Originally Posted by
becks1
Planning for 4th trip to Australia in August. I have to be at an event in Melbourne but would like to add on a week or two in the West as I've already done most of the East + Taz.
Interests: nature, beaches, hiking, history
Options I am considering:
- Perth + fly to Exmouth
- Broome
- Cocos - seems too far for the relatively short time I have
- Perth + wine country
Am I missing any interesting places? Any favorites?
Appreciate any ideas and thanks for your time!
Forget Cocos, there's plenty to do closer.
While you're in Exmouth, make the trip to Coral Bay (bout half hour drive I think). The snorkelling right off the beach there is better wayy than Exmouth (and most other places in the world), or you can do it by glass bottom boat. It's full of life and phenomenal. Whale Sharks and Manta Rays are possible from Exmouth if the season is right and is worth doing. There's natural parks - a nice gorge - around Exmouth as well. Will be freezing in August.
Broome is fine, I used to live in Port Hedland so it was my primary holiday spot. Nothing there I really enjoyed though - some dinosaur footprints, a nice beach etc. If you can get up further north to Derby (can be hard) you can get a seaplane out to the horizontal waterfalls on the Dampier Archipelago and cross them by jetboat if the tide is right. Definitely worth it, and they might run tours from Broome now.
Rottnest Island from Perth is an easy trip and I'd say worth it. Quokkas for days.
Wine country is great, but harder to fly to. Pemberton and Albany are worth a visit, though not necessarily for the wine. Carnarvon also has some great snorkelling near the blowhole, but its extremely inconvenient to get to, there's not much else to do unless you really like bananas, and the snorkelling is in extreme shallow water (less than knee deep) so won't take up to long. So not worth making a dedicated trip, but if you're passing through its worth a stop.