From multicoloured reefs to emerald rainforests, arid deserts to snow-capped mountains, Australia’s vast network of national parks covers virtually every landscape imaginable.
Click through the gallery to see the most spectacular protected reserves around this incredibly diverse country...
The Matuwa Kurrara Kurrara National Park was created in May 2023 along with the Lake Carnegie Nature Reserve (pictured) to protect Martu Aboriginal cultural heritage and land, and celebrate the area's unique biodiversity. It covers more than 800,000 hectares in the heart of Western Australia’s remote goldfields and will be jointly managed with the Martu people. One of the park’s key principles is kanyirninpa (nurturing). By combining modern science and Indigenous knowledge, it is hoped that 480 identified species of native vegetation will flourish again, as well as species like the critically endangered night parrot.
Nestled on the western fringes of South Australia's stunning Flinders Ranges, the Nilpena Ediacara National Park was created in 2021 to protect the incredible fossils found here, some over half a billion years old. It is recognised as the richest and most diverse Ediacaran fossil site on Earth, an ancient seabed where strange early lifeforms are perfectly preserved in sandstone. Because of the significance of the site, access to the park is by guided tour only. Visitors are advised to book at least a week in advance.
Birdwatching and bush walking, camping and kayaking, the serene riverbanks of the Murray River National Park in South Australia are the ultimate playground for all manner of outdoor activities. As part of Australia’s largest river system, which extends across three states, the national park covers 14,879 hectares of wetlands, ancient red gum forests and floodplains. It's positively teeming with wildlife with many rare native species of amphibians, fish and water birds. Hiking and biking trails lace the park, while some parts are only accessible by boat.
Towering termite mounds, thundering waterfalls and tempting plunge pools characterise Litchfield National Park, which lies south of Darwin. Highlights include the weathered sandstone pillars of the Lost City and cooling off in croc-free Florence, Tolmer and Wangi falls. The Florence Creek Walk tracks through monsoon forest to Buley Rockhole, a collection of natural spas and whirlpools, and an enticing spot to wallow in on a steamy Northern Territory day.
In the far north of Queensland, Daintree is the world’s oldest tropical rainforest and the largest in Australia. It's positively teeming with life: it has 430 bird species, 30 types of reptile and amphibians and hundreds of insect species. Many of the plants in the World Heritage-listed tangle of prehistoric rainforest are thought to have originated from the supercontinent Gondwana. The national park is made up of two areas: Mossman Gorge, a series of vast granite boulders, waterholes and waterfalls, and Cape Tribulation where the rainforest spectacularly meets the reef.
Western Australia’s Kimberley region has many extraordinary geological features but none more intriguing than the bizarre beehive-like rock formations known as the Bungle Bungle Range. The maze of orange and black-striped karst sandstone domes in the Purnululu National Park are most commonly seen from above on a helicopter tour or scenic flight. But there are also walking trails into some of the most spectacular gorges of the colourful range, including Cathedral Gorge and the Echidna Chasm, with camping facilities available.
Edging the Australian Alps, Namadgi National Park is an incredible under-the-radar expanse of ancient wilderness. It’s well known to the residents of Canberra, however, who go to immerse themselves in its natural splendours. A network of walking trails weaves around the park's snow gum forests, alpine meadows, granite peaks and striking outcrops. Highlights are Gibraltar Falls and Booroomba Rocks (pictured), which has incredible vistas of the park. While the Birrigai Time Trail goes to one of the oldest rock shelters in the region.
Majestic sandstone ranges, huge cliffs, cascading waterfalls, secluded waterholes and dense native forests are the defining features of Victoria's Grampians National Park. A three-hour drive northwest of Melbourne, the park is a big camping, hiking and adventure destination. It has renowned mountain bike trails and its rock formations were made for abseiling and rock climbing. Top hiking spots include the track up to the thundering Mackenzie Falls and the Pinnacle which rewards with spectacular views. To learn about the landscape's history and cultural significance, the Brambuk National Centre in Halls Gap is a must.
As Australia’s largest national park, Kakadu is crammed with both natural and cultural wonders. From croc-infested wetlands, bird-filled rainforests, rocky gorges, winding rivers and waterfalls, its landscapes are incredibly diverse. Jim Jim (the Northern Territory's tallest fall), Twin Falls and Gunlom Falls are some of the park's most iconic natural features. While the oldest rock art in the world can be found at Burrunggui (Nourlangie Rock), pictured, which also has sweeping views of this timeless wilderness.
Landscapes don’t come more epic than this part of far west South Australia where the desert meets the Southern Ocean. The flat ancient Nullarbor plain is riddled with caves – it is the world’s largest limestone karst landscape – and lined for 62 miles (100km) with high sea cliffs. The towering Bunda Cliffs, on the Great Australian Bight, are one of the country's top whale watching spots too – May to September is the prime time to spy the whales and their calves.
