Western Wonderland

Perth is an easy city to like. It’s got all the perks of a capital, but with plenty of breathing room, sunny river views and a laid-back streak that makes slipping into holiday mode pretty easy. Join your Travel Director for a city tour, then stretch your legs in Kings Park, where more than 3,000 species of Western Australian flora fill the Botanic Garden above the Swan River. A pretty good way to start. Tonight, meet your fellow travellers over dinner and get the trip properly underway. New faces, first laughs and a taste of the adventure ahead.

Today, Western Australia starts showing off. Your destination is Wave Rock, a huge granite wall that looks uncannily like a giant surf break frozen mid-crash in the middle of the bush. It stretches 110 m (361 ft), glows in bands of colour and has been forming for more than three million years. Big name, big presence. But it’s not all about the scenery. Meet Sheenagh, who welcomes you to her farm for a down-to-earth look at life on the land. Hear what it takes to live out here, from the tough bits to the healing ones, then take a look at her vintage car collection and the stories that come with it.

Kalgoorlie is gold rush country, and it still has the swagger to prove it. Wide streets, grand old buildings and stories of fortunes won and lost give the town a character all its own. Take in views over the enormous Super Pit, a mine so big it almost doesn’t look real, then dig deeper into the region’s past at Hannans North Tourist Mine. This is the famous Golden Mile, where gold helped shape a town and a state. Standing beside the giant haul trucks and loaders really puts things into perspective. This is outback Australia on a grand scale, with plenty of grit and history to go around.

If Cape Le Grand National Park sounds like it belongs on a postcard, that’s because it absolutely does. Think rugged peaks, sweeping heathland and beaches so white they barely look real. First up is Thistle Cove, where Whistling Rock sometimes pipes up when the wind hits just right. Then it’s on to Lucky Bay, where kangaroos are known to sprawl out on the sand like they’ve got nowhere better to be. At Hellfire Bay, meet your Aboriginal guide for a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience and hear about the Wudjari people’s deep connection to this spectacular stretch of coast. Nature and culture make a pretty unbeatable pairing.

Today is all about big landscapes and the kind of wilderness that makes you reach for your camera every few minutes. Travel through the Stirling Range National Park, one of Western Australia’s most botanically rich regions. When the wildflowers are in season, this place really turns it on, with more than 1,500 species blooming across the range, including many found nowhere else on Earth. Stop at Bluff Knoll Lookout for views over one of WA’s highest peaks and the surrounds that roll on in every direction. This part of the state does not do things by halves, and today is proof of that.

Albany gives you options, and today you get to choose your own adventure. Into history? You could join Choice Experience exploring Albany’s role as the last port of call for ANZAC troopships leaving Australia in World War I. It’s a moving look at a chapter that still means a lot. More of a nature person? Torndirrup National Park delivers dramatic cliffs, wild coastal views and, in season, the chance to spot whales on the move. Or maybe food is your thing. In that case, join a Choice Experience on a culinary outing where local cheeses, fudge, chocolate, ice-cream, cider, wine and gin may have your name on it. Elastic waistbands advised.

Get ready for a day that swings from towering forest to top drops. First up is the Tree Top Walk in the Valley of the Giants, where you’ll stroll high above the forest floor with the tingle trees rising around you like nature’s skyscrapers. Then it’s on to Margaret River, one of Australia’s best-known wine regions and not one to be modest about it. There are vineyards everywhere, but today the spotlight falls on Hamelin Bay Wines. This family-run estate has been producing standout wines since 1992, and you’ll get to taste the results for yourself at the cellar door. From sparkling to shiraz, it’s a pretty tasty way to end the day.

Margaret River is one of the few wine regions in the world where vines grow this close to the sea, and that mix of coast and countryside stays with you as you travel north. Stop in Busselton to see the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere, stretching 1.8 kilometres into Geographe Bay. It’s an impressive bit of engineering and looks pretty good in photos too. Then continue to Fremantle, where the rest of the day is yours to enjoy. You could dive into the energy of the Fremantle Markets, home to more than 150 stalls, or simply wander and get a feel for this port city’s easy charm.

Some days are best spent with no real plan, and Fremantle is made for exactly that. This is the kind of place where you can wander the foreshore, linger over lunch and find yourself happily settled in for the afternoon without trying too hard. A cold ale at Little Creatures is never a bad shout. If you’d rather get the inside track, join a Choice Experience to uncover the hidden corners and local haunts many visitors miss. Or head out on a Choice Experience to Rottnest Island, where turquoise water, sandy bays and those famously smiley quokkas are all part of the deal. Phone charged? You’ll want it.

Two national parks and a whole lot of contrast make today a good one. Your first stop is Yanchep National Park, where wetlands and bushland come together in a landscape that’s as significant as it is scenic. Join an Aboriginal guide for a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience and hear how stories are shared, listen to didgeridoo playing and get hands-on with traditional tools. Then it’s on to Nambung National Park, home to the Pinnacles, a strange and striking landscape filled with limestone formations that look more moon landing than mainland Australia. Later, in Geraldton, visit the moving HMAS Sydney Memorial and reflect on the stories it honours.

There’s a lot packed into today, and it starts with some of the Shark Bay region’s strangest natural wonders. Stop at Shell Beach, where billions of tiny white shells have built up into a dazzling shoreline, then visit Hamelin Pool to see stromatolites, living rock-like formations that have been doing their thing for thousands of years. It’s the kind of place that makes you look twice. Later, discover the region through Aboriginal eyes when you meet proud Nhanda man Darren ‘Capes’ Capewell. Hear stories, enjoy a didgeridoo performance and sample bush tucker cooked over a campfire. This is the kind of experience that stays with you.

This morning, keep an eye on the shoreline for Monkey Mia’s most famous locals. Wild dolphins regularly swim into the bay, and if they decide to make an appearance, National Park Rangers will introduce you to these much-loved regulars and explain their habits and personalities. Nothing is guaranteed, of course. They are wild dolphins after all, which is part of the magic. The rest of the day is yours to spend exactly as you please. Go for a barefoot wander, find a shady spot with a view or settle in for a slow afternoon by the water. There are worse places to do absolutely nothing.

Kalbarri National Park does drama very well. Over millions of years, the Murchison River carved through the landscape, leaving behind deep gorges, red-and-white sandstone and coastal cliffs that don’t exactly do subtle. To take it all in, step out onto the Kalbarri Skywalk, which juts 25 m (82 ft) beyond the gorge rim and hangs 100 m (328 ft) above the river below. Not one for anyone scared of heights. You’ll also meet an Indigenous guide for a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience and be welcomed to Country. Learn about bushfoods, medicine plants and the traditional uses of local flora, while hearing stories that reveal the region from an Aboriginal perspective.

Just when you think Western Australia has shown you every colour it has, Hutt Lagoon appears and changes the mood entirely. Depending on conditions, this famous pink lake can shift through shades from lilac to bubblegum and everything in between. From here, continue south to Perth, where your journey comes full circle. Tonight, join your Travel Director and fellow travellers for dinner and a final chance to relive the best bits from the past two weeks. There’ll be stories, laughs and probably a few ��remember when” moments before the trip wraps up.

After breakfast, it’s time to say goodbye to Perth and your fellow travellers. Two weeks ago you arrived as strangers. Now, after outback landscapes, big skies, beach sunsets and more than a few memorable moments along the way, chances are you’ll be leaving with a camera full of photos and a few new friends too.