Author: Mrs A
Continuing our incredibly difficult task of selecting a top 20 (in random order) favourite locations from our six months away, here are five which are (mostly) inland (or at least have lots of inland rather than coastal activities).
1. Kennedy Range National Park – Gascoyne Region, WA
Reason: This was unexpectedly beautiful. It was somewhat of a trek from Carnarvon on the coast, but well worth it. Some great walks, spectacular scenery and the serenity was unparalleled. We enjoyed a fabulous evening around the shared campfire exchanging stories and were awarded with a certificate for completing the escarpment walk! Another few hours’ drive from here is Mount Augusta which we didn’t make, but some of our fellow campers were heading out there for a dinner hosted by a famous chef. Definitely keep an eye out for that one if you’re in that direction – would be a great incentive to do the climb…
2. Wooleen Station – Murchison, WA
Reason: We heard about this location while chatting around yet another campfire and decided to head on over. Aussies among our readership may have heard about this place on Australian Story. It’s run by a young couple who are trying to make a difference to the ecology of the station, recovering damage to the land done in the 1930s. Very few people were camped there – just 4 or 5 caravans alongside the river, and Mr A and I walked for miles without seeing another human being. The history is fascinating, and we can hardly imagine the hardships of the first settlers dealing with 40+ degrees and little to no water or shelter.
3. Lane Poole Reserve – Dwellingup, WA
Reason: The day after I came out of intensive care, Mr A brought me here to recover. It was the perfect location. Fresh air, walks of any length, peace and quiet. I could read, doze and generally recover while he popped out on his bike to ride parts of the Mundi Biddi cycleway which winds its way though the forests here. Camping cat was very happy also! Another location rich in wildlife, flowers and great scenery – we enjoyed some glorious walks here too. Mr A even did a ride-paddle here.
4. Margaret River region – encompassing Busselton through to Margaret River
Reason: We had to include Busselton in this because of a) the great cycleways there – you can go for miles off road along the coast, extremely picturesque and b) our first night there we went for an early evening beverage opposite the jetty and made friends with Anne and Chris, owners of Brash Vineyard. We followed up an invitation to visit them and had an incredible tour and tasting, a highlight of our region’s visit. We camped at Big Valley, a sheep station just outside of Margaret River with rolling hills and a bike ride through the woods through to the village. We did some great tastings while there, and made some more friends we later caught up with in Adelaide. The Saturday morning markets were fabulous (and we saw an old friend from Sydney there!) and we felt that MR would be definitely up there as a place we could live, should we not have Curl Curl as our home! Make sure you stop at Bunbury Farmer’s Market on your way to or from Perth…you’ll see why when you get there….
5. Denmark – south coast of WA
Reason: Now this does break the rules a little bit as it is on the coast, but the majority of our activity here was inland. We stayed at a great campground on the river mouth, surrounded by rail trail cycleways which we made the most of. We didn’t realise Denmark was a wine region until we got there, and of course joined a tour to explore some of the offerings. We could have definitely spent a lot longer here, especially once we had seen the SupaIGA supermarket – definitely the best we had seen in the whole of Western Australia. Put it on your visit list!
That was so challenging! There are many more gorgeous locations around, including Walpole and Cape le Grand National Park, but these definitely were a cut above the rest
Where can you find these?
