Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Our first lot of Visitors are arriving later this year, then it opens the floodgates :rolleyes:

Can anyone recommend what their 'visitors/family/friends' really enjoyed doing in and around Perth.

We loved Dunsborough/Margaret River so will send them off there for a couple of nights. Bt what about up North? I know we would love to go a long way up, but time may not permit our family..........?

Would love some ideas. We've only been here 3 months and haven't really been doing the 'tourist' thing.

Sorry if this has been asked before. If anyone has a link to another thread then I would be very grateful.

Mrs J

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

We've had 5 or 6 different sets of guests come over in the past few years, everyones enjoyed doing the trip down the swan river (or vice versa) on the
boat where you get the commentary (get out the front and enjoy the view)
Kings Park is nice to walk around with good views etc (picnic opportunity)
Rottnest can be ok (we hired some Kyaks there which was really good) try to avoid it when the schools have broken up.
Caversham Wildlife Park, always a good excuse to head in to the swan valley for some wine/beer/food as its just around the corner ;)
Margaret River etc have always gone down well.
Eating and drinking out in Freo and Subi seem fairly popular.
Going to the beach.
I havent personally been but a few guests have been up to Ningaloo Reef and said it was excellent, others have done Broome which was also good.

There's heaps more that other will think of.
Steve :)

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

I know it's only a 'half a day' thing, but you could visit AQWA at Hillarys, it's beautiful... You've probably already been as you only live along the road, but if you haven't I would definitely recommend it.... www.aqwa.com.au
Plus you can push your favourite rels in the tank and they can see the sharks up close and personal :D

Then go along the Harbour and have your lunch or whatever, there's quite alot to do, I really love it there, it's really nice.... Just avoid the 'Spiritual Healing Clinic' sometimes held there :D

Also, the Dolphin Swim Tour at Rockingham, you get picked up at Perth City Bus Station and everything is done for you, and you get a sandwich, what more do you want... It's $150 per person, but you can pay just $60 and do the Dolphin watch... www.dolphins.com.au

and Perth Zoo www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au which is even open xmas day!

I want to do the Prison Tour, has anyone done that?

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Oh yes, absolutely brilliant.

I've done the day tour and the night tour. My advice - do the night tour, it's bl**dy terrifying.. :scared: .

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

My mate says you have to paddle in a boat, is this true or is she just winding me up? And why was it so terrifying?????????????? I'm all excited now! :D Give me all the gen..... can you take kids or is it not advisable? Questions, questions.... bet you wish you hadn't replied...

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

The boat tour is a new one, I've not done that but it sounds good - you go into all the tunnels under the prison.

On the night time tour you are told to "expect the unexpected" I'm not going to spoil any surprises but I wouldn't take small kids, or anyone with a heart condition...

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Don't think we'll do the night time tour then, unfortunately, kids would probably pass out quietly.. :D

Please tell me it's better than York Dungeons though....

Has anyone been to Monkey Mia? My son has a book on it and it looks brilliant...

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Hi!

When are you planning for?

In January, we went south, because it's cooler.
Also, if you don't have that much time, there's more to see/do south, closer together. North is great too, but longer driving distances in between things. It is worth it to go sometime though, but I wouldn't go in Dec/Jan/Feb! If going north I would go to Nambung National Park (pinnacles), Geraldton, Kalbarri, Shark Bay(shell beach, monkey mia, etc), and maybe further to Exmouth etc.

On our trip in January (10 days), we did:
Bunbury(friends there, but went to see the dolphins, and went to Forrest Beach near Capel), Busselton, Dunsborough/Yallingup/Grace Town, Margaret River (1 night), Augusta(one night), Bridgetown(1 night), Walpole(2 nights), Albany (2 nights), and drove back up via Albany hwy, about 4 hours.


Here's a whole thing I've done on a trip south for friends, who had already 'done' Margaret river way, so this is more for Bridgetown, Walpole, Albany.
First normal sized town after Bunbury is Donnybrook(this is if you go
south inland, not along the coast to Busselton). Just before you enter the
town, there's a turn off for the 'Big apple'. Can't rememeber if you can go in
it or not(don't think so), it's been years..., but might be funny for kids.

