Key facts
- Australia has 558 national parks covering more than 31 million hectares – more than four per cent of the country.
- The Australian Desert, comprising the Simpson, Gibson, Great Sandy and Great Victoria Deserts, is the second largest in the world behind the Sahara.
- The Australian Desert, comprising the Simpson, Gibson, Great Sandy and Great Victoria Deserts, is the second largest in the world behind the Sahara.
- Mainland Australia, with an area of 7.69 million sq km, is the Earth’s largest island but smallest continent. It stretches about 3700 kms from north to south and about 4000 kms from east to west.
Full story
A single rock rising from the earth like a giant red heart, sandstone figures clustered like ancient cities – such are the unique wonders that distinguish Australia. You will find them nowhere else as Australia has its own rules.
Set adrift eons ago, our continent became a time capsule and Nature’s canvas. Unique desert wonders, Pinnacles and Bungles, two giant coral wonderlands running down each flank and scenery you’ll never forget. Rainforest, outback, mountains and savannah paint a colourful palette of magical sights against an azure sky.
From unspoilt beaches, tropical rainforest and rugged mountain ranges to vast tracts of desert, this is a country of contrasts and home to an amazing 17 World Heritage listed areas.
Stretching north from Gulf St Vincent in South Australia, the Flinders Ranges are among the most sensational Outback parks in the country. Here an ancient seabed has been sculpted into a fractured, furrowed landscape of deep valleys covered with twisted cypress pines, which drop away into creeks lined with river red gums.
There’s desert and red rock, ancient, eroded slopes, rocky gullies and breathtaking landscapes such as the steep red slopes of the West MacDonnell Ranges rising dramatically from the Central Australian desert.
Western Australia’s ancient land houses several unique wonders including the Pinnacles – thousands of pointed rock forms on a red desert expanse and the striking beehive landforms of Purnululu (the Bungles).
Covering the far north west of the continent, the Kimberley is sometimes called Australia’s last frontier – a wild, arid plateau almost twice the size of Victoria. Its surreal, bottle-shaped boab trees and the wizened, biblical majesty of its landscape set the Kimberley apart from every other part of the planet.
South Australia’s vast Outback features incredible landscapes – amazing Wilpena Pound, underground Coober Pedy, the famous Oodnadatta Track and the almost endless Nullabor Plain. Or you can wander among deep gorges and volcanic rock domes in the Gawler Ranges.
Further south, and seemingly a world away, is Tasmania’s unspoilt green heritage wilderness, while in Queensland and New South Wales you’ll discover spectacular reefs and beaches with thousands of idyllic offshore islands, tropical rainforests and Outback deserts sprinkled with dinosaurs and fossils.
Uniquely Australian
- Step into Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, a land where imposing russet monoliths loom over flat sand plains, and you step into a world of mystery and legend. This is the home of two of the most breathtaking unique wonders in Australia – Uluru, a monolith rising 348 metres from the earth, and Kata Tjuta, 36 red landforms clustered just 32 km away.
- Stay at night in the bowl of Wilpena Pound, cupped like a colossal upturned hand as the centrepiece of the magnificent Flinders Ranges National Park. Take a different walking trail each day to the rim for breathtaking views.
- See Lake Eyre and the Oodnadatta Track, as remote and barren as you can get. Mound-springs create bush oases and wetlands for camping. Red plains stretch to a horizon that blazes at sunset and there’s brilliant birdwatching and wildflowers after rain.
- Head to the Cape York Peninsula in spring and discover Australian native bushland at its best. With clear spring fed creeks and waterfalls, sandstone cliffs and massive white sand dunes, there’s so much to explore at the very tip of Australia.
- Explore Tasmania’s iconic landscapes – its ancient pristine heritage wilderness, spectacular Wineglass Bay and Cradle Mountain.
- Arkaroola, in the Northern Flinders Ranges, is a spectacular wildlife sanctuary with fascinating geological formations, picturesque gorges and a variety of wildlife.