Introduction
Western Australia is a third of the country, larger than most of Western Europe, and holds about a tenth of its population — almost all of them in one corner. Everything else is distance. That is the whole planning problem here and also the reward: a fringing reef you swim to from the sand rather than from a boat, a northern gorge country that takes days to reach and repays every one of them, and a wildflower season that turns the interior into something people fly across the world to walk through.
Discover Western Australia
Ningaloo runs along the state's mid-north coast and is the thing to build a Western Australian trip around. The distinction that matters: it is a fringing reef, sitting close inshore rather than far offshore, which means you walk off a beach, put your face in the water, and are immediately over coral. No boat, no hour-long transfer, no organised day. That alone makes it a fundamentally different experience from the country's more famous reef on the other coast. The other draw is the whale sharks, which gather here from roughly March to July — the largest fish in the ocean, entirely harmless, and swum with on licensed tours that carry limits on numbers and distance. Humpback whales pass through later in the year, and manta rays are present for much of it. The surrounding country is arid and red, running straight into the turquoise, and the range behind the coast holds gorges and canyons worth a day. It is a long way from anywhere, which is precisely why the water is as good as it is. The seasons for whale sharks, humpbacks and the rest of the country's marine life are collected on Australian wildlife.
Ways to Experience This Destination
A fringing reef entered straight off the beach rather than by boat, with whale sharks gathering roughly March to July and humpbacks later in the year.
Unsealed gorge country in the far north, open in the dry season only, with banded sandstone domes, enormous tides and major living rock-art traditions.
Limestone pillars standing in yellow desert, a beach made of shells metres deep, and living stromatolites among the oldest life forms on earth.
Thousands of species, many found nowhere else, blooming in a wave that moves down the state from around June to November.
Frequently asked questions
Cities in Western Australia
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