Best Places to See Kangaroos in Australia: Where to Find Them in the Wild

Kangaroos are Australia’s most iconic animal, and finding them in the wild is on almost every visitor’s bucket list. The good news is that kangaroos are extraordinarily abundant — there are estimated to be around 50 million of them in Australia, outnumbering the human population by two to one. They’re not rare, they’re not shy, and with a little knowledge of when and where to look, finding them is easy.

The key is timing. Kangaroos are crepuscular — most active at dawn and dusk, and often lying low during the heat of the day. The single biggest mistake tourists make is looking for kangaroos in the middle of the afternoon. Head to any grassy area near bushland at first light or in the last hour before dark, and you’ll almost certainly find them.

This guide covers the best specific locations across Australia for kangaroo encounters in the wild — from beaches where they sunbathe on the sand to national park meadows where entire mobs graze at dawn. There’s also a brief section on the different species you might encounter and how to tell them apart.

📋 TL;DR — the quick version

• ✅ Most unique: Lucky Bay in WA — wild kangaroos on a white sand beach facing the Southern Ocean.
• 🌅 Best at dawn: Almost any national park — arrive at first light and you’ll find mobs in open grassland.
• 🏖️ Beach kangaroos: Murramarang National Park (NSW) and Lucky Bay (WA) offer the famous beach kangaroo experience.
• 🌿 Near Sydney: Royal National Park and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park have abundant eastern grey kangaroos.
• 🏙️ Near Melbourne: The You Yangs Regional Park, Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve, and Wilsons Promontory.
• 🦘 Best species variety: Queensland’s Carnarvon Gorge, where you can see red kangaroos, wallaroos, and wallabies.
• 🌟 Most reliable: Pebbly Beach at Murramarang — the kangaroos here come to the beach every single day.

🦘 Understanding Australian kangaroos — the species you’ll encounter

Australia has four species of true kangaroo, plus dozens of wallaby and wallaroo species. The ones you’re most likely to encounter as a visitor are the eastern grey kangaroo (the most common, found along the east coast from Queensland to South Australia), the western grey kangaroo (found across the south and west of the country), the red kangaroo (the largest and most iconic, found in the arid interior), and the antilopine kangaroo (found in the tropical north).

Eastern grey kangaroos are the ones you’ll encounter at most of the locations in this guide — they’re tall, elegant, greyish-brown animals with a pale belly and a gentle, curious temperament. Red kangaroos — the ones that appear on the Australian coat of arms — are bigger, redder (particularly the males), and found in drier habitats. Wallaroos are stockier than kangaroos and tend to prefer rocky terrain. Wallabies are smaller than kangaroos and come in many species, from the tiny quokka of Rottnest Island to the red-necked wallaby common across Tasmania and parts of the mainland.

🏖️ Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grand National Park, Western Australia

Lucky Bay is the most famous kangaroo-watching location in Australia, and for good reason. Wild eastern grey kangaroos have discovered the beach — possibly because the white sand is cooler than the surrounding scrub — and they now come down to sunbathe regularly, creating images that look almost too extraordinary to be real. The beach itself is staggeringly beautiful: pure white sand, deep turquoise Southern Ocean water, and dramatic granite boulders, and the kangaroos simply add to the unreality of the scene.

The kangaroos at Lucky Bay are wild — not fed and not managed — but they’re completely habituated to humans and allow close approach. Do not touch or feed them; simply sit on the sand nearby and let them go about their business. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times to visit, when the kangaroos are most active and the light is best for photography. Lucky Bay is about 56 kilometres from Esperance, reached via a partly unsealed road through Cape Le Grand National Park.

🌿 Murramarang National Park, New South Wales — beach kangaroos on the east coast

Murramarang National Park between Batemans Bay and Ulladulla on the NSW south coast offers the best beach kangaroo experience on the east coast. The eastern grey kangaroos at Pebbly Beach and Pretty Beach come down to the sand every day at dawn and dusk — so reliably that visitors can plan their visit around the spectacle. The kangaroos graze on the grass behind the beach before hopping across the sand to the water’s edge, sometimes sitting with the surf breaking behind them.

Pebbly Beach has a camping ground directly on the beach — waking up at dawn in your tent to find kangaroos grazing outside is one of the great Australian camping experiences. The campground books out many weeks in advance during school holidays; the national parks website handles bookings. Even if you can’t camp, a day visit for the sunrise or sunset kangaroo watching is absolutely worth the drive.

🌅 Royal National Park, New South Wales — near Sydney

The Royal National Park — the world’s second oldest national park, just 30 kilometres south of Sydney — has abundant eastern grey kangaroos throughout its grassland and woodland areas. The best viewing spots are the open grassy areas near Audley Weir, the Bundeena Road corridor, and the fire trails in the northern section of the park. Arrive at first light and drive or walk slowly along the edges of open grassland — the kangaroos will be there.

