In a country so vast and largely unexplored, it’s not surprising that there are many incredible places in Australia that tourists rarely visit. Sometimes it’s because they are difficult to get to, but most of the time it’s because people don’t even know they exist.
Click through the gallery for our collection of amazing under-the-radar attractions in Australia, from geological wonders and strange natural phenomena to hard-to-reach rock art…
While most people head to Queensland’s coral reef-fringed islands, few head east of the state's capital, Brisbane, to Moreton Island. This vast sand island is a short ferry ride away and packed with natural wonders. You can watch wild bottlenose dolphins and whales (thousands of humpbacks migrate every June to November), whiz down sand dunes on toboggans and go wreck diving. The rusting wrecks of 15 vessels deliberately sunk to create a breakwall in the Sixties are now alive with colourful coral, tropical fish and curious turtles.
Victoria’s Great Ocean Road is peppered with striking rock formations. While everyone stops to admire the Twelve Apostles and London Arch, many bypass the Grotto. Lying in the limestone cliffs just west of Port Campbell, this unusual geological formation is well worth seeking out. A cave, sinkhole and archway in one, the Grotto can be glimpsed from a viewing platform above, or follow the steps down to sea level. Go at low tide to reach the lowest level, which has the most captivating views of the arch with its rockpools and the ocean framed beyond.
Lined by endemic Carnarvon fan palms, ancient cycads, ferns, flowering shrubs and gum trees, Carnarvon Gorge is quite literally an oasis in central Queensland’s parched sandstone area. Among its narrow gorges, boulder-strewn creeks and hulking cliffs lie an array of significant Aboriginal art sites. The Art Gallery and Cathedral Cave are two of its most impressive, with their walls alive with ochre stencils, rock engravings and freehand paintings.
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Found near opal-mining town Coober Pedy, this remote and remarkable Aboriginal heritage site is part of the traditional country of the Antakirinja Matuntjara Yankunytjatjara people. The arid, sweeping and rocky landscape, which was once covered by an inland sea, is utterly entrancing. Go at sunrise or sunset to see the reds, oranges and whites at their most vivid. It’s hard to believe anything lives here but the area is home to a variety of native flora and fauna: keep a lookout for red kangaroos, wallaroos, echidnas and fat-tailed dunnarts as you explore.
While most people have a dip in Sydney's ocean pools on their must-do list, not many know about Newcastle's incredible Bogey Hole. Not only is it a stunning spot for a swim but it’s thought to be the earliest known example of a purpose-built ocean swimming pool in Australia. It was hand carved by convicts on a rocky platform in 1819 for the personal use of the Commandant of Newcastle, Major James Morisset. The free-to-use Bogey Hole pool lies at the foot of Shepherds Hill and is heritage listed.
It’s the second largest island in the state but not many locals, let alone tourists, have made it over to Montague Island. Just offshore Narooma on the southern coast, the protected nature reserve is home to a large colony of seals, little penguins and nesting seabirds. Whales, dolphins and turtles also frequent its waters. September to November is the time to see the humpbacks on their way past, but the island’s craggy landscape and historic lighthouse and keeper’s quarters make it an impressive place to visit year-round.
Walk inside ancient lava tubes, said to be the largest in the world, in this under-the-radar national park southwest of Cairns. The tubes at Undara, which means 'long way', formed about 190,000 years ago when a powerful eruption caused lava to flow into dry riverbeds. The outer layer eventually cooled and formed a crust, while the molten lava below drained and left behind a series of hollow tubes. Large caves such as the Archway – Undara's best-known feature – formed in places along them. The tubes can only be accessed on guided tours.
A sprawling network of inland waterways, the Gippsland Lakes aren’t one of Victoria’s best-known tourist attractions, but they should be. Covering more than 232 square miles (600sq km), together they create the largest inland waterway in the country and are a hive of activity, offering everything from fishing and boating to wildlife spotting (Raymond Island has a large population of wild koalas). Just over the dunes lies another of East Gippsland's stunning sights – the magnificent oceanfront Ninety Mile Beach.
Found off the northeastern tip of Tasmania in the Bass Strait, Flinders Island has a startling and wild beauty. Home to just 1,000 people, it is one of the 52-strong Furneaux Group of islands, which once formed a land bridge between mainland Australia and the island state. It’s known locally for its incredible seafood (abalone, scallops and crayfish particularly) and untouched landscapes, but beyond Tassie few have visited the jagged isle that rises out of the wild waters, with its hulking granite mountains and giant rocky outcrops ablaze with orange lichen.
The traditional home of the Ghungalu people, this national park on the northeastern edge of central Queensland’s sandstone belt is a real find, especially on a hot day (of which there are many here). Sprinkled with waterfalls, gaping gorges and secret springs, along with heathlands and dry eucalypt forests, it has some excellent bushwalks. The track to Gudda Gumoo gorge (Rainbow Waters) is a belter – a pit stop at the idyllic and cooling rock pool is ample reward after a steep stairway descent into the gorge. Look for the rainbow that often dances in the water as it flows down the sandstone ledges.
An ancient remnant of supercontinent Gondwana, the Tarkine is also the largest temperate rainforest in Australia. This vast and tranquil swathe of myrtle, leatherwood and pine tree forest cloaks Tasmania’s northwest. The Tarkine also has mountain ranges and a wild river, as well as cave systems, buttongrass moorlands and an untouched coastline where sandy beaches, grassy woodland and coastal heath await intrepid hikers. Home to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Tarkiner people for 40,000 years, the landscape has many sites of archaeological significance too, including ancient hut and campfire sites and massive shell middens.
