We've now been to five of the seven states in Australia! When we decided to do this second down under trip we knew we had to get to Western Australia. From the insanely gorgeous beach pictures on instagram, to the quokkas on Rottnest Island, swimming with whale sharks in the Ningaloo, and the famed sunsets... there's a lot to be seen out here.
Opposite side of the world
Our first stop was Perth, the largest city in Western Australia and deemed the most isolated city in the world. As one person I met in Perth put it, "everywhere is far from Perth". It's actually the completely opposite side of the world from North
Carolina, over 11,000 miles away, so it's officially the furthest we've been from home! It's less of a time difference though, only 12 hours now. Justin likes to think
how you guys are upside down compared to us or the other way around :)
Fremantle
We stayed in Fremantle for the first twelve nights, and that was a great decision. Freo is a port city with a very relaxed, artsy vibe. Our airbnb was a townhome inside a converted warehouse which was pretty cool.
our neighbors
One of the highlights of Freo for us was the Fremantle Markets. These are open from Friday to Sunday with all kinds of stalls... souvenirs, home goods, produce, gourmet food, and more. I think we went almost every day they were open on the days we were there. It was also just a 5 minute walk from our airbnb.
The Fremantle Markets
the sushi and mochi was so good!
One Sunday evening we stopped by to get produce for the rest of the week and I finally learned there is a sale Justin can't resist! All of the stall owners were trying to get rid of their fruit so they were selling 5 bags of fruit for $5aud... and there was a lot of fruit in each bag. Even though we already had one bag of fruit from a different stall Justin had to get this deal, so we went through quite a bit of fruit that week! Have no fear though, we managed to eat it all :) If you know Justin you know he hates to waste food, no exceptions.
part of our haul
The stall owners were so friendly and we kept returning to one in particular. Every time we bought stuff they would throw in an extra dragonfruit lol. We liked the sentiment but we just wish this fruit tasted better! It really doesn't taste like anything at all. The very last time we went we got a free leek though so at least they got better at their freebies.
The architecture of Freo was quite interesting, to me it almost felt like a movie set in some sense. It's almost more western style and was so different from anything we'd seen in Australia so far. Maybe more of the outback looks like this?
Freo is known for Cappuccino strip, you can see parts of it in the pics below. Basically it's the main road going through the center with tons of cafes, restaurants, and bars all with al fresco dining. The weather was gorgeous the whole time we were there so I can see why it's all about eating outdoors!
View from the Round House
Bathers Beach
yummy acai bowls
Justin being a big kid... we see these types of climbing trees on a lot of the playgrounds and always think this probably wouldn't be allowed in the US. Not sure though, haven't been to a playground in a while :)
We checked out the local brewery, Little Creatures, which was pretty good. The building the brewery is in used to be a crocodile center with viewing platforms on the second floor... hence the name little creatures :)
Little Creatures Brewery
We spent several afternoons walking down to our local beach, South Beach, which was about a 20 minute walk. It was all about dogs in that area as there was a dedicated dog beach and dog exercise area. We would walk down to the neighboring "no dogs allowed" beach but it was fun to see all the doggies! In Western Australia nothing is ever too crowded, so plenty of space to spread out on the beaches as compared to Sydney haha.
South Beach
And of course we had to see the insta-famous Freo rainbow containers... kind of a random location but fun to take pictures in front of :) The things instagram leads you to...
Margaret River
We chose the Margaret River as the weekend excursion for this part of the trip. The Margaret River is about a four hour drive south of Perth and is known for it's gorgeous beaches and wineries. We hugged the coastline on the way down to make sure we stopped along the way. First stop was the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere at 1841 meters long.
Busselton Jetty
We didn't actually walk down it though... we continued on to Eagle Bay, a peninsula south of Busselton.
Sugarloaf Rock
Always the big kid :)
Eagle Bay had so many places to stop and lookout, too many beaches to see them all! I loved the contrast of the red-tinted rocks and the turquoise water. The weather during our stay in WA has been perfect.
Canal Rocks
Canal Rocks
We made it to Prevelly! Our base for exploring the Margaret River. We prefer to be by the beach instead of the wineries :)
the Margaret River meeting the Indian Ocean
It was a little chilly our first full day in Prevelly so we decided to see one of the five caves this region is known for. We stopped by Jewel Cave, the largest of the five and about 45 minutes south of Margaret River. It was also Justin's first cave experience!