Then you've got Balingup, where you could have a 'magic mushroom pie'(or
any other sort of homemade pie ), there's also some other stuff down there.

Then Bridgetown(where I lived from 92 -96) :
http://www.bridgetown.wa.gov.au/tourism
In Bridgetown 'centre' you could go to Pip's Pottery. Then a little further into town there's The Cidery(you can eat there too).
If you've got a decent map, you might be able to find 'Sutton's Lookout' too. From that hill, you look into the beautiful valley where we had our
house(just out of town).
After Bridgetown you come to Manjimup. Not much there. Just south of Manjimup is the Diamond Tree.
http://www.southernforests.com.au/pr...ing.asp?id=305
Very similar to the Gloucester Tree in Pemberton, one of the 3 trees that were used to spot Bush fires.

On the way to Walpole there's also a few nice stops.
Both are dirt roads, about 8km each way to get to each.
I think you pass Fernhook Falls first, to the left. It's part of a
national park, can't think of the name... You can do a small walk there. It
should
look good now, with all the rain we've had!

Then later on(or earlier on), there's a turnoff to the right, to
Mandalay Beach. I think it's 10kms, which might be a bit far for 'just a beach',
but it is a nice beach etc. (no town or anything though)

Around Walpole there's heaps. http://www.walpole.org.au/
Just south is the Giant Tingle Tree.
http://walpole.southernforests.com.a...ting.asp?id=72
Then further down is the Valley of the Giants.
http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/tourism/va...he_giants.html
And a little bit further than that(you're halfway to Denmark(http://www.denmarkvisitorcentre.com.au/ ) by now...) is William
Bay.
There is Green Pool and Elephant Rocks. Very, very nice spots. http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/national_p...nth/william_ba
y.html

If you make it down further to Albany, there's heaps to do there too:
http://www.albanytourist.com.au/pages.asp?code=40
You've got the Gap, and Natural Bridge etc. And Whale World.
And two people Bay, with the gorgeous 'Little Beach'.

Some idea's if you'd like to stay in Bridgetown:
http://members.westnet.com.au/bridgetowncc/ (cottages next door to our
old house, a bit older, but nice area and lots of animals.)

http://www.sunnyhurstchalets.com.au/ (up the road from the country
cottages, nice view, a bit newer(built by my dad in 1995 or so). Also lots of animals, and next door is Sunnyhurst Winery(at the house our friends used to live in)

In Walpole we've always stayed at Rest Point Holiday Park, which is a
very nicely located caravan park, with on site vans and 'apartements'(not
very fancy ones, but good enough for us, luxury compared to on site vans). Don't have their own website though,...
http://www.walpole.org.au/restpoint.html
Don't really know anything else personally in Walpole, but there is heaps http://www.walpole.org.au/Stay.htm



Have fun planning!! :D

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Its been ages since I was in Perth (nearly 5 years :scared:) But one of the things I found amazing on a day trip from there was The Pinnacle Desert. Maybe beacuse I love taking photos and there was so much material but I loved it.
Went South too which was gorgeous. Oh now you've got me thinking how much I'd love to go on a little holiday west... :D

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

The dinner trip on the Swan River is lovely. Depart from Barrack street jetty cruise along the river eating and drinking and admiring the nightlights of Perth. Best done on a friday night if you want a photo of the lights.

Another good one for visitors (although prob not on a winter's day) is the swan valley wagon trail. Basically 8 people in a horse drawn wagon clip-clopping through the back lanes, stopping at vineyards, olive farms, and the chocolate factory and sampling everything along the way. Its a great day out. the website is http://www.swanvalleywa.com/

If any of your visitors like shopping, Napoleon Street in Cottesloe is lovely and has some unusual stuff. Great Kids clothes shop there as well but expensive.

Guildford is a nice place to explore and has a lot of history. Have lunch in the 1841 restaurant at the Rose & Crown.

Also New Norcia with is monastries etc is good for a day out.

As others have said, Pinnicles, freo prison & Rockingham Dolphins are all great.

