Australia
The mainland's last granite headland, where wombats waddle across empty beaches at twilight.
A wombat waddles across Squeaky Beach at twilight, pausing to investigate a piece of kelp before continuing to the dunes. Behind it, granite headlands dissolve into Bass Strait mist. This is the mainland's last full stop — everything south from here is ocean until Antarctica.
Wilsons Promontory National Park occupies the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, a granite peninsula of coastal heath, eucalypt forest, and beaches accessible only by foot. Tidal River, the main campground, sits between two bays — Norman Beach for swimming, Squeaky Beach for the sound its quartz sand makes underfoot. The overnight hike to the lighthouse crosses terrain that shifts from rainforest to windswept headland within a single day. Wombats, kangaroos, and echidnas move through the campground after dark with the confidence of residents.
Solo
Multi-day hikes to the lighthouse tip, where the only company is wombats and the sound of Bass Strait hitting granite.
Couple
Beach walks, campfire evenings, and falling asleep to the sound of waves in a tent pitched metres from the shore.
Friends
Group hikes, beach cricket, and campground dinners where the cooking is competitive and the stars are infinite.
Camp cooking at Tidal River while crimson rosellas investigate your picnic table.
Pack gourmet provisions from Fish Creek — the tiny town with disproportionately good delis and bakeries.

Jericoacoara
Brazil
Windswept dunes where the sun melts into the sea from a natural stone arch.

St Ives
England
Light so luminous it lured a century of painters to this harbour of turquoise shallows.

Tulpar-Köl
Kyrgyzstan
Alpine pools at 3,500 metres that mirror a 7,000-metre peak at dawn like shattered glass.

Philae Temple
Egypt
A temple rescued from rising waters, reassembled stone by stone on an island in the Nile.

Strahan
Australia
Cruise the Gordon River past Huon pines that were saplings when Rome was still a republic.

Maria Island
Australia
A car-free island where Tasmanian devils roam free and convict ruins crumble into wildflower meadows.

Dampier Peninsula
Australia
Red pindan dirt meets turquoise sea at Aboriginal communities where the country is still the boss.

Sydney
Australia
Ferries carve blue water between surf beaches and opera sails as cockatoos screech overhead.