10 iconic wonders to see in Western Australia

Flip through WA’s look book and you’ll find everything from beautiful beaches to soaring sand dunes and some of the most dramatic rock formations in Australia. Here are 10 iconic wonders you need to see.

1. Wave Rock

Wave Rock is a granite inselberg that has been weathered by wind and water over an estimated 2.7 billion years. Located near the Wheatbelt town of Hyden, the landform looks like a sepia-toned still from The Big Wave Project II produced by ocean cinematographer Tim Bonython. Follow the Pathways to Wave Rock self-drive trail to see the forces of erosion that have sculpted the 15-metre high granite formation, which lies 340 kilometres southeast of Perth.

Visitors snap selfies in the barrel of the giant wave that has brush strokes of ochre, yellow, brown and grey feathered into the sandstone, adding to the illusion of it moving like water. While there, check out other interesting formations within Wave Rock Reserve such as King Rocks, the Hippo’s Yawn and Mulka’s Cave, where you’ll find examples of ancient rock art.

Wave Rock, Iconic places in WA — Wave Rock is a granite inselberg that has been weathered by wind and water over an estimated 2.7 billion years. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)

2. Ningaloo Reef

The seas around Ningaloo Reef are so blue and so clear you will feel like you’re floating through space when you’re swimming here. Of course, most visitors come here to catapult into the waters to swim with whale sharks between March and July each year. But the world’s largest fringing reef system is also a destination in its own right and one lesser-known fact is that you can also swim with humpback whales between August and October each year.

Stretching in an azure-fringed ribbon some 300 kilometres from Carnarvon’s Red Bluff to the Muiron Islands, Ningaloo Reef was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Area site in 2011, a listing that loops in Ningaloo Marine Park as well as Cape Range National Park. Meaning ‘promontory’ or ‘deep water’ in the language of the Baiyungu, the name Ningaloo takes on new meaning when snorkelling through the coral gardens in an aquarium of colourful fish as the continental shelf comes closer to dry land than at any other point on the mainland. Don’t worry about buying postcards, you’re pretty much in one.

Ningaloo Reef, Iconic places in WA — The world’s largest fringing reef system is also a destination in its own right. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)

3. Horizontal Falls in Talbot Bay

The Horizontal Falls are formed by fast-moving tidal currents that thunder, tumble and rage through two narrow gorges of the McLarty Range in Talbot Bay, in the Buccaneer Archipelago. There are no roads to this section of the coastline so most visitors see this wonder from the air via seaplane, or for a best-of-both-world’s experience, Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures allows you to see them from both the air and the water. When luck is on your side there are whale-spotting opportunities in winter, which just adds to the thrill of soaring over this section of the Kimberley coastline.

Described by Sir David Attenborough as ‘one of the greatest natural wonders of the world’, the phenomenon occurs as torrents of water are sucked through a narrow gap between the gorges, creating a variation in sea level of up to about four metres. During an extreme high tide, about one million litres of water funnels through the two towering cliffs every second, creating currents that appear to pull the large volume of water sideways.

Horizontal Falls in Talbot Bay, Iconic places in WA — For a best-of-both-world’s experience, Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures allows you to see this icon both from the air and the water. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)

4. Kimberley Rock Art

The crumpled, ancient terrain of the Kimberley region in the most northern part of Western Australia is home to more than 100,000 pieces of Aboriginal rock art that date from the Palaeolithic to the modern era.

The images have been painted, engraved, sculpted and even moulded out of blobs of beeswax and spinifex resin in shades of ochre, sienna and rust in the sprawling gallery that covers an area of about 423,500 square kilometres. For context, that’s almost twice the size of the UK, making it one of the largest cultural landscapes on the planet.

Kimberley Rock Art, WA — The images have been painted, engraved, sculpted and even moulded out of blobs of beeswax and spinifex resin in shades of ochre, sienna and rust. (Image: Garry Norris Photography)

The rock art sites are sacred to the Traditional Owners of the Kimberley whose ancestors carried out ceremonies in the caves. Visitors to the area can take a self-guided tour of the significant rock art sites along the Kimberley coastline, from the Mitchell Plateau to Kimberley Coast and Gibb River Road, but the best way to see the art sites is on a tour with a cultural guide from the Worrorra language group who can explain the significance of the many images and motifs.

Jilinya Adventures ’ Rock Art by Air helicopter tour dips and dives around the dramatic sandstone scarps to access hidden caves where you’ll learn the ways of the Wandjina (Rainmaker Creation Spirit) that is depicted in caves all over the Kimberley.