A point to note about dolphins, Rock'ham Dolphins are very expensive, so if you want to save some money go to the Dolphin Centre at Bunbury, costs you $6 to get in and you can swim with the wild dolphins when they come in to shore, which they do most days. You also get 3 return tickets to come back (free) within 6 months, so if you dont see/swim with dolphins one day you get to try again and it costs nothing. Much better value than RD which is about $150 for a one off attempt. the only thing is that RD is boat based but the Dolphin Centre is beach based. However we always just take a picnic with us & sit on the beach and wait. (you can be waiting a few hours) When the dolphins come in we all dash into the water and swim out. Still a nice relaxing beach day if they dont come. Also have a dolphin "museum" there which interesting.

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Some great ideas here........pinched a few myself...anyone have a link to the Bunbury dolphins or are they just wild and you have to take 'pot-luck'
I have my rellies here in a few weeks and want to give them the time of their lives. Better win the Lotto first!!!
Anymore ideas greatly appreciated!

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

http://www.dolphindiscovery.com.au/

When we went (2nd of Jan, 8 am), there was one dolphin. Couldn't swim with it though, had to all stand in a line, couldn't go near it, just like in Monkey Mia.
THe day before we were at Forrest Beach near Capel (you can 4WD on the beach there!), a dolphin swam past! Didn't come close though, and couldn't get to it, because there were millions of little jellyfish!! :eek: (like tiny ones, we couldn't even see them when we first waded into the water(the people that dived in got stung, but didn't hurt to much)

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

We have had five lots of visitors in past year, and ventured down South ourselves and loved it, stopped at many of the places that Simone recommended on way down to Albany, also stopped at Pemberton and Denmark. Have listed some of what we have done with visitors that I can remember off top of my head, prob miss loads out...

Perth City Tram Tour
Perth Mint
Western Australian Museum (in city, lots of interactive stuff for children)
Kings Park
Aqwa and Hillary’s Boat Harbour
Whale Watching trip from Hillarys (think they run Sept -Dec), saw them close up
Perth Zoo
Swan Valley Wineries
Caversham Wildlife Park & Whiteman Park
Yanchep National park, also have Yanchep Inn there which is great old fashioned pub
Horse riding at Yanchep Stables (they also do camel riding)
Fremantle - Maritime Museum, Markets, Round House, Little Creatures brewery and loads more
C Restaurant - if you are looking for fab place to eat and treat people to views - http://www.crestaurant.com.au/
Pinnacles
Lancelin
Gingin - great pub there
SciTech (West Perth, great for children too)
Rottnest Island
Cottesloe
Hotham Valley Trains - we did trip to Pinjarra
And of course, the beaches, shopping etc etc

Our friends are up at Coral Bay at the moment, they said its great and having a fabulous time, did take about 12 hours to drive there. Really depends of who is coming as some can be higher maintenance than others!!

Hope that helps a bit!

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

WOW!!!

Thankyou all so much. Really appreciate all the tips.

Keep 'em coming!!!

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

The More River is a beautiful spot, its where the More River meets the sea, theres not much else there though, so dont forget the picnic and heskey. Oh its about 50/60k north of Perth.

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

You mean the Moore River at Guilderton? :)
Yep, it's a very nice spot!
There is a bit there, it's a little holiday town with a caravan park and a cafe/shop/snackbar.
:)


Good list Teresa, you've covered most of the major things!

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Yes typing in a hurry I missed an 'o' out.

http://www.savemooreriver.org/pics/mouth3.jpg

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

If anything in Australia is the most memorable for me, its the Scuba diving.
Maybe the Adults could do some scuba diving. I bet it'll be the most memorable part of the trip.

A wine tour in the swan valley is good, and a great reason to bet pi**ed! Also alot of Kangaroos around that area around sunset. If you drive into the Vines you can see them at night eating all the flowers in people gardens. You can drive right up to them with the headlights on near the golf course.

Fish and chips at hillary's boat harbour.

Just a few things we did when we were there.

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

[QUOTE=Simone]Hi!

When are you planning for?