Love this? Follow us on Facebook for more incredible travel inspiration
If you thought New South Wales was all about striking coastal scapes, think again with this extraordinary lunar-like Mungo National Park. The ancient dry lake bed in the state’s remote southwest is part of the greater Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area. Some of the world’s oldest human remains were found here: Mungo Lady and Mungo Man, buried on Lake Mungo’s shores, have been dated back to over 40,000 years ago. The Walls of China (pictured) are the park's most spectacular feature – the 10.5 mile (17km) crescent-shaped lunette is of great cultural significance to the Ngiyampaa, Mutthi Mutthi and Southern Paakantyi people.
The centrepiece of Nitmiluk National Park is the mighty Nitmiluk Gorge (sometimes known as Katherine Gorge). The vast chasm has been carved out of the sandstone cliffs by the Katherine River over thousands of years. In fact, it’s made up of 13 separate gorges and steeped in sacred places to the Jawoyn people. The best way to appreciate its size is from the water – canoeing trips along the river are popular, allowing people to navigate around the gorge's little coves, waterfalls and ancient rock art sites.
Queensland's Great Sandy National Park stretches from Cooloola on the mainland across to K'gari or Fraser Island. As the world's largest sand island, K'gari is a truly remarkable place. As well as long sweeping beaches, towering colourful cliffs and sand blows, it also has over 40 freshwater dune lakes. Scenic walking trails snake around these gorgeous lakes, as well as through rainforests and along its sand blows. The Fraser Island Great Walk Track is the best ultimate route to follow. The idyllic island is not a complete paradise, however, with dingoes, crocodiles and marine stingers all potential hazards.
With immense gorges cut into the earth, trickling waterfalls and emerald pools, Karijini National Park is a striking sight in the scorched depths of Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Oxer Lookout offers an awe-inspiring view over a junction of four gorges but many people come to get up closer. Canyoning is popular here with various challenging trails going deep down into the gorges, through narrow chasms and gushing streams. Karijini is home to a wide variety of birds and reptiles too, as well as red kangaroos, euros, rock-wallabies, echidnas and several bat species. Huge termite mounds also dot the parched landscape.
Tasmania’s largest national park lies to the island's southwest. The Southwest National Park covers a vast and little visited area of windswept beaches, deep natural harbours, rocky headlands, mountains and buttongrass plains. It’s also where you'll find one of Tasmania’s most challenging wilderness walks, the South Coast Track, a one-way 53-mile (85km) route from Melaleuca which is only accessible by boat or light plane. This truly wild expanse is also part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Countless walking trails and mountain bike tracks criss-cross Kosciuszko National Park in the far south of New South Wales. Part of the Australian Alps, which spans NSW, ACT and Victoria and has 16 national parks and reserves, it is named after the highest peak in Australia. In winter, the Snowy Mountains transform into a winter wonderland and are home to Australia’s best ski resorts. In summer, it's a different picture: slopes ablaze with wildflowers and mountain streams trickling.
Another watery landscape full of natural wonders lies at the mouth of the Murray River as it joins the wild Southern Ocean. The Coorong, a string of wetlands and saltwater lagoons separated from the Southern Ocean by a narrow sandy dune peninsula, stretches from the Murray's mouth for around 124 miles (200km) to Kingston in the southeast of the state. It’s a hugely important breeding ground for a variety of birds and is a popular destination for boating, kayaking, fishing, camping and walking. The park is also rich in dreamtime sites as the traditional home of the Ngarrindjeri People.
The burnt red undulating sand dunes of the Simpson Desert, which stretches across the corners of South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, are one of the outback’s most mesmerising sights. The vastness and harsh rugged beauty of the landscape is best seen from Big Red, the largest and most famous dune within Munga-Thirri National Park. As well as sand, the desert has spinifex grasslands and acacia woodlands, home to a surprising variety of mammals and reptiles. This national park is Queensland’s largest protected area of land at over one million hectares and its hottest.
Red-hued gorges carved by ancient rivers sit next to the underwater wonders of the Ningaloo Marine Park in Cape Range National Park, near Exmouth on Western Australia’s Coral Coast. You can spot the rare black-footed rock-wallaby sheltering on ledges of the Yardie Creek Gorge, then snorkel above turtles and colourful reef fish from one of its sandy beaches. Turquoise Bay is a belter of a beach with its stunning stretch of white sand. It’s also a top drift snorkel spot with spectacular coral gardens just off its shore.
Soaring limestone stacks rising out of the frothing Southern Ocean, known as the Twelve Apostles, are the most famous feature of this national park on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. But they are just one of many striking natural formations on the scenic coastal drive – London Bridge, The Grotto, Loch Ard Gorge are some of its other top sights. The wildlife viewing opportunities in Port Campbell National Park are bountiful too – little penguins, whales, kangaroos and koalas are all likely sightings.
