Top places: Perth, Rottnest Island, The Pinnacles, The Kimberley , Purnululu National Park, Broome, Ningaloo Reef, Shark Bay, Margaret River.
Western Australia is Australia's largest state in area, covering the western third of the mainland. The state is
approximately 5 times the size of Texas and after the Sakha Republic in Russia, the second largest subnational entity (statoid) in the world. The capital city Perth is one of the most isolated metropolitan areas on Earth. The nearest city to Perth with a population over 1 million is Adelaide in South Australia, which is 2,104 kilometres (1,307 mi) away. Perth is physically closer to East Timor and Jakarta, Indonesia, than it is to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. It is the antipode of Hamilton, Bermuda.
Perth is known as Australia's sunniest city and enjoys a Mediterranean climate.
In the peak of summer, the temperature can be unbearable as it reached well into the 40s (Celsius), but the winters are mild.
Perth is an organized and modern city with great parks, superb swimming, and surfing beaches. The beautiful Swan River flows through Perth and many Perth residents define themselves as living either north of the river or south of the river. The river drains into the Indian Ocean at the Port of Fremantle, a beautiful town with many historic buildings.
If you head south from Perth, you will come across many pleasant towns like Albany and Esperance and this region also contains many superb surfing beaches such as the famous break at Margaret River. South West Australia also contains areas of Karri Forest where some of the tallest trees in the world grow.
If you head north out of Perth it doesn't take
long before you enter the endless Outback. The
top one third of Western Australia lies in the tropical zone and you can even
find tropical rainforests fringing the northern coastlines. Below that you will
find vast areas of grasslands (savanna) which look like the game reserves
you find in Africa, with the exception of an innumerable amount of huge ant
hills dotting the landscape with kangaroos hoping around. Further south from
here lie the deserts that Australia is famous for. In fact the Australian
deserts are the biggest in the world outside of the Sahara. The main deserts
here are the Simpson Desert, The Great Sandy Desert, The Great Victoria Desert,
and the Nullabor Plain. Nullabor means "no trees" in Latin. These deserts come to life
each Spring with the most spectacular and colourful show of wild flowers on
earth.
Western Australia also has more coastline than any other state and much of this coastline is pure white sand with sparkling clear and warm inviting water, the catch is that many of these idyllic beaches in the north of the state are infested with sharks and other nasties. There are still some safe beaches here where you can swim and bathe, but local knowledge is important when deciding where to swim
One of the best beaches in North Western Australia is Cable Beach, located in a small outback town called Broome. Broome has some tasteful resorts and is marketed as an alternative to Bali in Indonesia, which is a popular overseas destination for residents of Perth due to its close proximity with that city.
North West Cape is the westerly most point of the Australian continent, and it is here that you will find the Ningaloo Reef which is just as spectacular as the Great Barrier Reef in eastern Australia, although not as extensive. The Reef may be smaller but there are also less people and the reef is easily accessible from the coast. i.e., no boat needed. You will find some superb and isolated beaches here too.
Another area of interest on the west coast is a place called Shark Bay. This World Heritage area is very scenic, but most come here to swim with the Dolphins.
Western
Australia has some of the weirdest looking landscape on earth. One such area
the Punululu National Park
is home to the Bungle Bungles a vast area of dome shaped mountains of stone
which are orange in colour and lined with black stripes, which is caused by
a type of lichen that grows on certain layers of rock. It is quite incredible
to note that the area was discovered in the 1980s and stands as a testimony
to the vast unexplored areas that still exist in this state.
The Cervantes National Park or the Pinnacles as they are more commonly known, is another strange work of nature. In prehistoric times this area was once covered in forest but as Australia moved north due to continental drift this forest moved into the arid zone and the forest died. The dead trees were replaced by sand as they wasted away and today you can see the hundreds of stone pinnacles that replaced the trees to become a petrified forest.
Everything about Western Australia is big. If
you travel along the main highway for example it is common to see Road Trains
transporting goods up and down the state. These Road Trains are trucks with
2 or 3 sometimes 4 full trailers on the back. If you visit one of the open
cast mines in the north you will see the world biggest earth moving machines,
trucks with houses in them, and trains that are kilometers in length.
Following the main highway north will lead you to the Northern Territory. The southwest of this state
is bordered by South Australia. Beyond the western shoreline is the Indian
Ocean and to the south of the state lies the Great Southern Ocean. The nearest
landmass to the south is the Antarctica.
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