Kimberley Rock Art, WA Icon — The rock art sites are sacred to the Traditional Owners of the Kimberley. (Image: Garry Norris Photography)

5. Lucky Bay

You can’t get more Australian than seeing kangaroos bouncing over a sugar-white sandy beach edged by dunes carpeted in wildflowers, which is one of the reasons Lucky Bay regularly ranks in lists of Australia’s best beaches. While the beach is renowned for its encounters with mobs of kangaroos, who appear to flutter their eyelashes at the mere hint of a photo op, it is equally popular for snorkelling in the crystalline waters and sprawling out under the sun doing not much of anything.

Located 45 minutes from Esperance in Cape Le Grand National Park, the area is rich in Indigenous history and brimming with wildlife; if you’re visiting between July and October there’s a high chance you’ll see migrating whales. During the day you can swim, fish, surf, while at night Lucky Bay Campground invites stargazing as you camp out under an ancient canopy of planets and stars.

Lucky Bay, Western Australian Icon — Lucky Bay regularly ranks in lists of Australia’s best beaches. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)

6. Staircase to the Moon

Time your visit to Broome to coincide with a full moon between the months of March and October and there’s a good chance you will witness the natural phenomenon that is the so-called Staircase to the Moon, when the Earth’s natural satellite lights up the corrugated tidal flats of Roebuck Bay. The lunar light show occurs during a low tide when the ridged flats transform into a dramatic golden staircase that looks like it is ascending to the heavens.

This stunning setting is an unofficial meeting place for locals who come as much to browse the stalls at the night markets (held on the first night of each full moon) as they do to wax rhapsodic about the night sky, pin-cushioned with stars. You can sample food that speaks to the multicultural heritage of the area, and buy souvenirs that range from candles to confectionery.

You can also see the Staircase to the Moon at Onslow, Cape Keraudren and Dampier Peninsula, Cossack, Point Samson and Port Hedland.

Staircase to the Moon, Western Australian Icon — Time your visit to Broome to coincide with a full moon. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)

7. Orcas at Bremer Bay Canyon

Local intel has it that you’re almost guaranteed a sighting of orcas at Bremer Bay Canyon over summer. According to Naturaliste Charters’ marine biologist Pia Markovic, more than 150 orcas and other apex predators gather off the coast of the township of Bremer Bay between January and April each year to feast on squid and pelagic fish. It is, says Markovic, “the largest known aggregation of orcas in the Southern Hemisphere".

Bremer Bay is about a two-hour drive from Albany and the list of species you might encounter off the continental shelf, some 45 kilometres from the harbour, also includes sunfish, beaked whales, oceanic dolphin species, great white and hammerhead sharks, albatross and sperm whales. One of the best ways to observe orcas hunting in stealth mode, breaching and socialising, spy-hopping or slapping the surface of the water with their dorsal fins is by boarding Naturaliste Charters ’ 20-metre catamaran, Alison Maree, to Bremer Point, one of the least-explored places on the planet.

Orcas in Bremer Bay, WA Icon — More than 150 orcas and other apex predators gather off the coast of the township of Bremer Bay between January and April each year.

8. Margaret River’s Cave System

The labyrinthine network of tunnels, caves, and caverns in the Margaret River Region are estimated to be about one million years old and are one of Australia’s true lesser-known treasures.

Self-guided tours nudge visitors deep inside these gothic cathedrals, which have jagged stalagmites jutting upward from the cave floors and crystallised stalactites dripping down from the ceilings. You can also enter the caves like an action hero via an abseiling rope or tour the twisted tunnelways with a guide. Some of the real gems of the cave system include the giant stalactites in Jewel Cave, the ancient fossils in the aptly named Mammoth Cave and the passageway dubbed the Tunnel of Doom that you can crawl through at Ngilgi Cave.

Lake Cave is one of around 100 limestone caves that lie beneath the surface of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge and is, like one of Gaudi’s works of art, both strange, beautiful and grotesque. See the ‘Suspended Table’ reflected in the ‘lake’ like a crystal chandelier in this haunting hall of mirrors that reflects the misshapen pillars and melting walls of the chamber; the soundtrack of drips reminds visitors this is still a work in progress.

Cave systems in Margaret River, WA Icon — The labyrinthine network of tunnels, caves, and caverns in the Margaret River Region are estimated to be about one million years old. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)

9. The Pinnacles

The Pinnacles are stunning other-worldly structures that, according to WA’s Parks and Wildlife Service formed about 30,000 years ago when the sea receded and left deposits of seashells.