Be amazed by these stunning natural wonders that no longer exist
The rugged Kalbarri National Park stretches for 186,000 hectares from the spectacular cliffs of Kalbarri inland along the route of the Murchison River and the deep river gorges it has cut through the land. Must-dos include seeing the wildflowers in bloom from July to October and ogling at the view from Nature's Window (pictured) – a perfectly formed natural rock arch that frames the Murchison River. The Kalbarri Skywalk is another of its top attractions, offering sweeping views of the park.
Awe-inspiring escarpments, vast swathes of native bushland, caves, waterfalls and Aboriginal rock art make the Blue Mountains National Park one of Australia’s most incredible protected wildernesses. Founded in 1959, it sprawls over 156,000 acres and is part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. The Three Sisters (pictured) in Katoomba is its most famous landmark but there are plenty of off-the-beaten-track areas too. The southern part of the park near Oberon, for example, has remote wilderness tracks where native wildlife can be readily spotted (think kangaroos, red-necked wallabies, wallaroos, echidna, goanna and wombats).
Australia's most famous natural landmark, Uluru, lies at the centre of the country. Set within the arresting landscape of the Red Centre, the enormous sandstone monolith is a hugely sacred site for the Anangu people – the custodians of the land – and the prime reason people visit the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The six-mile (10km) Uluru base walk is the best way to appreciate its scale and discover its stories. Another awe-inspiring rock form in this ancient landscape is the Kata Tjuta, 36 giant ochre-coloured domes that rise from the desert just to the south.
Stretching for more than 75 miles (120km) along Margaret River’s Indian Ocean coastline, Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park dazzles with seemingly endless ocean vistas. It has wild and windswept beaches, limestone cliffs riddled with caves, hulking granite headlands and tall forests. It’s also where the Cape to Cape Track runs through. The five-to-six-day walk winds along the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge, between the lighthouses of Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin in the far southwest. The historic Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is open for tours and marks the point where the Indian meets the Southern Ocean.
Scattered across the Coral Sea off the central coast of Queensland, the Whitsunday Islands are famed for their lush interiors, lofty peaks, white sands, dazzling waters and reefs. They have been home to the Ngaro people for over 9,000 years and are also a haven for rare plants, birds and marine life. The Whitsunday National Park is one of several national parks within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, covering 20 of its islands. The unbelievably white sands of Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island are its best-known attraction.
With gorges, waterholes and the longest stretch of sub-tropical rainforest in Australia, the lofty Eungella National Park near Mackay is a bushwalker’s paradise. It’s also one of the best places in the country to spot the curious duckbill platypus in the wild. They’re most likely spotted in the Broken River area of the park which has designated platypus-viewing platforms with a raised boardwalk following the edge of the creek. Dawn and dusk are the best times to spy them ducking and diving in the water. The park also has 230 bird species.
Part of Tasmania's vast Wilderness World Heritage Area, this inordinately beautiful national park has some of the island’s most striking landmarks, including the jagged twin peaks of Cradle Mountain. It has plenty of well-marked trails too. The Dove Lake Circuit trailhead boasts the best views of the mountain reflected in the mirror-like Dove Lake. It also has Australia’s deepest freshwater lake, the piercing blue Lake St Clair, as well as ancient temperate rainforest and an extraordinary range of native animals. Kangaroos, wallabies, Tasmanian devils and the famously elusive platypus all call this spectacular park home.
While the Great Ocean Road is Victoria's best known coastal stretch, Wilsons Promontory is Victoria's largest coastal wilderness and equally stunning. At the southernmost tip of the Australian mainland, the Prom (as it’s known) was once joined to Tasmania by a land bridge. Rugged granite mountains, inland sand dunes, rivers, foot-print free beaches and scores of wildlife are just a few treats the protected peninsula has in store. Other highlights include Squeaky Beach which, you guessed it, squeaks when you walk on its quartz sand, and the two-hour hike up Mount Oberon for 360° views of the park and ocean.
Just north of Sydney lies another stunning national park, Australia’s second oldest in fact. As it’s so close to the city, Ku-ring-gai Chase is very popular but with over 14,882 hectares there's plenty of space to spread out. The heritage-listed reserve covers a range of terrains as it stretches along coastline, the Pittwater estuary, parts of the Hawkesbury River, and tracks through rainforests, eucalyptus and mangroves. Ku-ring-gai Chase also has many important heritage sites for the Darramuragal or Darug people, including ancient rock engravings, ochre paintings and burial sites.
Just under an hour south of the urban sprawl of Sydney lies a pristine tranche of scrubby bushland and untouched coastline. Established in 1879, the Royal National Park is the oldest park in Australia and the second in the world. Keen bushwalkers go to take on the 16-mile (26km) Coast Track from Bundeena to Otford, which takes two days, but it can be walked in shorter bursts. Highlights include Wattamolla Beach with its lagoon and swimming spot. Garie Beach is great for surfing while Marley Beach has dunes and rock pools.