Worth adding to your itinerary: Unique Places to Stay in Australia and Best Places Australia in November.

The Royal National Park is also excellent for other wildlife: wallabies, echidnas, lace monitors, and over 240 bird species. The coastal section of the park — with its dramatic sandstone cliffs and beautiful beaches — is worth exploring independently of the kangaroo watching. The park is easily accessible from Sydney by train (to Cronulla or Otford) or by car.

👉 Book a Sydney wildlife and national park tour on GetYourGuide →

🏔️ You Yangs Regional Park, Victoria — the koala and kangaroo combination

The You Yangs, about 50 kilometres southwest of Melbourne, are a small range of granite hills surrounded by flat plains — and they’re famous as one of the best places near Melbourne to see koalas. But the grasslands and woodlands at the base of the hills are also excellent for eastern grey kangaroos, particularly in the early morning. A dawn visit gives you a real chance of seeing both kangaroos and koalas within a few hours — a spectacular wildlife double.

The Big Rock picnic area and the Branding Yard area are consistent kangaroo spots. Look for open grassland edges in the early morning — the kangaroos graze on the grass while the light is still golden and then retreat to shade as the day heats up. The park is free to enter and easy to navigate on formed roads and well-marked walking tracks.

🌿 Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve, Victoria — volcanic crater full of wildlife

Tower Hill is an extinct volcanic crater about 270 kilometres west of Melbourne near Warrnambool, and it contains one of Victoria’s best wildlife sanctuaries. The crater floor has been replanted with native vegetation and now supports large numbers of emus, koalas, and eastern grey kangaroos — all of which roam freely within the crater and are completely habituated to visitors.

Kangaroos at Tower Hill can be found throughout the day (the shelter and shade of the vegetation means they stay active later than in more exposed locations), but dawn and dusk are still the best times. The guided tour — run by Worn Gundidj Aboriginal Cooperative — is the best way to see the reserve and to hear about the cultural significance of the crater to the local Gunditjmara people. It’s one of the most culturally rich wildlife experiences in Victoria.

🦘 Kangaroo Island, South Australia — the wildlife sanctuary island

Kangaroo Island, connected to South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula by ferry, is a wildlife paradise where kangaroos — along with koalas, sea lions, echidnas, and dozens of bird species — are encountered at close range throughout the day. The island’s relative isolation from the mainland has kept it free of foxes and rabbits, which means the native wildlife is abundant and the vegetation is largely intact.

Western grey kangaroos are the common species on Kangaroo Island, and they’re found throughout the island’s grassy areas and national park sections. Flinders Chase National Park at the western end of the island is the best location for kangaroo watching, but they’re seen on roadsides, in campgrounds, and in paddocks throughout the island. Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail — a multi-day walk through the island’s most pristine landscapes — offers the most immersive wildlife experience.

🌅 Grampians National Park, Victoria

The Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park in western Victoria offers some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in southeastern Australia, and it’s also one of the best places to see eastern grey kangaroos. The grasslands around Lake Bellfield and Halls Gap township are particularly reliable — large mobs often graze right at the edge of the car park in the early morning, seemingly indifferent to human presence.

You might also enjoy reading about Best Places Australia in December and See Australia Without Driving Seniors.

The Grampians combine kangaroo watching with spectacular sandstone ranges, Aboriginal rock art, and excellent bushwalking — making it one of the most well-rounded wildlife and nature destinations in Victoria. A weekend based in Halls Gap, with early mornings for wildlife watching and the rest of the day for walks and drives, is a near-perfect itinerary.

👉 Book a Melbourne wildlife and national park day tour on GetYourGuide →

🌿 Noosa Heads National Park, Queensland — city-edge wildlife

Noosa Heads National Park is a small but beautiful coastal national park that begins at the edge of Noosa’s busy Hastings Street and extends north along the coast. Eastern grey kangaroos and swamp wallabies can be found in the park’s woodland areas, particularly along the Emu Mountain walking track and in the sheltered gullies away from the main beach track. Coming face to face with a kangaroo just minutes from one of Australia’s trendiest restaurant strips is one of those distinctively Australian moments.

The Noosa National Park is also home to koalas, which can sometimes be spotted in the eucalyptus trees along the coastal track. Early morning is best for both kangaroos and koalas; by mid-morning the main track becomes busy with walkers and the wildlife retreats. The walk to Hell’s Gates and back takes about 90 minutes and passes through the most wildlife-rich section of the park.

Kangaroos are one of those animals that never quite lose their novelty, no matter how many times you see them. There’s something about the way they move — that bounding, apparently effortless gait — and the way they look at you with those long-lashed, dark eyes, that makes every encounter feel like a gift. Australia has so many of them that the gift is endlessly renewable. Get up early, head for the bush, and let them find you.