The Kiama Blowhole is a blowhole in the town of Kiama, New South Wales, Australia. It is the town's major tourist attraction. Under certain sea conditions, the blowhole can spray water up to 25 metres in the air, in quantities that thoroughly drench any bystanders. There is actually a second, less famous blowhole in Kiama, commonly referred to as the "Little Blowhole" by locals. It is much smaller than the other (called the "Big Blowhole"), but due to its narrow shape, it is actually more reliable than the Big Blowhole, and in the right conditions can be equally spectacular. The blowhole attracts 600,000 tourists a year. Kiama Blowhole is just a few metres beyond the coastline. The "little blowhole" is located at the Little Blowhole Reserve, Tingira Crescent, Kiama, a few minutes' drive south of the main blowhole.
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Wave Rock is a natural rock formation that is shaped like a tall breaking ocean wave. The "wave" is about 14 m high and around 110 m long. It forms the north side of a solitary hill, which is known as "Hyden Rock." This hill, which is a granite inselberg, lies about 3 km east of the small town of Hyden and 296 km east-southeast of Perth, Western Australia. Wave Rock and Hyden Rock are part of a 160 ha nature reserve, Hyden Wildlife Park. A wall lies above Wave Rock and about halfway up Hyden Rock and follows the contours of the wall. It collects and funnels rainwater to a storage dam. The wall and dam were constructed in December 1928 by the Public Works Department for the original settlers of East Karlgarin District. Both were renovated in 1951 to increase water capacity for the Hyden Township. Such walls are common on many similar rocks in the Wheatbelt. Wave Rock has cultural significance to Aborigines. More than 140,000 tourists visit Wave Rock every year.
Hyden Rock, of which Wave Rock is part, consists of 2.63 billion year-old biotite K-feldspar porphyritic monzogranite that is part of the Yilgarn Craton. Hyden Rock is a granite inselberg, which consists of three domes. The central and western domes are separated by a deep valley, which is now occupied by a reservoir. The central and eastern domes are linked by a low platform. A multistage process of landform development created these domes. The initial step in the development of Hyden Rock was the subsurface alteration by weathering of granite bedrock beneath a lateritised land surface during the Cretaceous Period between 100–130 million years ago. Depending on the degree to which it was fractured by jointing, the granite bedrock underlying this surface was altered to varying depths beneath the land surface. This process formed underground "domes" of solid granite bedrock surrounded by deeply weathered, relatively loose, and disaggregated granite. Following separation of Australia and Antarctica and accompanying tilting of what became southwestern Australia, periodic erosion of the deeply weathered granite, which underlaid the surrounding land surface, exposed these buried solid bedrock domes over time as Hyden Rock.
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Byron Bay is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 772 kilometres north of Sydney and 165 kilometres south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjacent to the town, is the easternmost point of mainland Australia. At the 2006 Census, the town had a permanent population of 4,981. The town is in turn the nucleus of Byron Shire, which has in excess of 28,000 residents. The local Arakwal Aboriginal people's name for the area is Cavvanbah, meaning "meeting place". Captain James Cook named Cape Byron after John Byron, circumnavigator of the world and grandfather of the poet, Lord Byron. The town has several beaches which are popular for surfing. It is a resort popular with both domestic and international tourists, including backpackers, who travel along the Australian coast; the scenery also attracts skydivers. The area is also noted for its wildlife, with the whale watching industry a significant contributor to the local economy.
An oceanway runs from the centre of town to the Cape Byron lighthouse. This allows visitors to walk and cycle to the lighthouse. Temperate and tropical waters merge at Byron Bay, making it a popular area for scuba diving and snorkelling. Most diving is done at Julian Rocks which is part of the recently established Cape Byron Marine Park and only a few minutes boat ride from Main Beach. Byron Bay also lies close to subtropical rainforests, and areas such as the Nightcap National Park with the Minyon Falls are all within easy reach of the town. Byron Bay is now also a popular destination for Schoolies week during late November and early December.
Source: designsof.com
The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction. The apostles were formed by erosion: the harsh and extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 45 metres high. The site was known as the Sow and Piglets until 1922 (Muttonbird Island, near Loch Ard Gorge, was the Sow, and the smaller rock stacks were the Piglets); after which it was renamed to The Apostles for tourism purposes. The formation eventually became known as the Twelve Apostles, despite only ever having nine stacks.
In 2002, the Port Campbell Professional Fishermens Association unsuccessfully attempted to block the creation of a proposed marine national park at the Twelve Apostles location, but were satisfied with the later Victorian Government decision not to allow seismic exploration at the same site by Benaris Energy; believing it would harm marine life.
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Jenolan Caves are caves in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia; 175 kilometres west of Sydney. They are the most visited of several similar groups in the limestone of the country, and the oldest discovered open caves in the world. They include numerous Silurian marine fossils and the calcite formations, sometimes pure white, are noted for their beauty. The cave network is very large, with over 40 km of multi-level passages, and the complex is still undergoing active exploration. The caves are a popular tourist destination, with several kilometres of the caves rendered accessible to paying visitors and well lit.
Located 3 hours drive from Sydney and Canberra, Jenolan Caves attracts over 250,000 visitors a year, making it one of the most popular tourist locations in rural New South Wales. Since 2008, Jenolan Caves has won many tourism awards, including 4 gold awards in the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards (2011 and 2013). There is no public transport to Jenolan Caves. However, there are large carparks and a range of coach operators bring tourists from Sydney and Katoomba every day. Ten of the area's "dark caves" are open for regular guided tours every day (1 to 2 hours per tour). These 'show' cave tour sizes vary. For example, the delicate Pool of Cerberus Cave can have only 8 on a tour, while the Lucas Cave (with its large chambers) can have up to 65 people per tour. Tours also vary in difficulty, for example the Imperial Cave has the fewest stairs, while the River Cave is the most strenuous. However, the average tourist can tour any of these 'show' caves.
Source: chasingthewild.com/2013/09/2201/
Source: imagesfromatourist.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/
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