Western Australia (WA) is Australia's largest State, about 8 times the size of Germany, or 10 times the size of Texas. It is isolated from Australia's eastern population (Perth to Sydney is approximately 4000 kilometres). Many of its vast natural treasures are yet to be 'discovered' by tourists.

However, despite the tyranny of distance, more people are making their way to the far side of the continent and going home gushing about the places they've seen and the things they've done. You can dive around desert islands and wrecks, swim with the whale sharks and dolphins, tour the wineries, historic towns and visit national parks bursting with wildflowers.

Perth, the vibrant and cultured capital city, home to 80% of WA's 1.8 million population is a good place to base a tour of the southern regions; Fremantle's laid back café culture, Rottnest Island's Diving, The HMAS Swan Wreck Dive in Dunsborough and the natural beauty of the great southwest coastline and vineyard region of Margaret River, Albany and Esperance.

North of Perth, as the highway stretches into ever-increasing distances between towns, the natural beauty unfolds before your eyes.

Shark Bay and Monkey Mia teem with marine life (including some of the friendliest dolphins around) and as seasonal home to the world's largest fish, the Whale Shark, Exmouth's Ningaloo Reef invitingly tempts you into the water.

Further north still, Broome is the base of the magnificent Kimberley region, one of Australia's last frontiers. It is an isolated region of mountain ranges, pearlers, great beaches, creeks and rivers and hiding some of the finest examples of Aboriginal Art to be seen anywhere. Broome is also the access point for the diving delights of the Rowley Shoals, offshore the northwest coast. Despite enormous advances in the past decade in the Kimberley region, this is still a little-travelled and remote area of magnificent scenery and cultural secrets.

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Perth | Margaret River Wine Region | Margaret River | Albany | Bunbury

• Exmouth-Coral Bay
• Broome-Rowley Shoals