<STRONG>A world of adventure </STRONG> <P>Spanning 1.6 million hectares and 16 national parks and reserves, the Australian Alps offer breathtaking alpine vistas and year round opportunities for outdoor adventure. <P>The Alps encompass the highest points on mainland Australia, and stretch from Canberra through to NSW and straddle the Great Dividing Range through eastern Victoria. <P>The region recently received Australia’s highest heritage honour with its inclusion in the National Heritage List for its outstanding natural, Indigenous and historic values. It is no surprise why the Australian Alps is one of Australia’s National Landscapes.</P>

<STRONG>Enrich your soul</STRONG> <P>You can lose and find yourself in Australia’s Red Centre, a place rich in Aboriginal culture and rugged outback beauty.</P> <P>Encompassing the World Heritage-listed Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park, Alice Springs, the ancient MacDonnell Ranges and the wonders of Watarrka National Park (Kings Canyon) the traditional custodians of this land, the Anangu, believe this Central Australian landscape was created at the beginning of time by their ancestors.</P>Not only is the Red Centre steeped in human history; it contains distinctive desert fauna and many rare species of mammals, birds, and reptiles - a distinction that has earned it a place on Australia's list of National Landscapes. <P></P>

<STRONG>Immerse yourself in a living cultural landscape</STRONG> <P>World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park is an extraordinary tapestry of wetlands, wildlife and Aboriginal ‘galleries’ up to 50,000 years old. See prehistoric art, cruise past crocodiles, fish for barramundi and see vast flocks of migratory birds in the wetlands. <P>The name Kakadu comes from an Aboriginal floodplain language called Gagudju. The Bininj/Mungguy (the Aboriginal people of Kakadu) have continuously inhabited this land for at least 50,000 years, one of the longest historical records of any group of people found anywhere in the world. <P>This World-Heritage-listed National Park is also one of very few places in the world listed for both their environmental credentials and their cultural significance. All these factors have ensured its inclusion on the list of Australia’s National Landscapes.</P>

<STRONG>Take a ride through nature </STRONG> <P>Get up close to nature on and off the Great Ocean Road, which stretches from Geelong to Portland in south-western Victoria and is characterised by exquisite coastal scenery, mountains and farmland, thriving villages, rainforests and historic relics. <P>Surf at Torquay, stay in the holiday haven of Lorne and see the magnificent Twelve Apostles. Walk through waterfalls and lush forest in Great Otway National Park and watch whales from the historic town of Warrnambool. Stretch out your journey with a stay in any of the many scenic seaside towns, from Apollo Bay to Port Fairy. <P>To travel its length is an inspiring and invigorating experience: at the end of the journey you’ll be in no doubt why the Great Ocean Road is classified as one of Australia's National Landscapes.</P>

<STRONG>Discover a gentler rhythm of life</STRONG> <P>Secreted in the far eastern corner of Australia lies one of the country’s most impressive wilderness areas. Stretching from the South Coast of New South Wales to East Gippsland in Victoria, Australia’s Coastal Wilderness is where warm temperate rainforests tumble towards a pristine coastline, revealing hidden treasures at every turn. <P>About 450 kilometres from Melbourne you’ll find the standout icon in this diverse landscape and one of the most significant conservation reserves in Victoria, the Croajingolong National Park. The ecosystems found in this park are so valuable that UNESCO has proclaimed it a World Biosphere Reserve. It’s just one of the reasons that this area has been nominated as one of Australia’s National Landscape.</P>

<STRONG>Wander through the mists of time </STRONG> <P>Known as Australia’s Green Cauldron, this oasis of subtropical rainforests that reaches out from the heart of the Tweed Valley to the Queensland coast, and west towards the Great Dividing Range, offers a window to Australia’s prehistoric past. <P>At the centerpiece is the magnificent Mount Warning, the eroded caldera of an ancient volcano that shelters a huge diversity of rare flora and fauna, and subtropical rainforests. It’s no wonder that the Tweed Valley and its surrounding escarpment are classified as a National Landscape.</P>

<STRONG>An epic story</STRONG> <P>The Flinders Ranges in South Australia is a rugged landscape that encourages adventure and contemplation. The majestic ranges sprawl across three national parks and stretch from Crystal Brook near Port Pirie in southern South Australia to more than 400 kilometres to Arkaroola in the north. <P>Bushwalking, mountain bike riding, and 4 wheel drives are some of the adventure activities on offer. <P>It’s no surprise why this environment, one of the oldest on earth, has been nominated as one of Australia’s National Landscapes.</P>

<STRONG>Discover a wilderness wonderland at your feet</STRONG> <P>Just an hour’s drive west of Sydney you’ll find the Blue Mountains, one of Australia’s most spectacular and enchanting wildernesses. The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area covers more than one million hectares of rainforest, canyons, eucalypt forest and heath lands in NSW. <P>Bushwalk through dense forest that is tinged blue from more than one hundred species of eucalypts. Look out at the Three Sisters from Echo Point. Wind through the rivers and huge chambers of Jenolan Caves, the world’s oldest open underground cave system. Then see the Wollemi Pine, a plant species which dates back to the dinosaurs, in Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens. <P>These are just some of the reasons the region has been granted World Heritage status and classified as one of Australia’s National Landscapes.</P>