiet coves perfect for swimming. Midway through the journey, you’ll explore Darlington, a remarkably preserved 19th-century convict settlement whose ruins tell stories of human ambition at the edge of the known world.
At night, sleep beneath a canopy of stars in eco-wilderness camps – after relaxing with Tasmanian wine and locally-sourced meals, and swapping stories with your fellow trekkers by candlelight.
3. Arkaba
Explore Arkaba on foot or on four wheels.
For a bush immersion with more of an outback flavour, Arkaba offers a completely different type of experience. A former sheep station and historic homestead in South Australia’s striking Flinders Ranges that has been reimagined as a 63,000-acre private wildlife conservancy. It’s now patrolled mainly by kangaroos and emus.
Small-scale tourism (the homestead has just five ensuite guestrooms) helps support rewilding projects, and guests become an essential part of the conservation journey. Days begin with sunrise hikes through ancient sandstone ridges or guided drives into the ranges to spot yellow-footed rock-wallabies. And end with sundowners on a private ridgetop watching the Elder Range glow vibrant shades of gold, crimson and violet as the air cools and time stands still.
Here, you can join conservation activities like tracking native species or learning about Arkaba’s pioneering feral-animal eradication projects, then unwind with chef-prepared dinners served alfresco on the veranda of the homestead, which is both rustic and refined. The highlight? Following Arkaba Walk, a thriving outback wilderness where emus wander and fields of wildflowers grow.
It’s an unforgettable immersion in Australia’s vast inland beauty, a place where the land’s deep and complicated history – and astounding resilience – leave their quiet imprint long after you return home. In a world where genuine awe is rare, Wild Bush Luxury offers a return to what matters most in the untamed beauty of Australia’s wilderness.
