Wolfe Creek Crater is a meteor impact crater in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. It's circular, 880 m (2887 feet) in diameter and 60 m (196 feet) deep, and is protected as a National Park. It's set in the semi-arid terrain of the Tanami Desert.

Understand

Wolfe Creek Crater

The Djaru Aboriginal people knew this place as Kandimalal, and some of their legends have it as a hole created by the emergence of a rainbow snake, while others tell of the evening star suffering a mishap and crashing to ground. Western science sides with the crashing to ground: it was spotted by aerial survey in 1947, and ground survey soon established that it was a meteor impact crater. It was named for the nearby Wolfe Creek, which commemorates Robert Wolfe a prospector and storekeeper during the Halls Creek gold rush of 1885.

It's now thought that the impact was 120,000 years ago, an inter-glacial period when huge hairy mammals began to go extinct and humans had emerged to hasten their demise. The meteor was iron-rich, and 15 m in diameter weighing 14,000 tonnes on impact. (By comparison the Chelyabinsk meteor of 2013 was of similar size when it struck the atmosphere, but at a low glancing angle so it broke up, with only cobble- or pebble-sized fragments falling to ground.) Chunks of rock were hurled several km, and the zone of devastation from shock-wave and fireball might have extended 10-50 km out, but this was far from being an "earth-shattering" event. Not much else has happened here since, and the area was not re-shaped by later rivers or modern farming or mining, so this is one of the best-preserved impact craters on Earth, bettered only by Barringer Crater near Winslow, Arizona. In 1972 it was designated as a national park, along with a 4 x 4 km square of scrub surrounding it.

In the 2005 horror film Wolf Creek, a backpacker couple's car breaks down here. "Mick Taylor" (played by John Jarrett) turns up to give help, but is soon shown to be a murderous psychopath whose trick is to strand then torture travellers. Critics rated it "a cheaply made, highly derivative, blood-soaked splatter film", and "sadistic celebration of pain and cruelty". No wonder it did so well at the box office, earned several award nominations, and ran to a film sequel and a TV series.

Get in

Northwest Regional Airlines have non-landing air tours of Wolfe Creek Crater, departing from Halls Creek. No flights land here.

The crater is 153 km south of Halls Creek via Tanami Road towards Alice Springs. This is mostly a graded gravel track, passable by 2WD only in the dry season May-October; 4WD is better, and essential in the wet. The first 10 km out of Halls Creek has been upgraded to a sealed all-weather road, with another 40 km due for completion in 2025. Expect hold-ups while this is under way, but say 3 hours for the drive. Further work will extend the sealed road to Wolfe Creek Crater and Billuna, then to the Northern Territory border, but the timescale is not yet announced.

A well-signposted track turns off east for the last 23 km to the crater. This is lumpy, difficult for 2WD and not recommended for caravans and trailers.

Tanami Road continues southeast for about 900 km to Alice Springs. This is a tougher proposition, with a worse track often impassable in the wet, and very long distances between roadhouses. Only attempt it with 4WD in the dry. It's now a sealed road from Alice Springs as far as Yuendumu, and during 2025 the work should push on through Floodout Creek (which is well named) towards Refrigerator Bore. There's no timescale yet for the last stretch through The Granites and Rabbit Flat (where the roadhouse has closed) to the WA border.

Fees and permits

There are no entry fees for this park, see below for camping fees.

No dogs or pets allowed.

Get around

From the campsite to the track end is 200 m, then a 200 m path leads you up to the crater rim. You are not permitted to scramble down to the crater floor.

See and do

A bearded dragon

• 1 Wolfe Creek Crater rim is reached by an easy 400 m walk from the camping area. The green inner ring is because fractures from the impact enable water to arise from below. Right that's it, you've seen it, you can drive back to Perth now.
• Wildlife is typical of these semi-arid climes, with scrub and spinifex foliage, and skittering lizards such as the bearded dragon.

Eat and drink

There's nothing to eat or drink, you must bring all your own supplies.

Sleep

• Wolfe Creek Campground, Carranya-Wolfe Creek Crater Rd. Outback camping, with toilets but no water, and no fires. Camping elsewhere is not permitted. Adult $10, child $5 ppn. (updated Sep 2024)

Stay safe

The main risk is heat and dehydration, especially if you break down or get lost away from the road in this area without a mobile signal.

Connect

As of September 2024, Wolfe Creek Crater and its approach roads have no mobile signal.

Go next

• North to Halls Creek is the easier route. From there turn west for Derby and Broome, or east for Purnululu National Park, Kununurra and Wyndham.
• Southeast brings you into Alice Springs, a well-developed town with museums and other attractions.