Set on Victoria’s wild and beautiful East Gippsland coast, Croajingolong is one of the state’s largest parks but remains little-known. Along with walks on footprint-free white sand beaches to rocky headlands, it has trails that run inland through eucalypt forest, rainforest, heathland and up peaks for stunning views across the coast including to the Skerries. These little rocky islands are packed with Australian fur seals and little penguins. Home to some stunningly situated and gloriously isolated coastal campsites, it’s a wonderful place to escape.
Strike a route via the Old Cape Pillar track or along the Three Capes Track and you’ll reach Tasmania’s most southeasterly tip, where the southern hemisphere’s tallest sea cliffs can be found. Cape Pillar, part of the Tasman Peninsula, can only be accessed on foot or by boat. The narrow track winds through forest and moorland before opening out to the cape where its wind-buffeted sheer walls of dolerite rock soar around 984 feet (300m) above the frothing ocean. Lonely Tasman Island with its old lighthouse looms just offshore.
A striking sand and clay formation known as the Walls of China is one of many geological wonders found in far-flung Mungo National Park, located in the arid northwest of New South Wales. The lunettes stretches for 17 miles (30km) in a crescent around the eastern arc of the park’s eponymous ancient dry lakebed, where the oldest human remains found in Australia were excavated along with 20,000-year-old footprints. It was sculpted by wind and erosion and is one of the park’s most arresting moonscape-esque features.
South Australia’s Limestone Coast area is pocked with sinkholes and caves, including this gaping network that forms the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites World Heritage Area and the Riversleigh fossil site in far northwest Queensland. It has a rich fossil record of the ancient animals that roamed the area – its vertebrate fossils span several ice ages, the arrival of humans in the area and the extinction of Australia’s megafauna roughly 60,000 years ago. Four of the 28 known Naracoorte caves are open to the public.
Fascinating age-old archives and survival stories etched on immense sandstone escarpments and in caves by the Kuku Yalanji people lie hidden in the country around Laura in Cape York. There are said to be tens of thousands of rock art sites here, many utterly inaccessible. The Split Rock site is the only one you can visit without a guide. Go on a guided tour to access others, such as a long shelter known as the Magnificent Gallery which is covered with large and vibrant pre-historic paintings.
Translating to Rainbow Serpent Country in the local Indigenous language, Boodjamulla gorge cuts a snake-like green ribbon through the parched outback landscape of remote northwest Queensland. Paddle along the middle and upper gorges by canoe: look for lounging freshwater crocs on the cabbage-palm lined banks and gaze up at the awe-inspiring fiery cliffs. Refresh at idyllic Indarri Falls. For the best views, set out on the steep walk up to Island Stack, high up on Middle Gorge. Go early to watch the sun slink up over the gorge.
Most people head to Jervis Bay for its brilliant white sands and gin-clear waters, but those lucky enough to visit at night at the right time will be entranced by a magical night-time glow. The sheltered beaches on this part of New South Wales’ southern coast have had dazzling displays of bioluminescence – a phenomenon produced by insects and sea creatures – in recent years. It’s notoriously hard to predict but the warmer months are generally the best time to see the ocean glow blue, green and even red.
Flat-topped sandstone Mount Conner rises dramatically out of the red dirt like its better-known counterpart, Uluru. So much so that it's also been dubbed Fool-uru. Once part of a mountain range, the mesa rises 984 feet (300m) and is known as Artilla or Atila by the Pitjantjatjara people, who believe it to be the home of icemen who create cold weather. The tabletop mountain lies within the vast Curtin Springs Station, so can only be seen from afar or visited on a pre-arranged private tour.
Given this Top End park is half the size of Switzerland, it's no surprise that Kakadu has endless secret spots. One of its most magical and less visited water features is Maguk or Barramundi Gorge. Only accessible during the dry season, it’s reached along a track that meanders through a monsoon forest, along a sandy creek and up and over jagged rocks. At the centre of the gorge lies an enticing swimming hole surrounded by steep walls and fed by a trickling waterfall. The Maguk Walk is found an hour drive south of Cooinda.
Find dinosaur footprints in reef rock at the bottom of this remarkable red rock promontory that protrudes into the Indian Ocean near Broome. These large and perfectly preserved marks, which can only be seen at very low tide, have been here for over 125 million years. It feels as if little has changed in that time in this remote and wild part of the Kimberley coastline. A trail of prints lies scattered around the coast near Broome, with some of the better preserved sauropod trails lying on the other side of Roebuck Bay.
Pretty much perfectly circular, this gaping hole is the second largest crater in the world where fragments of a meteorite have been collected. Lying south of remote settlement Halls Creek in the Great Sandy Desert, the explosion crater has a diameter of 2,887 feet (880m) and is 197 feet (60m) deep. Thought to have been created around 300,000 years ago, the crater has been well preserved because of its desert setting. You can walk around its rim or take an aerial tour from Halls Creek for the most dramatic views.
Sir David Attenborough called the surging waters of the Horizontal Falls in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia “one of the greatest natural wonders of the world.” It is created when one of the world’s largest tidal movements squeezes more than one million litres of water per second through a narrow gap, creating a height difference (and hence, a waterfall) of 13 feet (4m) between each side. Best viewed from the sea or the air, it is a sight the very few who venture here will never forget.
In 2009, the Victorian government gave the go-ahead to create a series of national parks along the Murray, Goulburn and Ovens rivers to protect the area’s river red gum wetlands and forests, including Ramsar wetlands – the largest river red gum forest in the world. Here ancient red gum trees tower over winding riverbanks, providing refuge to a diverse range of birdlife and native wildlife, some of which would otherwise be threatened.
Read on to learn more about Australia's amazing national parks...