The Golden South West

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Take a Tree Top Walk at Walpole

The State of Western Australia comprises almost half of the land mass of this continent, although it is very sparsely populated. It has a variety of exciting natural and man made wonders to delight tourists, but it should be remembered that many of these special features are hundreds of kilometres apart and therefore enough time should be allowed to get around comfortably.

State has a great many pleasant surprises and the good news is that they can all be accessed by reasonable roads with average family cars in good condition. For those arriving from overseas by air, PERTH is the State capital and it is here that you will have a wide choice of vehicle hire companies - cars, campers, motorhomes etc, or you may choose one of the coach companies and tour in luxurious comfort while someone else does all the driving. There are tours available from 1 - 10 days, take your pick. Australians arriving from the eastern States via the Nullabor Plain will be able to tour the south west very easily before they arrive in Perth.

This area offers world class vineyards, some of the tallest trees in the world, one of the largest gold mines in the world, an old whaling port, historic buildings galore, a grand tram ride over trestle bridges through pristine forests, geological wonders such as intriguing Wave Rock, mountain ranges, a spectacular harbour, lonely light houses and superb beaches, to mention but a few of its delights.

Driving south from Perth will take you into the MARGARET RIVER region, famous for its acclaimed wineries such as Leeuwin Estate where, a decade ago, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa gave a concert in the outdoor entertainment shell to thousands of entranced concert buffs. The coastal scenery of the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park is breathtaking and there are plenty of bed and breakfast properties about, so it's a good place to spend the night. For beach lovers there's PREVELLY and YALLINGUP, both keen surfers' Mecca's - then there's the clear and tranquil waters of DUNSBOROUGH and BUSSELTON, seaside towns that are very popular with Perth residents.

Out of WALPOLE you can take the Tree Top Walk through the canopy of massive red tingle trees, some 40 metres above the forest floor. Located in the Valley of the Giants, these trees have a girth of up to 16 metres. The Ancient Empire is an old growth forest with a boardwalk through trees up to 400 years old.

But further inland, near PEMBERTON, are the mighty karri forests, reputed to be as tall as California's sequoia trees. One of the tallest has a ladder to climb to the top, if you enjoy that sort of thing. The remains of the base of another is large enough to drive a small car inside. There are some good forest drives to be enjoyed here, as well as excellent picnic facilities, several camping parks and fine bed and breakfast accommodation.

One of the nicest places to stay is the Karri Valley Resort, which welcomes caravanners and campers and which has wonderful, fully equipped and self contained timber cabins to rent by the day, some built out over the beautiful, bush encircled lake and all with lake views and two or three bedrooms to suit various sized families.

Do take the PEMBERTON to NORTHCLIFFE trestle train/tram ride aboard a really quaint vehicle that is very relaxing and great fun for all the family. It travels over rocky creeks via ancient timber trestle bridges through serene bushland, providing many photographic opportunities.

The old whaling township of ALBANY would probably be your next stop. Visit the whaling museum, see the old ships and the cauldrons in which whale oil was extracted from great chunks of blubber. This, Western Australia's oldest town, is set on magnificent King George Sound and Princess Royal Harbour, with its spectacular views from the restored old cliff top fort, which is well worth a visit for the views over the Sound, as well as to experience the life of the 19th century soldiers stationed there. Whales and dolphins can also be spotted at times from these cliffs.

In Albury, you can visit historic Strawberry Farm, or go swimming in Ellen Cove at Middleton Beach. You can also take side trips into the Stirling Ranges or the Porongurups, or sample the wines of the Mount Barker area if you have the time to do so.

Still on the south coast there's ESPERANCE, a small town set in the Bay of Isles and reputed to have one of the best, unspoilt beaches in the world. The panorama of the offshore islands of the Recherche Archipelago has many people reaching for their cameras and the dense salt water Pink Lake is another very popular local attraction.

Moving inland again there's 15 metres high, 27 million years old Wave Rock, out of HYDEN, which is a quite spectacular natural wonder. There is a good campground and cabin accommodation right there for tourists who wish to stay awhile.

Further north is KALGOORLIE, way out in a semi desert area, but world famous for its fabulous gold mines, still very much in operation. Kalgoorlie is a desert town that has a very distinct character all its own. There are some really quaint buildings to be seen and some truly grand old 19th century pubs, still very much operational - then there's the famous red light brothel area, one stretch of which is known as The Stables and is very popular with camera toting tourists. There's a Two Up School as well, where people may gamble on that simple old game, beloved of veteran servicemen, but illegal across the rest of Australia.

This town alone produces a tenth of the world's gold and the current world gold price is flashed across a screen in the main street at all times. Naturally there are mine tours and town tours to be taken and out in the bush you can fossick for gold to your heart's content, if you obtain a miner's license first. Just out of Kalgoorlie is COOLGARDIE, a well preserved, ghost gold town, with many historic buildings to photograph and a tree outside the police station to which prisoners were once manacled, a century or so ago.

Western Australia is famous for its spectacular wildflower displays in Spring. Many of these flowers are unique to the region and in August and September people flock from all over the country by car and coach to see this colourful spectacle because, as yet, the region is so very sparsely populated and is therefore relatively unspoilt. However, the southern region of Western Australia is well worth visiting all year round, even if you can't get there during its mantle of brilliant floral beauty. (For more information on this area, or any other part of Western Australia, log on to www.discoverwest.com.au).