We started our trip in Perth because it's the easiest access point to start exploring Western Australia. We spent three relaxing days there recovering from the long flight before heading off on a tour up the coast. 

Where to Stay and Transportation

We took Uber to and from the airport. The cost was 32.51 AUD (22.34 USD) on the way to Perth from the airport and 40.52 AUD (27.85 USD) on the way back. 

We highly recommend the Duxton Hotel. It's centrally located, extremely comfortable, and a short walk to the Swan River walking and bike path which is gorgeous. The cost was 291.56 AUD (271.00 USD). 

Top Experiences

Swan Valley Half Day Wine Tour

This was a lovely afternoon visiting three local wineries, a chocolate shop, and a brewery. The van picks you up from downtown Perth, so it's an easy meeting point. Our tour guide shared some fun facts about Perth before heading to the first winery. The weather was perfect and the cheese plate at the third winery was delicious! The company also offers a full day tour that includes lunch, but we opted for the half day tour because we were still recovering from a long travel day and jet lag. Cost: 112 AUD (77 USD) per person

Heirisson Island Kangaroo Sanctuary

This lovely sanctuary is on Heirisson Island and is free to visit. We saw four cute kangaroos. It's a fairly large island and it took some searching to find them. They were in an open field near the bridge to the island. When we walked through the gate, we went to the left and walked back toward the bridge and that's where they were. Not sure if they're often in that area or that's just where they happened to be. They're most likely to be spotted around dawn or dusk. We saw them around 7:30 am.

Swan River Walking and Biking Path and Lots of Gardens

Perth has plenty of beautiful green spaces. There is a long path along the Swan River that's great for morning walks, runs, or bike rides. You can actually take the path directly to the Kangaroo Sanctuary. There are also several gardens and parks throughout the city. Have fun roaming and exploring!

Where to Eat and Drink in Perth

• Folly's: Cute rooftop bar that has a good happy hour from 4-6 pm. We had wine for 10 AUD (7 USD) per glass. 
• Little Creatures Brewery: Excellent food and a good selection of beers. Beers were around 15 AUD (10 USD) each. And an entree of snapper with potatoes and veggies was 34 AUD (23.37 USD).
• Espresso and Prosecco: Large breakfast platter for 30 AUD ($23.82). This was easily large enough for two people and included eggs, bacon, grilled tomato, Italian sausage, hash brown, and toasted Italian bread. Tip: they'll substitute avocado for the tomato if you ask. :)
• The Wolf Espresso: Cute coffee shop with a good selection of drinks and pastries. Coffee and a slice of banana bread was 12.40 AUD (8.50 USD).
• Roll vs Bowl Murray: Excellent Vietnamese food! A large beef noodle bowl was 20 UAD (13.62 USD).

Western Australia

We signed up to do an 8-Day West Coast and Ningaloo Reef Tour with Autopia. Unfortunately on day 4, Cyclone Narelle caused evacuations and road closures along the east coast so our van had to turn around and head back to Perth. The full price of the tour was 4,251 AUD (2,922 USD) per person for two people sharing a room, including breakfast each morning. We did get a partial refund, but felt the company could have handled the refund situation better. That being said, we really enjoyed the part of the tour we were able to complete. Maximum capacity for the tour is 16 people and we only had 8 people on our tour, so it was a nice small group. 

Day 1: Perth to Geraldton

The highlight of Day 1 was walking through the otherworldly Pinnacles Desert in Nambung National Park with thousands of limestone spires rising from golden sand as far as the eye can see. We also stopped at Lake Thetis to take in the stromatolites, living structures descended from the earliest lifeforms on Earth and still quietly doing their thing some 3.5 billion years later.

Lunch was at Seashells Cafe in Cervantes, where a generous serve of fish and chips came to just 24 AUD (16.50 USD). Dinner was at Geraldton Motel, our accommodation for the night. The rooms and location were unremarkable, but the kitchen more than made up for it. A delicious salad of beets, halloumi, and chicken paired with two cold beers totaled 53 AUD (36.50 USD).

Day 2: Geraldton to Kalbarri

On day 2 we passed through the historic town of Northampton and made a stop at a First Nations community art gallery. Then we stopped at a pink lake. The color comes from algae growing in the lake and the saturation of the color changes based on the sun and weather. It was definitely cool to see! 

The afternoon was all about Kalbarri National Park, which was incredible. We started with a hike to a view point of Z Bend Gorge. It was a fairly short, but very hot hike so make sure you have water and sunscreen. There are lots of flies in the area, so you might want to bring a hat with a fly net to cover your head. And if you decide to hike down into the gorge, you'll need to start before 7am if you're traveling during certain months to avoid the extreme heat. And be sure to drink plenty of water and wear sunscreen! After the hike, we checked out Kalbarri Skywalk for even more views of the gorge. This is a flat path that is also wheelchair accessible, so a good alternative if you're not in the mood for a hike. Our last stop was another short hike to Nature's Window, a cool rock formation that frames the gorge in the photo above.

After that we headed back to the town of Kalbarri. Fish and chips at Kalbarri Motor Hotel was 41 AUD (28.40 USD), pizza was 25 AUD (17.75 USD), and beers were 13 AUD (9 USD) each. 

We stayed at Kalbarri Edge Resort. It's a great location with plenty of shops and restaurants nearby and a short walk to the Indian Ocean. The hotel cost was included in our tour, but if we booked on our own they would have been around 170 AUD (117 USD).

Day 3: Kalbarri to Monkey Mia

We started the morning with a Rock Lobster Pull tour from the Kalbarri Marina. The tour is normally 97 AUD (66 USD) per person, but was included as part of our overall 8-day tour. During the two-hour boat ride, the crew pulled up over 80 rock lobsters. They're limited to 80 per day, so a few lucky lobsters got thrown back in the ocean. Our small tour group of 8 people got to take 30 lobsters with us and our guide cooked them for dinner that night. Definitely the best meal of the trip!

After the boat ride, we drove to Shell Beach, which is exactly how it sounds. A lot of the beach is made up of tiny white shells instead of sand. It was a beautiful stop and a great place to stretch our legs.

From there we headed to Eagle Bluff to look out over Shark Bay. We didn't see any sharks, but the views were nice. After a short walk there, we ended our day at Monkey Mia Resort.

Day 4: Monkey Mia

We started our morning with the classic Monkey Mia dolphin experience where several dolphins swam right along the beach for around 30 minutes. Shortly after that, we headed out on a 2-3 hour marine life cruise. The cruise was 130 AUD (89 USD) per person, and we saw quite a few dolphins as well as dugongs. It's apparently difficult to spot dugongs, so we felt lucky that we got to see 10 or so during our cruise. We even saw a turtle near the dock as our boat was returning to the resort. Just before leaving the boat we were told the resort was being evacuated due to the incoming cyclone, so we were especially grateful that we were able to do the cruise before departing. 

Morning latte at resort: 7.24 AUD (4.96 USD)
Lunch at resort just before departing: 33.07 AUD (22.64 USD) for a large salad with chicken

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