Geraldton

About 80 kilometers off the gnarly Western Australian coast-where the Indian Ocean stops flirting and starts bullying-lie the Houtman Abrolhos Islands: eerie, wind-swept outposts famed equally for absurdly turquoise waters, shipwreck tragedies, and lobsters worth fistfighting your grandmother for. Named after Dutch navigator Frederik de Houtman, whose crew spotted them in 1619 just in time to avoid adding more bones and broken timber to the local reefs, these islands are best visited in the early morning hours, when seabirds chatter like gossipy neighbors over last night's fish feast and the marine life parades shamelessly beneath crystalline waves. Plan at least a month ahead (longer during peak season), budget roughly $300-$500 for that chartered boat ride out, and pack sunscreen, snorkel gear, and an appreciation for grisly maritime history-especially tales of the ill-starred Batavia wreck and ensuing mutiny, a 17th-century bloodbath worthy of Game of Thrones. Even if salt spray stiffens your hair into driftwood and you lose your lunch over the gunwale, it's absolutely worth going-not just for the pristine reefs or the lobsters-but so you can casually remark at dinner parties, "Ah yes, I braved the Abrolhos," and watch the envy seep into their eyes.

Herald Wave Rock isn't simply a hunk of granite; it's Australia's stone-cold middle finger to physics-frozen absurdly in a gravity-defying surf pose in Hyden, a sleepy town roughly four hours from Perth. Formed some 2.7 billion years ago (give or take a few million), this geological oddity rises nearly 15 meters, resembling a tidal surge abandoned mid-curl by Mother Nature on a tea break. Aim to arrive early morning or late afternoon, when shadows dance dramatically across its striated surface and the crowds of selfie-stick wielding tourists thin like the vegetation around you. Pack sunscreen, plenty of water, sturdy shoes, and an imagination-a prerequisite for appreciating a rock masquerading as surf. Plan ahead at least a couple of weeks to snag decent accommodation nearby, and budget around 15-20 bucks for parking and entrance fees. Sure, it's just a giant boulder imitating a wave, but it's impossible not to grin as you strike an epic pose beneath its looming curve-if only to later smugly inform friends you've ridden Western Australia's most immovable wave.