While Australians may still be under an overseas travel ban (not for long with this vaccine passport news, hopefully!), we need to look in our own backyard to get our travel fix. Again. And though many of the state borders are still closed, as of writing this, there’s no reason we can’t prepare.
If you’re considering where to go and are wanting some surreal scenes, Western Australia should be top of your list. In fact, the state is home to natural scenery so stunning, many of its sights will have you convinced you’re in Europe or the US.
We asked Perth Is OK!’s founders and WA travel experts Luke Whelan and Blake Kelleway to share a few of those spots. Here, they give us the best spots to go in WA to get your overseas travel fix.
Fitzgerald River National Park
If you’ve been wanting to hike your way through the mountains of Norway and get your photo snapped at Instagram spot Trolltunga, make a beeline for Fitzgerald River National Park near Hopetoun instead. The park is one of the largest and most botanically significant in Australia
Busselton Jetty
Scrapped trip to Russia mean you can’t check out the tallest indoor aquarium in the world in Moscow? Check out the natural aquarium at the end of Busselton Jetty — the longest timber piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere — instead.
Twilight Beach
Wish you were swimming amongst the white moon rocks of Milos in the Greek Islands? Twilight Bay in Esperance should remedy your white rock cave-wanderlust. To get to Esperance from Perth, take a 90-minute flight or drive for roughly a day.
Araluen Botanic Park
There’s something so magical about being surrounded by rows and rows of brightly coloured flowers. And while you can experience that in the tulip fields of Holland, you can also get a good feel for it Araluen Botanic Park in the Darling Ranges, about 30 kilometres south of Perth.
Bell Gorge
If Niagra Falls was part of your cancelled plans, clearly you’re a fan of waterfalls. While Bell Gorge in Kimberley’s rugged Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges Conservation Park is significantly smaller in size, it’s beautiful in its own right. To reach it, drive an hour off the Gibb River Road four-wheel drive track east of Derby.
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