Mother Nature knows what makes a good photo, so much so that she has perfectly framed a view of Kalbarri National Park with this sandstone structure. It’s easy to access these seemingly precarious stacks of sandstone via a one-kilometre return walk from a sealed lookout.

These craggy granite forms dominate the landscape in this section of Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island. Much of their surface is covered in pumpkin-coloured lichen; made even more vibrant when contrasted against the bright blue of the Southern Ocean.

Visit at the wrong time and you won’t see it: Montgomery Reef appears and disappears with the tides. Time things perfectly – as the tide is going out – and you’ll see scores of mini waterfalls spring up and pour down the sides of the exposed coral shelves.

The Dreaming story the local Warmungu tell is one you want to believe: that these are the fossilised eggs of the Rainbow Serpent, a common “creator” figure in the stories of many Australian Aboriginal cultures. The granite balls are stacked six metres high and located just south of Tennant Creek.

Though you can traverse the rugged trails up and around this mountain, its splendour is best appreciated from below. There’s a perfect panorama from the far side of Dove Lake that encompasses both peak and lake.

Sir David Attenborough has expressed his amazement at this unusual waterfall and it truly is a surreal slight. This cascade is the result of tide shifts in the gap between two cliffs, best experienced by taking a boat ride along the rapids.

Australia still has some secrets up its sleeve. Somewhere between Coober Pedy and Lake Eyre, in the quiet middle of South Australia, these multi-coloured mountains stand proud. They were “discovered” recently and can only be seen from the air; before that, they were only known to those who ventured this deep into the outback.

London Bridge fell down – at least this natural one along the Great Ocean Road did. Now known as London Arch, it was once possible to walk out to its furthest edge before the stone unexpectedly collapsed into the sea.

Eons of exposure to salty breezes and ocean swell have warped and weathered the sandstone cliffs of this little isle. The end result is an outcrop of rock stained with concentric circles of darkening gold to resemble honeycomb. A marked walk, best tackled at low tide for safety, takes you right beneath the cliffs.

Mungo National Park contains a collection of otherworldly rock and sand formations but one of the most iconic are these walls, in the park's southeastern stretch. The lunettes – landforms made of several sedimentary layers – are cut through with rivulets created by thousands of years of raindrops and have been found to contain impressive Aboriginal artefacts.

Emerging dramatically from the Southern Ocean, these formations are the attraction along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. Only eight of the limestone pillars still stand, spaced out along the coast.

This is the closest you’ll probably get to a lunar excursion – these chalky pillars look eerily similar to the cheesy moonscape envisioned by the popular stop-motion animation, Wallace and Gromit. They’re located in the Pinnacles desert between Perth and Geraldton, not too far inland from WA’s coast.

This undulating formation, 100 metres long and 15 metres high, is located near Hyden, around three hours from Perth. If you visit after it rains – one of the rare times this pseudo-wave actually holds water – you might even be treated to a smattering of just-bloomed wildflowers.

The big-ticket item in Purnululu National Park is the tiger-striped Bungle Bungles but Cathedral Gorge, a soaring natural amphitheatre hidden deep within the range, is worthy of a detour. The space's acoustics are apparently incredible so give it your best “cooee!”.

A number of crevices and crags make up this natural wonder, close to a windswept beach of the same name. The two most impressive features are The Woolshed, a gargantuan cavern in the granite, and The Tub, a 50-metre-wide slice in the rock.

Lord Howe Island has a surprising Hawaii-esque beauty. Around 25 kilometres from the island is Ball’s Pyramid, an arrowhead that emerges more than 550 metres from the ocean floor.  It’s a popular diving and twitching spot, with scores of seabirds circling the point every hour.

The centrepiece of the Flinders Ranges, Wilpena Pound has been a meeting place for Indigenous people for tens of thousands of years. The peaks of this natural amphitheatre form an almost-perfect ring around the low ground inside.

Florida doesn’t have a monopoly on everglades. In fact, the only other everglade environment – subtropical marshland characterised by a network of branching waterways – is found in southern Queensland, along the Noosa River. Explore this lush spot by kayak.

This is the Australian outback at its finest. Hidden in a crevice of vermillion rock dotted with the occasional hardy, scrubby tree: an oasis of cool, blue water. The grotto, near Hamersley Gorge in Karijini National Park, is fed by a waterfall so the pool is always fresh.

To give you an idea of scale: the remains of some of Australia’s magnificent megafauna beasts have been found within these constantly shifting red dunes. Make a detour when checking out the Murray River border between NSW and Victoria; the sandy slopes are not far from Mildura.

The WA counterpoint to the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo’s popularity has soared in recent years as people head west to swim alongside a group of gentle giants: whale sharks. It’s located off the coast of Coral Bay, around a 13-hour drive north (or two-hour flight) from Perth.

This tumble of sediment leans toward warmer hues: a cascade of vermillion, tangerine, sunshine-yellow and mahogany sand runs down the cliffs. Fraser Island Beach covers an impressive 120 kilometres; you’ll find this specific sand formation a few kilometres north of Maheno Shipwreck, an easily recognisable landmark.

The stone columns that form these sheer cliffs in southern Tasmania reach for the sky like a line-up of long, skinny needles. Though they stand almost 300 metres above the ocean, there’s no need to avoid them if you’re afraid of the vertiginous drop – they're best viewed from a boat.

Though the bay itself is beautiful – as most Western Australian beaches are – Shark Bay earns a place on this list for a very particular feature. One of only two collections of living marine stromalites live in the shallows, growing around a millimetre each year.

The Blue Mountains villages of Katoomba and Leura are charming but it’s this distinctive rock formation that people take the daytrip west from Sydney for. The viewing platform is usually quite busy; a sunrise visit offers the chance to appreciate the splendour without the crowds.

The lush, tropical flora hides countless animals and insects found nowhere else in the world: the impressive estuarine crocodile, dinosaur-like cassowary bird and the harmless golden orb spider. Take a guided walk to get a proper understanding of this unique ecosystem.

The Snowy Mountains might be most popular when they're, well, snowy, but there's plenty to do at Australia’s highest peak when the weather is warm. A series of walking and biking tracks wind up and around the mountain, the easiest of which is the 13-kilometre return Kosciuszko walk that begins with a chairlift ride to the trailhead.

Uluru might get the lion’s share of attention when it comes to hulking red rocks but these bornhardts are just as incredible. Also known as The Olgas, Kata-Tjuta is a series of rounded rocks circled by peaceful walking trails.