Simply the best: Australia's best national parks

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, NT

Step into the World Heritage-listed Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and be amazed by the ever-changing faces of Australia's most famous and photographed landmark as the sun rises and sets over the Red Centre. Rising more than 335m (1,100 feet) from the earth, Uluru is the world's largest free-standing monolith. Just 32km away, the red-rock domes of Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), meaning 'many heads' in the local Aboriginal language, are equally, if not more, impressive. The tallest rock, Mt Olga, is in fact 200m (656 feet) higher than Uluru.

Find out more: www.environment.gov.au/parks/uluru

Kakadu National Park, NT

Arguably Australia's most famous national park, World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park covers almost 52,000-square miles and offers rugged escarpments, lush wetlands, plunging gorges and waterfalls as well as the Top End's most accessible ancient Aboriginal rock art sites. Join park rangers on a journey back through the Aboriginal dreamtime as you discover the paintings of Ubirr and Nourlangie. There are signposted walks and both sites are quite impressive, in particular Ubirr which has great views of the Arnhem Land escarpment.

Find out more: www.environment.gov.au/parks/kakadu

Purnululu National Park, WA

The World Heritage-listed Purnululu National Park, with its distinctive Bungle Bungle Range, is one of the most fascinating geological landmarks around. Reaching 250m above the remote plains of the Kimberley, the ringed beehive-like domes are spellbinding. To understand the scale of Purnululu, it is best to fly over it. But a visit at ground level allows you to see its striped domes from close up and to get inside its cavernous canyons, such as Cathedral Gorge.

Find out more: http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/purnululu

Daintree National Park, Qld

More than 135 million years old, the Daintree Rainforest is the oldest rainforest in the world. Covering more than 76,000 hectares, it's home to rare tropical birds and animals, many of which are not found anywhere else on earth. The Cape Tribulation section of the park is one of the few places where the rainforest meets the sea. You can spend endless hours spying Ulysses butterflies flitting around towering canopies or marvel at fresh-water crocodiles sunning themselves on the mangrove-lined river banks.

Find out more: http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?parkid=166

Mungo National Park, NSW

Mungo National Park is an Australian archaeological wonderland. For 40,000 years it was a lake and as it dried-up slowly over time it revealed many a secret including the first evidence of modern man – — Mungo Man. The park also features the awe-inspiring lunar-like landscape of the Walls of China, where over thousands of years, wind and rain have carved the most spectacular formations from sand, quartz and clay. Part of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage area, around 110km from Mildura in Victoria, it's a stone's throw from the NSW border.

Find out more: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHome.aspx?ID=N0049

Kosciuszko National Park, NSW

Located in the highest section of Australia's Great Dividing Range, Kosciuszko National Park is a wild, rugged place where many of the legends of this country were born. The largest national park in NSW, its 673,524 hectares is highlighted by glacial lakes, limestone caves, yawning gorges and alpine woodlands. In winter it hosts some of the country's best skiing, while in spring and summer the mountains are ablaze with wildflowers and criss-crossed by walking tracks, many of which offer spectacular views the tallest mountain in Australia – — Mt Kosciuszko (2228m).

Find out more: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHome.aspx?id=N0018

The Grampians National Park, Vic

The mountains, cliffs and sheer rock faces of the Grampians rise like a series of waves above the flat western plains of Victoria. The 167,000-hectare park's spectacular sandstone ridges were formed 400 million years ago by the upthrust of the earth's crust creating an impressive landscape of peaks and valleys. There are cascading waterfalls, lookouts with stunning panoramic views as well as a wealth of Aboriginal rock art sites to be explored.

Find out more: http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm?park=109

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tas

The distinctive jagged peaks of Cradle Mountain are the most recognisable landmark in Tasmania. Reaching 1,560m above sea level, the second highest mountain in Tasmania lies at the northern gateway of to the World Heritage-listed Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. It's also the starting point for the world-famous 65km Overland Track which winds its way past rugged mountains, icy streams and stands of ancient pines to Lake St Clair, the deepest freshwater lake in Australia.

Find out more: http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=3297

Flinders Range National Park, SA

Stretching north from Gulf St Vincent in South Australia, Flinders Range National Park is one of the most sensational Outback parks in the country. Here an ancient seabed has been sculpted into a fractured, furrowed landscape of deep valleys covered with twisted cypress pines, which drop away into creeks lined with river red gums. The park's most famous feature is Wilpena Pound, an enormous crater-shaped amphitheatre.

Find out more: http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/sanpr/flindersranges/index.html

Blue Mountains National Park, NSW

Just 120km from Sydney, Blue Mountains National Park is a scenically dramatic region of forested ravines and pristine bushland. Part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, it's most renowned for the breathtaking panorama of the Three Sisters at Echo Point. Well-marked walking trails criss-cross the park passing streams and waterfalls, descending into cool gorges and snaking around sheer cliffs.

Find out more: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHome.aspx