Things to Do in Western Australia

One of the most popular visitor attractions of Geographe Bay and part of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, Ngilgi Cave is an expansive natural wonder. The series of underground caves and tunnels are filled with dramatic stalactites, helictites, shawls, and shimmering deposits of calcite crystal.

With 122 almost entirely uninhabited islands and a vast expanse of coral reef stretching along the Coral Coast, the Abrolhos Islands are Western Australia’s answer to the Great Barrier Reef. Visit for world-class snorkeling, wreck dives, marine life, and bird sightings.

The Round House, a historic 12-sided building, was built in 1831 and is the oldest public building in Western Australia. Travelers can tour this unique architectural destination and learn about the original settlement, as well as how this iconic building was once used to house local lawbreakers.

Visitors can learn about the Fremantle Round House's colorful past and also get an up close look at the famous Whaler’s Tunnel—the oldest underground tunnel in Western Australia. Completed in 1838, the original tunnel spanned some 64 meters, but today measures just 46. And while the 1 p.m. sound call that once rang out daily to alert ships on sea to the official time no longer occurs, travelers can sometimes catch a reenactment ceremony put on by some of the Fremantle Volunteer Heritage Guides.

Just 45 minutes from Perth, Penguin Island is an engaging ecotourism destination. Home to over 1,000 of the world’s smallest penguins, the island is teeming with animal activity. Attend a penguin feeding presentation, look to the skies for signs of seabirds, or search the seas for a glimpse of dolphins or a rare Australian sea lion.

Western Australia’s Pink Lake, or the “Hutt Lagoon,” makes for some spectacular photo opportunities—a bright bubble gum-pink pool that stands in stark contrast to the azure ocean just to the west. The inland sea is a natural phenomenon, caused by its resident algae, and it’s one of just a handful of its kind in the world.

Located just outside of Broome, Gantheaume Point is one of the region’s most impressive natural landmarks and serves as an important paleontological site. The red-rock cliffs contrast with the waters of the Indian Ocean below and offer spectacular photo opportunities.

One of Australia's most stunning stretches of coastline, Cape Leveque, located on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula, has been home to Aboriginal communities for some 7,000 years. Visit to see the area’s brick-red cliffs, pearl-white sand, and clear blue water, explore the remote landscape, and learn about the local Aboriginal communities.

When it opened in 1899, the Perth Mint was the third branch of Britain’s Royal Mint in Australia. Today it produces gold, silver, and platinum bullion coins and bars. Visit to see exhibitions about Western Australia’s gold rush history and collections of rare gold nuggets and coins.

Perched on Australia’s southwestern tip, the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse has been standing watch over the meeting point of the Indian and Southern oceans since 1895. The 128-foot-tall (39-meter landmark and its grounds provide scenic photo ops and the chance to spot dolphins and whales, depending on the time of year.

The oldest inland town in Western Australia, York was settled in 1831 and is known for its heritage architecture. With a location on the Avon River in Avon Valley, York is an easy day trip destination from Perth, one that offers history, culture, countryside scenery, and adventure activities.

Town Beach is one of many sandy spots in Broome, and its main attraction is its water playground that dominates the foreshore. Built for kids of all ages, the playground is designed to be all-inclusive, enabling children of all abilities to play. A range of sprayers including a whale tail sprayer, mistry twisty, sneaky soakers and froggy-o-sprayer are set up to provide a fun play environment. The playground operates on a cycle that randomly repeats and is activated when a start button is pressed.

Safety is paramount here. Soft-fall ground covering ensures a non-slip environment, and the water is UV filtered and chlorinated. A designated area for disabled children includes a self-propelling, custom built, water submersible wheelchair that is available for free hire.

While the playground is a huge part of the attractions of Town Beach, the beach itself is also popular. Besides the bay being a calm swimming spot, the grassy foreshore also offers a great place for picnics. Just beside the playground sits the Town Beach Café, serving coffee, pastries and more.

For those road-tripping up the coast of Western Australia, perhaps from Perth to Exmouth, a stop in Lancelin is easy and convenient. Visiting Lancelin from Perth on an organized day trip often includes additional attractions such as Caversham Wildlife Park, the Pinnacles Desert, or the Swan Valley wine region. Once there, sandboards can be rented in town for your own sandboarding enjoyment.

The largest cemetery in Australia, Broome Japanese Cemetery was established at the beginning of Broome’s pearling industry.

In the early days of the pearling industry at Broome, many Japanese men worked as divers. Most of the headstones in the Japanese Cemetery pay tribute to the hundreds of individual divers who died whilst pearling – either from drowning or from the bends (decompression sickness). There are also monuments to catastrophic events, such as a large stone obelisk for those who drowned at sea during a cyclone in 1908. Such cyclones were relatively common in the area, and cyclones in 1887 and 1935 claimed the lives of around 250 Japanese divers between them.

There are 919 Japanese are buried in the cemetery. Many of the headstones are simply marked by colored rocks carried from Broome’s beaches. Before the Japanese became divers, the industry survived by kidnapping local Aboriginal people and training them to dive for pearls. Only 50 metres south of the main Japanese Cemetery lies the Aboriginal section of the cemetery. Unlike the Japanese section, the Aboriginal graves are largely unmarked and unattributed.

Tunnel Creek National Park is one of the Kimberly region’s most famous attractions. Though small in size compared to the other national parks that cover the Kimberly region, at just 91 hectares, Tunnel Creek has a huge attraction – being home to Australia’s oldest cave system.

Tunnel Creek is located in the Napier Range, the same range as the nearby Geikie Gorge. The remains of an ancient reef system formed 350 million years ago, the limestone that forms Tunnel Creek is what makes this region so ancient. The tunnel of tunnel creek runs for 750 meters. It reaches a maximum height of 12 meters, and a maximum width of 15 meters. There are a number of animals making their home in the caverns, including at least five species of bat, which led to the cave’s nickname of The Cave of Bats. Freshwater crocodiles occasionally take up residence in the large pools of water that dot the floor of the cave.

Tunnel Creek became famous in the late 1800s as the hideout of the Aboriginal outlaw and leader Jandamarra. The cave has been used by the Aboriginal people for hundreds of years, and the walls are covered in their artworks.