The landscape here is like an open-air museum, an archaeological wonderland studded with thousands of limestone pillars on the golden sands of the Pinnacles Desert, just south of Cervantes and about 200 kilometres north of Perth.

Visit this wild and beautiful location in Nambung National Park as the sun is setting and watch as the Pinnacles are painted pink, then gold, then as navy as the night. In the stillness, the columns resemble the remains of an ancient temple complex. In fact, when the Dutch explored this chunk of WA in 1650 they thought the craggy spires were the ruins of a lost city.

‘Nambung’ is said to mean ‘crooked’ in the language of the Noongar peoples, the Traditional Owners of the land, and is a possible reference to the seasonal river that twists around the formations that spike out of the shifting yellow sands like giant shards of honeycomb.

The Pinnacles, WA Icon — The Pinnacles are stunning other-worldly structures. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)

10. Bungle Bungle Range

Located within Purnululu National Park in the rugged Kimberley region, the quizzical Bungle Bungle Range is like an oversized children’s stacking puzzle rendered in rock. The orange and black beehive-like mounds, formed over 20 million years, rise and fall in hypnotic, undulating patterns across 450 square kilometres. As might be expected from such a wondrous anomaly, there is much to explore, discover and appreciate, all of which can be done by foot on a tour of its nooks and crannies, or from the air on a (seriously) scenic flight.

Bungle Bungle Range, Icon in WA — The orange and black beehive-like mounds, formed over 20 million years. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)

From thundering waterfalls to ancient Indigenous art, Kimberley’s raw beauty will take your breath away.

Wild, pristine, and shaped by nature, the Kimberley Coast is one of Australia’s most spectacular landscapes. A remote and rugged frontier that remains a bucket list destination for many travellers. Its most breathtaking attractions – including Montgomery Reef, King George Falls and Horizontal Falls – are accessible only by sea or air, making a guided expedition cruise aboard Silversea’s luxury expedition ship, Silver Cloud, the ideal way to explore it.

From its intricate intertidal zones to ancient rock art, extreme tides and rare wildlife found nowhere else in Australia – or the world – this journey offers an unparalleled exploration of one of Earth’s last true wildernesses.

Why Silversea?

Silversea offers a 10-day expedition departing Broome, or an extended 16-day expedition voyage from Indonesia, including landings on the hidden gems of Palopo Sulawesi and Komodo. Accompanied by expert guides and specialists in marine biology, history and geology, guests gain a deeper understanding of the Kimberley’s dramatic landscapes, rich cultural heritage and extraordinary biodiversity.

Silversea offers one of the experiential travel industry’s leading crew-to-guest ratios. Along with all-suite accommodation (80 per cent with private verandah), 24-hour butler service, a swimming pool and four dining options. Silver Cloud also has an experienced crew of multilingual expedition guides and specialists in marine biology, history and geology to enhance your Kimberley Experience.

silversea cruise ship pool deck — Take a dip in the pool deck.

1. Koolama Bay

Before visitors see King George Falls, they hear them – a growing rumble in the distance, steady and foreboding as the Zodiac glides through the gorge, the sound echoing off sheer rock formations. At 80 meters tall, the twin cascades carve through the red cliffs, churning the waters below in a spectacular finale – but Koolama Bay holds secrets beyond its striking scenery.

Named after a ship that beached here following an aerial attack by Japanese bombers in World War II, the bay may seem desolate, yet it teems with life. With Silversea’s expert guides on their 10-day Kimberley itinerary, guests gain a sharper eye for its hidden wonders – rock wallabies darting across the cliffs, crocodiles lurking among dense green mangroves, and high above, the silhouette of a bird of prey circling the sky.

King George Falls at koolama bay excursion on Silversea Kimberley Cruise — Take a shore excursion to see King George Falls.

2. Freshwater Cove / Wijingarra Butt Butt

Connect with Country on a wet landing at Freshwater Cove, also known as Wijingarra Butt Butt. Considered one of the most special experiences on both the 16-day and 10-day Kimberley cruises, Silversea guests are welcomed by the traditional Indigenous custodians of the land, painted with traditional ochre, and invited to take part in a smoking ceremony.