Jewel Cave is huge! The first chamber was massive and we descended 30 meters to the ground from where we started.
This cave wasn't discovered until 1957, and opened to the public just two years later. They've found the skeleton of a Tasmanian tiger in here among other animals.
Cave light show? It was pretty cool.
There were some tight squeezes along the way!
Do you see the camel?
Since we were further south for the cave we stopped by Hamelin Bay, famous for the resident wild stingrays that swim along the shoreline. We saw several by just walking down the beach, but didn't get any photos of them. To be honest there people running around trying to get photos with them and I just decided to enjoying watching them swim. Sometimes it's better to enjoy the experience rather than take photos (which likely wouldn't be good photos anyway).
This may be controversial, but ever since the Yarra Valley and our epic wine tour there let's just say neither Justin or I have wanted any wine. Unfortunately that continued in this region so we experienced the Margaret River sans wineries. Honestly there's a lot to see here outside of that. We prefer to be in nature anyway and wanted as much time to do that. We did stop by the local distillery which was fun! They make gin and whiskey, and even a hemp infused gin!
Post cave refreshments
The next day was warmer so we spent the entire day at our local beaches, Prevelly and Gnarabup. They were just stunning! We followed part of the cape to cape track between the two which had some neat lookouts. The cape to cape track is a four to five day walk, about 140km, so we would see people with their full hiking gear making their way along the coastline.
Prevelly Beach
The color of the water is just unreal out here!
Gnarabup Beach
We thought these were penguins from a distance haha
Sadly, we had to say goodbye the next day... we stopped at Surfer's Point on the way out to watch the morning surfers catching waves. Then it was time to head back to Perth!
Surfers Point
Beaches & Things Around Perth
Once we got back to Perth we stayed at Scarborough Beach to check out the beaches north of Freo. We've really enjoyed this area, the beaches stretch as far as you can see! There's a nice central area in Scarborough with a recreational pool, outdoor workout area, and a playground.
this kid was fascinated with Justin haha
Sunset Hill
Scarborough Sunset
Perth UpMarket
Swanbourne Beach
Cottsloe Beach
Downtown Perth
We ventured to downtown Perth one day which was fun to see. The city is beautiful with it's perch on the Swan River! There were awesome views of the skyline from King's Park.
Cool tree in King's Park
We crossed the bridge to the south side for some acai bowls :)
Views back to downtown across the Swan River
Perth obviously isn't nearly the size of Melbourne or Sydney, but we had fun walking around downtown.
Yagan Square
Supreme Court of Western Australia
The Bell Tower
We thought Elizabeth Quay was especially cool... nice view of the city and there was a brewery on the "island".
Elizabeth Quay
A bird on a bird haha
Sand boarding & The Pinnacles (+ Vlog!)
This outing happened to be the day after our Rotto vlogging day so I was on a kick of taking videos! Check out the vlog of this day here and watch us fail at sand boarding :)
Another day another road trip, this time north! Instead of doing a tour for the day I looked up where the tours go and we did it on our own. First stop, the Yanchep Koala Boardwalk.
We then stopped off at Lancelin, where we picked up two sand boards and
made our way to the sand dunes. It was a pretty cool experience, the
sand dunes were massive!
I failed at the snowboard style sand boarding
but enjoyed the board where you sit and slide down :) Justin had some
awesome runs snowboard style!
The Pinnacles were saved for last... and we weren't sure we would get
there in time before the sunset! Luckily we made it just in time :) The
lighting was actually really cool this late in the day.
To see the Pinnacles you can follow a trail through them or drive along the one way dirt road. We did the driving option since we were low on time... plus the Pinnacles were really spread out!
As we weaved our way through the Pinnacles the sun began to set... it was such a peaceful location to watch. Justin got some cool pictures of it.
Being there for sunset meant a two hour drive home though... I was a little concerned about kangaroos at night but we made it back safely. It also meant a 9pm dinner which was the latest I think we've ever eaten dinner. Justin does not want to do that again :)
I'll leave you with this, we of course thought of you all! <3
Western Australia has really captured our hearts and I could definitely see coming back out here. It's such a huge state you can't see it all even in four weeks. We are now in Exmouth, the home of the Ningaloo Reef, and I'm attempting to vlog our dives here :)
💙
Sarah
“Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of nowhere,
and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere you find yourself."
