The Z Bend is a popular tourist lookout on the Murchison River Gorge

Murchison River Gorge

Murchison River Gorge is a riverine gorge in Mid West Western Australia. Carved by the meandering lower reaches of the Murchison River, it is more than 80 kilometres long, and up to 129 metres deep...

 in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. It is located at 27°39′19"S 114°27′19"E, about 30 kilometres east of Kalbarri, in the Kalbarri National Park

Kalbarri National Park

Kalbarri National Park is located north of Perth. The major geographical features of the park include the Murchison River gorge which runs for nearly 80 kilometres on the lower reaches of the Murchison River...

. One of four lookouts in the national park, it is situated on a sharp bend in the gorge. The view includes an excellent section through the Tumblagooda Sandstone

Tumblagooda sandstone

The Tumblagooda sandstone is a geological formation deposited during the Silurian or Ordovician periods, around four to five hundred million years ago, and is now exposed on the west coast of Australia, straddling the boundary of the Carnarvon and Perth basins...

, a geological sequence of fluvial

Fluvial

Fluvial is used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them...

 and coastal deposits over a kilometre deep.

Facilities

Picnic seating and toilets are situated next to the car park. From the car park there is a walk of about 500 metres to the gorge lookout. There is then a climb of about 50 metres to the bed of the Murchison River

Murchison River (Western Australia)

The Murchison River is the second longest river in Western Australia. It flows for about from the southern edge of the Robinson Ranges to the Indian Ocean at Kalbarri. It has a mean annual flow of about 200 million cubic metres.-Course:...

.