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Australian Natural AdventuresWildlife, Nature & Soft Adventure ToursCustom
Australia, New Zealand & Pacific tours and travel
Western Australia
Another place off the usual visitor route, Western Australia is about as empty as it comes, with only 500,000 people living outside its capital of Perth. This in a State that comprises 40% of Australia's land mass. Think of it as the population of Lexington, Kentucky, being spread out over the entire US east of the Mississippi. Perth people feel a bit isolated; it's as far from Perth to the next Australian city as it is from London to Lenigrad. Here's a Western Australia distance chart to give you a better idea if you're thinking about driving around one weekend while you're there. Perth
is a pretty city, with lots of sunshine, great beaches and friendly
locals at the
Further to the north is Broome, where endless beaches enable millions of shorebirds from Asia find respite during their travels. The shores and flats of Roebuck Bay are Australia's most important migratory bird area, and one of the four most important in the world. For more information about birdwatching the Broome area, please see our birding information and also go to Birds Australia website for information about the Broome Bird Observatory. Just off-shore from the NW coast are reefs equal in beauty, if not scope, to the Great Barrier Reef. At Ningaloo Marine Park from April to July the world’s largest fish, the 30ft+ Whale Shark, lounge offshore, where even snorkelers can get close. Don’t worry, these gentle giants feed on plankton, not people. As well as Whale Sharks, dugongs, dolphins, whales and sea turtles and over 180 species of coral can be found here. Stromatolites, the world's oldest living organisms, can be seen most famously in the Hamelin Pools at Shark Bay, but also in several areas closer to Perth. This state also has the world's oldest exposed rocks, at about 3.5 billion years, so WA stakes it's claim for being around for quite a long while. Western Australia can be a very different part of your Australia travel at any time of the year.
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beautiful
Kings Park. From June to October, depending on location, the deserts
and open forests south and north of Perth are covered in wildlflowers
for one of eht most spectacular botanical sights anywhere in the world;
and you don't need to be a botanist to appreciate the beauty of this
event. Both private, self drive and small group tours are avaialable
to enjoy this cornucopia.
In
the south-western corner are tall eucalypt forests full of wildlife,
with specialties such as the Numbat, one of Australia’s few
truly diurnal mammals, tiny kangaroos called bettongs, and the even
tinier Honey Possum. On Rottnest Island, a day trip from Perth, small
wallabies called Quokkas are easily seen lounging about near the village.
South of Perth coral and other rmore normally tropical sea life can
be seen mear Bunbury, 120 miles south of Perth, from the pier at Busselton
Pier and at its observatory. This takes on greater perspective when
on your way to Bunbury, near Rockingham 80 miles north, you can visit
a Little Penguin colony. In additon to all this natural beauty and
interest, south-west Australia produces some of Australia's, and the
world's leading wines, and winery and food tours are deservedly popular.