Exploring Western Australia

Mandurah is located at the entrance to Peel Inlet. Here you can enjoy sunbathing on lovely beaches, swimming, and fishing. It is also the gateway to the Austrian South West. The town is close enough to Perth, the capital of Western Australia to enjoy the vibrant life of the city and far enough to enjoy the wonders of nature.

Visitors to the town enjoy surfing, crabbing, dolphin watching, boating, swimming, fishing, and also world-class golfing.

Mandurah town center is situated around Mandjar Bay. It has a broad esplanade that is lined with restaurants and cafes. There are facilities for picnics and barbecues while people enjoy the environment. If you like you can go crabbing from the town jetty. Dolphins can be seen from the shore and they come swimming right into the bay. Mandurah has a rich arts and festival culture and street performances can be seen on the main foreshore in the summertime.

The town of Mandurah sits on the double-armed inlet of Harvey Estuary and the Peel Inlet, fed by the Serpentine, Murray, Harvey and Dandalup Rivers. A large man-made engineering feat, the Dawesville Cut was created so that development didn’t cause environmental problems. It lets flushing water flow between the ocean and inlet. Amazing city planning has created canal housing developments along the waterways of the cut, Where the cut meets the Indian Ocean one can do lots of fishing and even bag the huge jewfish. Mandurah has been also called Crab City because of the many large crabs in its waters.The Mandurah Boat and Fishing Show, Crab Fest, Stretch Arts and Community Festival are community event which are held every year.

A major tourist attraction and a bustling city is Bunbury. This city is located two hours south of the capital of Western Australia – Perth. It is linked by rail, air and road. Bunbury offers great shopping, had some of the state’s beat restaurants and an active nightlife. The city is on a peninsula that has clean, clear waters on both sides. There are many different events held here throughout the year including the Bunbury Show in April.

This city has often been called the dolphin capital of Western Australia. It is easy to get to see the gentle dolphins up close here. The Bottlenose dolphins make a regular visit to Koombana Bay where visitors to the Dolphin Discovery Center have a chance to interact with the dolphins on the beach. The best way to watch these dolphins surf and play in their natural environment is to get out on the bay on a cruise boat or a swim tour both of which operate from the center.

Close to Bunbury visitors can engage in adventures in the Geographe Wine Region. The town which surround this city have their own unique charm and history.

Donnybrook is a rural town that has become famous for its orchards, arts and crafts and growing wine industry. The produce from this town is delicious and visitors are encouraged to pick their own fresh fruit right from the tree.

The city of Busselton holds the Festival of Busselton every January. Events here include outdoor cinemas, a log chop, children’s treasure hunt, chalk art competition, float parade, sand castle competition, a fishing clinic and much more. One of the most popular events is Petticoat Lane when Busselton’s CBD is closed for the evening and around 8000 people look through 200 stalls for bargains or food. The city’s closing night concert features Aussie rock icon Daryl Braithwaite live onstage with a fantastic fireworks display bringing the festival to a close.

Geographe Bay is a well-known seaside destination for family holidays. More and more tourists are discovering it every year. There are many interesting national parks to explore. The seaside towns of Busselton and Dunsborough are located along the sandy shores of Geographe Bay. There are calm beaches that are protected from harsh winds and are popular with swimmers, fishermen, scuba divers and snorkelers. Both of these town hold the prestigious title of the top tourism towns in Western Australia.

Yallingup is located on the western side of Cape Naturaliste. It is surrounded by lovely, rugged cliffs, rolling green hills and native bushland. Yallingup is world-famous for its wonderful surf breaks and sandy beaches and coves. There are many accommodation choices for tourists such as caravan, camping and chalet services as well as serviced apartments, resorts, luxury retreats and B&Bs.

In the Margaret Wine Region are more than 80 wineries that offer tastings and sales from the cellar door. A great many of them are within an hour’s radius of Dunsborough.

The Wonder of Hyden and Kondinin

While in Western Australia it is wonderful to visit the attractions in and near the town of Hyden. The town is surrounded by farmland and wheat fields. The town also offers visitors hotels for overnight stays, bistros, bakeries, cafes and restaurants. There is also a choice of motels and cottages, a backpackers hostel and caravan park.

At Wave Rock Wildlife Park you can meet up with rare white kangaroos and koalas.

While in the region you can also visit the historic farming town Kondinin which counts as the gateway to granite country and the famous Wave Rock. Kondinin sits right in the heart of wheat and sheep farming country.

The most spectacular attraction is the 27 million year old Wave Rock. It is made up of grey and red granite strips and hangs over everything just like an amazing 15 meter high wave that is about to break. All about you can also see different granite rock plants, ancient Sheoaks, Lichen Carpets, Creeping Mosses and Sticky Drosera insect eater plants. The Wave Rock has become a major tourist attraction.

It also connects visitors to the Granite and Woodland Discovery Trail to explore the world’s largest and healthiest temperate woodland. Of interest there is also the wildflower-filled Yeerakine Rock.

If you visit in the months of September and October you’ll see the most colorful and largest collection of wildflowers on Earth.

The Kondinin Bush Walk takes people through 50 hectares of natural woodland to nearby Kondinin Lake – a popular bird watching, water skiing and wind surfing spot.

This town also takes visitors for a walk through history, following the Bush Schools Trail or the J.S. Roe Heritage Trail passing by an amazing mural that depicts his epic 1848 journey, a replica well and some fine examples of the town’s original architecture. Other attractions include an 18-hole golf course that surrounds Woorkakanin Rock. You can rest for a bit at the Women’s Suffrage gazebo and garden and if you wish to stay overnight the town has hotel/motel and bed and breakfast accommodations and a caravan park and camping grounds.

Not far from the town of Hyden, visitors can see Hippo’s Yawn a rock which looks like a yawning hippo. After exploring the rock you can enjoy some coffee at the coffee shop, visit the wildlife park and check out the replica Pioneer Town.

Close-by you can find Mulka’s Cave with walls covered with a collection of more than 420 ancient rock paintings.

Visitors can get a picturesque view over the town of Narembeen from Roe Lookout. There is an old well dating back to the mid-1800s. Early settlers came to the area to get drinking water from this well and it still supplies water today. In the lovely surrounding of nature you can have a picnic and walk around the summit of Emu Rock Hill Rock, where the lookout is located.

The wonderful town of Narembeen is located in the central wheat belt and was established in the early 1900s. You can learn of its history in several museums and the old Cumminin homestead. Narembeen is mostly a farming town. The region has many lovely, purple flowered jacaranda trees and native merritt trees grow in abundance. These trees were historically used by Aboriginal people to make spears since they are strong, straight wood.

At the Grain Discovery Center there are interactive displays that tell the story of Western Australia’s grain industry from the paddock to the plate.