Western Australia Travel Guide

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From the tropical north, down through the Great Sandy Desert to the southwest's forests and wineries, Western Australia is a land of beautiful contrasts.

This state stands in stark contrast to its eastern cousins; development has not occurred along the coast at the same furious pace as it has on the eastern seaboard. This is an ancient land and a huge one, covering one-third of the country.

Find boutique wineries, gourmet produce and world-class surfing in the southwest - known for its forests of karri trees - and escape the crowds and float amongst tropical sealife on Ningaloo Reef. Broome, with beautiful Cable Beach, is the gateway to the ancient and spectacular landscapes of the Kimberley Region, while Perth - regarded as being 'the most isolated city on the planet' - is sparkling clean, and blessed with surrounding pristine beaches, hills and leafy woodland areas.

Geography

Western Australia is larger than Western Europe. It has a relatively small population but is growing at its fastest rate in history. Demographers expect the population of Perth to jump to 2.1 million by 2021. It is bordered in the east by South Australia and the Northern Territory and in the west by the Indian Ocean, with the Timor Sea to the north. The west coast is nearer to Bali and Indonesia than to Sydney, making Perth a viable stopover destination en route to the rest of Australia.

There are vast wheatlands, forests and deserts, and several national parks. Kimberley, in the far north, is one of the oldest geological areas on earth; time and weather have formed deep gorges and impressive mountains, arid red plains and coastal sandstone rich in fossils. In the northwest, Wolf Creek Crater, is an immense hole left in the desert by a giant meteorite 50,000 years ago, while Bungle Bungles is an ancient sandstone massif covering 3,000 sq km (1,160 sq miles). Southeast of Perth, near Hyden, is the 2,700-million-year-old Wave Rock.