Australia’s best sunset spots
When it comes to day’s end, find a perch and watch the show in these popular destinations.
Uluru, NT
Let’s start at the beginning – and make that more than 500 million years ago. The shapely contours of the world’s largest monolith take on an otherworldly sheen in the glow of a slow sunset. It’s a nuanced performance, like a paint-chart progression from pink to tangerine to intensities of red that change so markedly it’s as if the sandstone’s minerals are oxidising before my eyes. At equally popular dawn, Uluru is starkly silhouetted as it emerges out of the darkness as if from the beginnings of time. But sunset offers a little extra – a full moon, perhaps, in certain cycles, that hovers alongside Uluru, and the proximity of Bruce Munro’s Field of Light installation of 50,000 illuminated spindles covering an area the size of seven footy grounds amid an eerie, elemental landscape that can’t fail to stir the soul.
Stay Sails in the Desert or Desert Gardens; ayersrockresort.com.au
SUSAN KUROSAWA
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Sunset comes early in the Snowy Mountains in winter. It’s a time of day notable not because the sky is awash with fluoro colours but due to the gentle blue hue that descends all around as the sun disappears behind the ranges. It’s a colour that’s matched by the distinctive hush found only in a landscape muffled by snow. The chairlifts are silent, skiers have headed home on weary legs. Take a walk at this hour and the only sound you might hear is the crunch of your boots compacting the ice into patches of that same steel blue. It’s my favourite part of the day, when I’m wrapped in the tired satisfaction of hours of physical exertion. My accommodation will be warm, with something suitably hearty on the stove. And as the dark engulfs the mountains, critters come out to play, leaving their little footprints in the snow for us to discover in the morning.
Stay Numbananga Lodge at Smiggin Holes; nationalparks.nsw.gov.au
PENNY HUNTER
Mindil Beach, Darwin
It’s sun-worshipping with a ritualistic touch that could hark back to ancient civilisations; just add cans of beer or a chilled white. As the tropical sun, which has been high and mighty all day, sinks, Darwin residents and visitors gather within sight of water, at the harbour, Nightcliff foreshore or Cullen Bay, to mark the glorious departure. My favourite spot is Mindil Beach where from April to October (Thursdays and Sundays) a Sunset Market with scores of arts and crafts and food stalls showcases the exuberant multiculturalism of the Top End. Locals tell me to look for the Green Flash, which can be seen above the sun just as it disappears. Maybe another sip of syrup might aid this apparition (like a leprechaun), I think, but it’s a real, if rare, meteorological phenomenon. In the wet season, stay around for nature’s double bill – a lightning display that can command the night sky with a ferocious beauty.
Stay DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Darwin; hilton.com
GRAHAM ERBACHER
Ikara-Flinders Ranges, SA
From a ridge atop Chace Range, we have a panoramic view over the rims of Wilpena Pound, the ruckled Elder Range, and beyond to the distant shore of the dry Lake Torrens. This ancient, haunting landscape has long bewitched artists and filmmakers; Hans Heysen made the trek along rough bush roads in an A-Model Ford. We’ve arrived at this eyrie by helicopter and huddle around a campfire as the sun sinks and the show begins. Timeworn rocks spring to life as though spot-lit, ramparts morphing from red to blue against a darkening sky. Light thick as honey pools in the shadows of cypresses, creeps beneath the dry skirts of grass trees. And where a filmmaker might overlay a soaring soundtrack, nature conjures a silence deep as time as fire-red skies give way to night and a million stars.
Stay Rawnsley Park Station; rawnsleypark.com.au
CHRISTINE McCABE
Twilight bridge climb, Sydney
The farther the sun drops, the higher we must climb to see it. We’re atop the arch of Sydney Harbour Bridge, 134m above the water and its ferry wakes. From nowhere an old Rolling Stones line comes to mind, “ … the world was a carpet laid before me”. And there it is, Sydney unfurled like its own story, from the giant trusses and struts of the bridge to the ancient scooped shorelines of Lavender and Berrys bays. Beyond the silhouettes of Barangaroo’s dark tower, Cockatoo Island and the cat’s-cradle web of Anzac Bridge, the sun dips to the horizon and takes a flashy bow. It has already left the building but the show’s not over. The sky arcs up into a long bonfire encore as we descend by twilight and the sun struts its dawn stuff somewhere new.
Stay Harbour Rocks Hotel Sydney MGallery; harbourrocks.com.au.
JOHN BORTHWICK
Lady Elliot Island, QLD
For the most part, Australia’s east coasters need to travel to western neighbour states to witness the beauty of the sun setting over the sea. Lady Elliot Island, which sits 80km off the coast of Bundaberg at the southernmost point of the Great Barrier Reef, is one of few places that bucks nature’s design, thanks to its distance from the mainland. Each night, weather permitting, resort staff set up a drinks station near the island’s 19th-century lighthouse, where guests can purchase a (literal) sundowner cocktail to enjoy while sitting on the sand as the fiery sun turns the sky to orange, pink and purples and vanishes into the watery horizon. From June to October, there’s a strong likelihood of seeing migrating whales silhouetted against the skyline as night draws in.
