nature travel, wildlife tours, adventure travel and general travel to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific

Australia: Western Australia

Another place off the usual visitor route, Western Australia is about as empty as it comes, with only 500,000 people living outside its capital of Perth. This in a State that comprises 40% of Australia's land mass. Think of it as the population of Lexington, Kentucky, being spread out over the entire US east of the Mississippi. Perth people feel a bit isolated; it's as far from Perth to the next Australian city as it is from London to Lenigrad.

In the south-western corner are forests full of wildlife, with specialties such as the Numbat, one of Australia’s few truly diurnal mammals, tiny kangaroos called bettongs, and the even tinier Honey Possum.

Further to the north are endless beaches where millions of shorebirds from Asia find respite during their travels, and just off-shore reefs equal in beauty, if not scope, to the Great Barrier Reef. At Ningaloo Marine Park from April to July the world’s largest fish, the 30ft+ Whale Shark, lounge offshore, where even snorkelers can get close. Don’t worry, these gentle giants feed on plankton, not people. As well as Whale Sharks, dugongs, dolphins, whales and sea turtles and over 180 species of coral can be found here.

If you have time, Western Australia can be a very different part of your Australia travel at any time of the year.

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