Australia’s Most Unique Destinations
This Australia Day, we want to have a look at some of the more unusual places to visit in Australia – because the Sydney fireworks are so last year.
Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory
This incredible park is home to diverse wildlife, cliffs, waterfalls, wetlands and flats, as well as more than 5000 sites of ancient rock art. Visitors can be taken on flights to see the impressive landscape from above, or join cruises along the wetlands where the chances of seeing crocodiles, geese and eagles are significant.
Some rock art in the area is as much as 20,000 years old, and documents Aboriginal life over thousands of years, including the remarkable x-ray art for which the area is known.
Nimbin
This tiny hippy town is home to Australia’s counterculture, and marks some notable firsts for the country, including the first time that an event asked permission from the Traditional Owners before going ahead, and the first application of group title ownership in the country.
The town is well known for its sustainability, permaculture and tolerated cannabis counterculture.
Coober Peddy
A bizarre mining town in the north of Southern Australia, Coober Peddy supplies most of the world’s gem-quality opals but is most well known for being underground.
When miners discovered the huge number of opals beneath the surface, they flocked to the place –only to discover that it was far too hot to work above ground. They bored caves into the hillsides, building homes, churches, bars and shops underground, all of which would stay a stable temperature. It’s now a popular tourist spot and used as a location in films such as Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Umpherston Sinkhole
This incredible sunken garden is evidence of man making a geological disaster into a thing of beauty. Once a large subterranean limestone cave, the ceiling collapsed in on itself creating a sinkhole, which was then used as the basis for a lush green garden.
It is now overgrown with greenery, palms and eucalyptus – and at night, huge numbers of possums come out to feed.
Lucky Bay
A long stretch of pure white beach in Western Australia is the perfect place for camping, exploring and seeing the local wildlife. Being so remote and extending so far, it’s virtually never impossible to get your own isolated spot on the beach, which contains Australia’s whitest sands and pure turquoise water.
A major attraction to the area are the wild kangaroos, who laze on the beach during the day, and migrating whales between July and October. The beach has many caravan and camp sites, and offers picturesque coastal bush walks from which you can see the many nearby islands.