Stay Lady Elliot Eco Resort; ladyelliot.com.au
ALEXANDRA CARLTON
Bruny Island, Tasmania
This “little island off the island” is the ultimate microcosm, with all the pristine hallmarks of Tasmania in miniature, from dramatically rugged seascapes and old forests to far-reaching views of the wild Tasman Sea. The historic Cape Bruny Lighthouse, first lit in 1838 and restored to grand working order, is such a great vantage point for molten-gold sunsets that Bruny Island Safaris, the only tour company given access by the state parks and wildlife service, has created a dedicated excursion. The lighthouse’s isolation on spectacular dolerite cliffs, an impressive feat of engineering, provides a blue-ribbon position as the horizon starts to flare into colour. A massive outlook out to sea gives each sunset astonishing grandeur of scale, but the sky is far from empty. White-bellied sea eagles and albatross caw as they swoop and dive over cresting waves and the celestial lightshow could include the lights of the Southern Aurora, especially in winter.
Stay Cloudy Bay Beach House; brunyisland.com.au
CLEO GLYDE
Sunshine Coast, QLD
View the sun setting glorious and golden from Gerrards Lookout, located along the Blackall Range Tourist Drive, which coils up about 400m from sea level in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Pick up some provisions from nearby Maleny or Montville and then park yourself at a picnic table to face west and watch the spectacle as the sky starts to soften and fade from red to pink then peach across the surrounding landscape. The lookout offers almost 360-degree views over the Mooloolah River catchment and Glasshouse Mountains in one direction, and of forest, farmland and faraway ocean in the other, making it a top spot to see the sunrise, too.
Stay Lovestone Cottages at Montville; lovestonecottages.com.au
CARLA GROSSETTI
Queenscliff, Victoria
Although it’s usual to seek out sunsets as pristine nature experiences, there’s a particular beauty in seeing the vibrancy of a crimson, violet and flame-orange sky as backdrop to the sharp shadows and silhouettes of a built environment. The extraordinary streetscape of historic Queenscliff, one of Victoria’s oldest maritime townships on the beautiful Bellarine Peninsula, is a time-warp of Italianate Victorian architecture. The opulent vision of sky-high bell towers and decorative flamboyance befits the status-conscious 19th-century gentry; the Ozone Hotel, Lathamstowe, Queenscliff Hotel, Vue Grand Hotel and Royal Hotel present a miraculously intact legacy of the 1880s building boom. By sunset, the facades and turrets take on the gothic aspect of a haunted house from a Tim Burton fantasy film or Edward Gorey illustration.
Stay Vue Grand Hotel; vuegrand.com.au.
tourismgeelongbellarine.com.au
CLEO GLYDE
Megalong Valley, NSW
You could corkscrew down into this valley below Blackheath in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney at any old hour and still rave about the oversized scenery. Descend from mid-afternoon, though, and it all comes with a cherry on top. Pick your perch from neighbouring wineries, Dryridge Estate or Megalong Creek Estate, and nibble and sip while watching the light display. As the sun slides lower, the titian sandstone cliffs of Megalong Head and the wider escarpment glow an even deeper shade of red. It’s mesmerising, even as the light fades into softer pinks and purples. From Dryridge, you might also spot hikers picking their way along the Six Foot Track that traverses the vineyard. This 19th-century bridle trail, built wide enough to accommodate two laden horses, links Katoomba with Jenolan Caves.
Stay Dryridge Estate; dryridge.com.au.
KATRINA LOBLEY
Cable Beach, WA
Seeing the sun sink into the sea from the back of a swaying camel is practically mandatory at Broome‘s famous beach. The popular image of a camel train backlit by the setting sun is plastered on just about every postcard, promotional poster and fridge magnet in town and the much sought-after shot of camel-shaped shadows on golden sands is the almost obligatory angle for social media feeds. But just because it’s touristy doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. And the views are just as good from the Sunset Bar & Grill at the Cable Beach Club, where the passing camel parade can be viewed with drink in hand.
Stay Cable Beach Club; cablebeachclub.com
LEE ATKINSON
Lord Howe Island, NSW
The best day’s-end viewpoint is at the island’s southern reaches, where the peaks of Lidgbird and Gower loom like fortresses against the cyclorama of twilight. My last sunset-viewing here, in January, was on the pool terrace of Capella Lodge. I kept peeping at my watch and 40 minutes passed as a mackerel sky rippled with fish-scale clouds was eclipsed by streaks of gold on the horizon and then the sky turned a frothy pink and adjectives flew madly about its exact shade (“flamingo” prevailed). The sun didn’t so much set as make a slow, dignified exit while colour-coded Aperol concoctions circulated in its honour and the word of the hour was WOW.
Stay Capella Lodge; capellalodge.com.au
SUSAN KUROSAWA
