Nature reveals her full spectrum of colours in the Golden Outback.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA Experience Extraordinary
Capture contrasts where red earth meets Australia's whitest sands at Lucky Bay and technicolour fields are filled with wildflowers found nowhere else on Earth.
Step into the world’s largest outdoor art gallery. Surf one of Australia’s biggest waves at Wave Rock. Climb Mount Augustus, a monolith that’s twice the size of Uluru.
Esperance
A beach and nature-lover’s dream, Esperance is blessed with squeaky-clean white sand, turquoise waters, untouched islands and colour-filled wildflower country. Among its most famous beauty spots is Australia’s whitest beach, Lucky Bay – set against a stunning seascape of 110 islands of the Recherche Archipelago, even the kangaroos can’t resist hanging out here.
It’s a one-and-a-half-hour flight or an eight-hour drive south-east from Perth, making Esperance an ideal get-away-from-it-all holiday. Many attractions are easily accessible, with plenty of guided tour options, but a four wheel drive is a must if you want to venture off the beaten track.
The calm, clear waters of Blue Haven Beach and Twilight Cove, just a short drive from town, are idyllic spots for swimming and snorkelling.
If you’re seeking waves, hit the surf at West Beach, Fourth Beach or Observatory Beach. To hook dinner, throw in a line out near Bandy Creek Harbour or try your luck rock fishing at Salmon Beach located out along the Great Ocean Drive.
Back in town, the adventure continues with four wheel drive beach safaris, Indigenous cultural tours, coach tours, island cruises, diving and fishing charters, sand boarding, canoeing, mini golf and steam train rides.
Check out the arts centre and galleries, making time to drop into the museum to view what’s left of the NASA Skylab after it slammed back down to Earth near Balladonia. On the way to Cape Le Grand, you’ll even find a slice of ancient druid history with a full-size replica of Stonehenge.
A good choice of hotels, motels, apartments, bed and breakfasts, chalets and hostels are available in Esperance. For something a little nearer to nature, hop on a ferry to Woody Island and pitch your tent or stay in a safari hut.
There’s also the chance to bunk down under the stars beside the beach at Lucky Bay. The campsite has solar hot showers, camp kitchens and barbecues, and bush walking trails and spectacular coastal views are just a few steps away.
Esperance
Kalgoorlie Super Pit
Kalgoorlie
The biggest city in the Australian outback, Kalgoorlie is a vibrant mix of gold rush history, grand colonial buildings and immense mining operations, surrounded by some of the most dazzling spring wildflowers and eerie gold-rush ghost towns.
You can get there by air, road, rail or guided tour from Perth. Flights and TransWA trains depart daily. Or, hit the Great Eastern Highway for the 600 kilometre (seven-hour) road trip from city to outback, stopping to ride one of Australia’s biggest waves at Wave Rock.
‘Kal’, as the locals call it, was born during the 1880s gold rush, when thousands of starry-eyed prospectors made the journey east of Perth to seek their fortunes. Today, their legacy lives on in magnificent architecture and one of the world’s largest open cut mines – the Super Pit. At 3.5 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide, the pit produces 900,000 ounces of gold each year and makes a mind-blowing experience for those who join the guided tour.
There are riches in Kalgoorlie’s centre too, particularly on Hannan Street (named after Irishman Paddy Hannan who struck gold in 1893) where you’ll find a buzz of lively bars, nightclubs, cafes and restaurants.
For a real slice of gold rush life and Goldfields culture, check out the Kalgoorlie-Boulder WA Museum, the Royal Flying Doctor’s Visitor Centre and the art galleries featuring the works of Aboriginal and Goldfields artists.
Venturing north to the vast salt pan of Lake Ballard, you’ll find yourself in the largest outdoor art gallery on Earth – the Inside Australia exhibit by world-renowned artist Antony Gormley. Continue further to Leonora and the ghost town of Gwalia, and you’ll stumble upon the home of America’s 31st President, Herbert Hoover.