In January, we went south, because it's cooler.
Also, if you don't have that much time, there's more to see/do south, closer together. North is great too, but longer driving distances in between things. It is worth it to go sometime though, but I wouldn't go in Dec/Jan/Feb! If going north I would go to Nambung National Park (pinnacles), Geraldton, Kalbarri, Shark Bay(shell beach, monkey mia, etc), and maybe further to Exmouth etc.

On our trip in January (10 days), we did:
Bunbury(friends there, but went to see the dolphins, and went to Forrest Beach near Capel), Busselton, Dunsborough/Yallingup/Grace Town, Margaret River (1 night), Augusta(one night), Bridgetown(1 night), Walpole(2 nights), Albany (2 nights), and drove back up via Albany hwy, about 4 hours.


Here's a whole thing I've done on a trip south for friends, who had already 'done' Margaret river way, so this is more for Bridgetown, Walpole, Albany.
First normal sized town after Bunbury is Donnybrook(this is if you go
south inland, not along the coast to Busselton). Just before you enter the
town, there's a turn off for the 'Big apple'. Can't rememeber if you can go in
it or not(don't think so), it's been years..., but might be funny for kids.

Then you've got Balingup, where you could have a 'magic mushroom pie'(or
any other sort of homemade pie ), there's also some other stuff down there.

Then Bridgetown(where I lived from 92 -96) :
http://www.bridgetown.wa.gov.au/tourism
In Bridgetown 'centre' you could go to Pip's Pottery. Then a little further into town there's The Cidery(you can eat there too).
If you've got a decent map, you might be able to find 'Sutton's Lookout' too. From that hill, you look into the beautiful valley where we had our
house(just out of town).
After Bridgetown you come to Manjimup. Not much there. Just south of Manjimup is the Diamond Tree.
http://www.southernforests.com.au/pr...ing.asp?id=305
Very similar to the Gloucester Tree in Pemberton, one of the 3 trees that were used to spot Bush fires.

On the way to Walpole there's also a few nice stops.
Both are dirt roads, about 8km each way to get to each.
I think you pass Fernhook Falls first, to the left. It's part of a
national park, can't think of the name... You can do a small walk there. It
should
look good now, with all the rain we've had!

Then later on(or earlier on), there's a turnoff to the right, to
Mandalay Beach. I think it's 10kms, which might be a bit far for 'just a beach',
but it is a nice beach etc. (no town or anything though)

Around Walpole there's heaps. http://www.walpole.org.au/
Just south is the Giant Tingle Tree.
http://walpole.southernforests.com.a...ting.asp?id=72
Then further down is the Valley of the Giants.
http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/tourism/va...he_giants.html
And a little bit further than that(you're halfway to Denmark(http://www.denmarkvisitorcentre.com.au/ ) by now...) is William
Bay.
There is Green Pool and Elephant Rocks. Very, very nice spots. http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/national_p...nth/william_ba
y.html

If you make it down further to Albany, there's heaps to do there too:
http://www.albanytourist.com.au/pages.asp?code=40
You've got the Gap, and Natural Bridge etc. And Whale World.
And two people Bay, with the gorgeous 'Little Beach'.

Some idea's if you'd like to stay in Bridgetown:
http://members.westnet.com.au/bridgetowncc/ (cottages next door to our
old house, a bit older, but nice area and lots of animals.)

http://www.sunnyhurstchalets.com.au/ (up the road from the country
cottages, nice view, a bit newer(built by my dad in 1995 or so). Also lots of animals, and next door is Sunnyhurst Winery(at the house our friends used to live in)

In Walpole we've always stayed at Rest Point Holiday Park, which is a
very nicely located caravan park, with on site vans and 'apartements'(not
very fancy ones, but good enough for us, luxury compared to on site vans). Don't have their own website though,...
http://www.walpole.org.au/restpoint.html
Don't really know anything else personally in Walpole, but there is heaps http://www.walpole.org.au/Stay.htm





Fab info,thanx, karma on it's way....do you any info on ningaloo reef?