Located on the mainland near Montgomery Reef, Wijingarra Butt Butt holds deep cultural significance to the local Indigenous community. Here, rock formations along the shore represent spiritual ancestors, and guests are guided to a nearby rock overhang filled with ancient art, where traditional owners share the stories and meaning behind these sacred paintings.

welcome to country on freshwater cove during silversea kimberley cruise — Take part in a smoking ceremony. (Image: Tim Faircloth)

3. Vansittart Bay (Jar Island)

Modern history, ancient culture and mystery converge in Vansittart Bay, which is also known as Jar Island. Here, the first thing to catch the eye is the dented, silver fuselage of a World War II-era C-53 plane – a striking relic of the past. Yet, the true cultural treasures lie just a short hike away where two distinct styles of Indigenous rock art – Gwion Gwion and Wandjina – can be found.

The Wandjina figures, deeply connected to Indigenous traditions, stand in stark contrast to the enigmatic Gwion Gwion (Bradshaw) paintings, which date back more than 12,000 years. Significantly different in form and style, the two different styles create a striking juxtaposition, offering a rare glimpse into the region’s rich and complex past.

aerial view of Vansittart Bay, See it in you Silversea Kimberley Cruise. — Explore ancient Gwion Gwion rock art at Vansittart Bay. (Image: Janelle Lugge)

4. Horizontal Falls

Part illusion, part natural phenomenon, the Kimberley’s much-lauded Horizontal Falls aren’t a waterfall, but a tidal and geographic spectacle that visitors have to see to comprehend. Known as Garaanngaddim, the phenomenon occurs when seawater rushes through two narrow gaps- one just twenty metres wide, and the other seven metres in width, between the escarpments of Talbot Bay.

With each tidal shift, the force of the water creates whirlpools, furious currents and the illusion of a horizontal cascade as thousands of gallons of water are pushed and pulled in through the gap every six hours with relentless movement, making this one of the Kimberley ’s most mesmerising natural wonders.

Horizontal Falls are described as "One of the greatest wonders of the natural world". They are formed from a break in-between the McLarty Ranges reaching up to 25m in width. The natural phenomenon is created as seawater builds up faster on one side of the gaps than the other, creating a waterfall up to 5m high on a King tide. — Watch whirlpools and furious currents collide. (Image: Janelle Lugge)

5. Montgomery Reef

As the tide turns in Montgomery Reef, magic happens. With the Kimberley’s legendary tides varying up to ten metres, at low tide the submerged reef almost appears to rise from the depths: exposing up to four metres of the sandstone reef.

The impact is otherworldly: as the water drains, waterfalls cascade on either side of the channel, turtles left exposed scramble and dive, and fish leap in search of sanctuary in shallow pools. Meanwhile, the dinner bell rings for the migratory seabirds dugongs, reef sharks and dolphins that scavenge and feast in the area.

Using zodiacs, guests cruise through one of the world’s most significant inshore reef systems navigated by experienced guides, exploring the most intricate and fascinating parts of a 300-square-kilometre-wide biodiversity hotspot.

aerial view of boat going along Montgomery Reef — Witness seabirds, dolphins and reef sharks on the hunt.

6. Mitchell Falls by Helicopter

Experiencing the Kimberley by sea allows you to feel the power of the tides, but travelling by helicopter reveals the sandstone tapestry of the Kimberley, a landscape geologists believe is over 1.8 billion years old.

One of Silversea’s most popular optional excursions , guests who opt to fly into the interior from the onboard helipad soar up above the rust-coloured landscape of the Mitchell plateau, taking in one of Australia’s most scenic waterfalls: Mitchell Falls, a series of four emerald-coloured pools gently cascades into each other, before plunging down to the river below.

Seeing the landscape from above reveals a landscape weaved and shaped by the power of the freshwater wet season, juxtaposed to the constant lapping of the relentless and powerful tide on the coast.

aerial view of mitchell falls on silversea helicopter excursion — See emerald pools cascade into the river below. (Image: Tim Faircloth)

7. Indigenous Art Caves, Wandjina Art

The Kimberley Region of Western Australia is home to some of the most striking and significant

Indigenous rock art in Australia. Dotted throughout the landscape are caves, cliffs and rock overhangs depicting the striking, ethereal image of Wandjina, the rainmaker spirit and creation being central to many of the Dreamtime stories in this region.

Some of the paintings are regularly repainted by traditional custodians, while others are believed to be over 4,000 years old. Each artwork serves as both a cultural record and a living connection to the past, offering a rare opportunity to engage with the enduring traditions of the Kimberley’s Indigenous communities.

Freshwater Cover Rock Art the kimberleys — Walk among cultural records preserved in stone. (Image: Tim Faircloth)

See the best of this incredible part of the world on a Silversea Kimberley cruise. Book your 10- or extended 16-day expedition voyage at silversea.com