Golfers should swing by the multi-million dollar international golf course that’s rapidly becoming one of the world’s top desert courses. It marks the beginning of the Nullarbor Links – the longest golf course on Earth.
Accommodation wise there are many options, from camping and caravan parks to hotels and motels. You’ll even find free 24 hour overnight caravan parking near the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire Office.
Kookynie
For an authentic Australian outback experience, visit Kookynie – a living gold rush ghost town on the Golden Quest Discovery Trail, with a quintessential goldfields pub and a host of gold rush relics to explore.
Located 8.5 hours east of Perth by car, the small town of Kookynie is 1 hour north east of Menzies or a 2.5 hour drive from Coolgardie.
In its gold rush heyday, following the discovery of gold in 1895, the booming hub of Kookynie had 1,500 residents, 6 hotels, a public baths and brewery.
Today, it’s practically a ghost town with just 13 permanent residents, but there are a number of buildings that bear testament to Kookynie’s heritage, including the Grand Hotel where you can enjoy a cold beer, a hearty meal and drink in the outback ambiance.
View the hotel’s collection of historic photographs, antique bottles and memorabilia. Stroll to the old shops and the Cosmopolitan Hotel ruins and imagine the life of a pioneering prospector during the gold rush with a visit to the Old Miner’s Cottage – the last timber and iron building in Kookynie from the turn of the 20th century.
Nearby, Niagara Dam was built in 1898 to provide plentiful fresh water for the railway linking Kalgoorlie with Menzies. This oasis in the wilderness is now a top spot for a picnic, refreshing swim or a night in a swag under the stars.
Whether you’re following the 965 kilometre Golden Quest Discovery Trail – a self-drive tour that takes in 25 sites of historic and Indigenous significance – or creating your own Goldfields adventure, be sure to include a trip to sculptor Antony Gormley’s Inside Australia exhibition.
Inside Australia on the flat salt lake of Lake Ballard, is the country’s largest world-class open air sculpture exhibit. Covering an area of 10 square kilometres, the art installation showcases 51 statues representing residents from the nearby town of Menzies.
If you’d like to make Kookynie your base, book a stay at the historic hotel or caravan park.
Kookynie Gold Rush
Fitzgerald National Park
Fitzgerald River National Park
Home to more than 1,800 beautiful and bizarre species of flowering plants, Fitzgerald River National Park packs 20 per cent of Western Australia’s plant species into 0.13 per cent of the State, creating one of the most diverse botanical regions on Earth. It’s also one of only three places in Australia where southern right whales come to calve in large numbers, giving you the chance to catch one of the greatest shows in the natural world.
A 6.5 hour drive south of Perth will bring you to the western edge of Fitzgerald National Park at beautiful Bremer Bay. Or, if you’re making it part of your southern coast adventure, it will take slightly over 3.5 hours drive east from Albany, or just over 2.5 hours drive west of Esperance.
Bushwalking, four wheel driving, camping, canoeing, swimming, surfing, fishing or whale watching – lovers of nature and the great outdoors will be in their element exploring this coastal paradise.
Of the more than 1,800 plant species recorded in the park, 250 are rare and 62 occur nowhere else on Earth. Many of these can be encountered in the distinctive quartzite coastal hills known as the Barrens.
The park’s extraordinary spongelite cliffs, left exposed in the Hamersley and Fitzgerald river valleys, have been 360 million years in the making – formed when sea levels were higher and the ocean flooded the coast up to 65 kilometres inland, leaving the Barren Ranges as islands.
Every spring, you can see these ancient landscapes are covered in a sea of colourful blooms. While winter welcomes the arrival of southern right whales for the annual calving season. Watch these gentle giants and their playful babies from the cliffs at Point Ann and the white sands of Trigelow Beach.
There are barbecues and toilets in the park, but no drinking water. So if you’re planning to camp out with the kookaburras and parrots, be sure to pack plenty of supplies. More budget and family-friendly options can be found in nearby Bremer Bay.