Lynn

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

No worries! :D

Ha, no! That's one of the major tourist spots I've never been in my total of 10 years here! THe other is Rottnest Island!!
I think I've been everywhere else.... except the Gibb River rd(right up in the Kimbereleys) I think! :D

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

The Kimberleys are right up on my list of places I'd love to see. They sound sooo spectacular. I went from Darwin down the West Coast when I was a smelly backpacker but our car wasn't reliable enough to go into the wilder parts. My ex boyfriend was a 'ringer' (from what I gather a kind of Aussie cowboy) up there and it sounded amazing.
Oh I've got itchy feet! I need a break from the city I think!

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

oo, ooh, this looks gorgeous - I shall get myself up there (never mind the guests) as soon as this bleedin' rain stops! :D

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Thanks so much to you all - again!!

Our rellies are coming November, January and February. Hope they can cope with the heat!

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Yep, it's great!

On Pascal and my (?!) trip in 2000, we just went on the bus, so stopped at Broome, and Kununnurra only(where we only went into the 'hidden np', just outside town, like a mini bungle bungles)

But, I also lived just south of Broome(Bidgadanga) when I was 8 for 10 months. In that time the main trip I remember was up to Cape Levique, which is really nice, but very remote!!

And later we lived in Nullagine (the Pilbara), and we went on road trips to 'Woody Woody'(I think it's part of Rudall River NP), but got stopped by a flooded river. And of course we've been to Karajini NP(Hamersley Ranges).

It's great up there, wouldn't want to live there though!
We will have to go again sometime, but will need two weeks at least. And with not much annual leave, and Pascal's parents visiting in Dec again, we won't have much left for big trips! (can't go with his parents, it will be too hot, and they wouldn't like all the driving)

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

How many hours driving do you reckon from perth to ningaloo and what's the kimberly's?
Lynn

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

We took our visitors to Mundaring Weir, which we love. It's on the map. :)

Rottnest was brilliant too.

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

It's about 1,2600ks to Exmouth, bout 1,100 to Coral Bay - so I guess that's about 14 hours driving. We always do it over a couple of days.

The Kimberley, well - Broome is about 2,300 which is the start of the Kimberley and Kununurra is about 3,300 - this is when you begin to realise how big this place is.

I did Perth to Broome on a motorbike once and took me 4 days. I guess if you were sharing the driving and going around the clock (make sure you have a roo bar) then it could take a bit over 24 hours.

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

I loved it up at Mundaring Weir - the Mundaring Weir Hotel is great too. Felt like I was back in Shropshire, beautiful victorian tiled floors etc. Good pub food too. Great setting. I think they do out door concerts there in the summer.

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

EDIT: this reply was typed at about 9.30! I see Renth has given some good answers since then!
I agree, Mundaring Weir (hotel) is a nice spot. We stayed there for one night in November, was ok, food was great.



State is divided into area's or whatever they're called.
Kimberley's is right up the top: Broome, Kunnunurra, Derby, Gibb River rd etc
Pilbara is Port Hedland, Nullagine, Newman, and some more...
Then I think is the Gascoyne

Add you've got something like central west, midwest, Wheatbelt(narrogin etc), Goldfields(kalgoorlie etc), south west(walpole, Margeret River, Bunbury etc) and south coastal(Esperence, maybe Albany)


Don't know how many hours drive to Ningaloo, maybe 8??!
Renth and Owieb will know, they go up there 'regulary'. I wouldn't do it in one go though, plenty to see on the way anyway!! :)

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

this is a really useful thread.
I'm heading to perth on Monday for the start of several months travelling round Aus.
I'll be there for a week or so and just wondered if anyone can give me any additional tips on what to do/what not to do given that it's winter.
Eg, is Rottnest still worth going to or will it be too cold to enjoy?
I'll be staying in Cottesloe and am looking for things that are relatively central, given that we'll have a chance to do all the things north of Perth as we travel up the coast.
Thanks

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Buy a large brollie!!!!
:D

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Don't say that :rolleyes: :D

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

We loved the Hotel too, lovely food and the Parrots eating off all the left overs is a real novelty!!!!!! Got some good pictures!!! :D

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Bump this great thread - for the new arrivals in Perth

Re: Sightseeing for the visitors to Perth? North or South??
 

Bump again for the summer arrivals :D
TJ