Sue Zann Toh

Anyone visiting Perth in Western Australia should definitely schedule about a week of their trip to see WA’s South West.

There’s a holiday for everyone in the south west. The area is well known as a wine region, offering many wineries with free wine tasting and tours. The climate is mild and perfect for sightseeing or relaxing. If you prefer an adventure holiday, there are many places that offer canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, absailing, surfing lessons, horse riding, bush walks and much much more. For nature lovers, there are many wildlife parks, dolphin and whale cruises to visit. You can pretty much take your pick with the variety of activities on offer in the South West of WA.

During our 2005 South West Holiday, my partner, his sister and her husband took 9 days and 8 nights off for a world-wind tour of the South West. My highlights would have to be swimming at Hamelin Bay, trout fishing in Pemberton and of course the delicious wine and food on offer. Memorable moments were climbing the Gloucester Tree (pronounced Gloss-ter), walking on the Natural Bridge in Albany and visiting Pentland Alpaca Farm.

It was a fantastic trip that I’m sure to remember for many years to come. Since I was the one who organised this holiday, I thought I’d share our itinerary and experience in as much detail as I can.

Start with The Route, which details which towns we visited, including a map of the area. Move onto The Itinerary to see what we did and when. The Attractions gives you more details on the attractions from the itinerary, and The Hotels, Motels and Chalets lists the accommodations we stayed in during our trip.

Where We Went…

The four of us (all adults) took 9 days and 8 nights for a world wind tour of the South West of Western Australia. I had the pleasure of organising this holiday from what we were going to see, when we were going to see it and most importantly, where we were going to rest after a full day’s excitement.

The Route:

Day 1 - Perth to Bunbury
Day 2 - Bunbury to Busselton to Margaret River
Day 3 - Margaret River to Dunsborough to Margaret River
Day 4 - Margaret River to Augusta to Margaret River
Day 5 - Margaret River to Pemberton
Day 6 - Pemberton
Day 7 - Pemberton to Denmark
Day 8 - Denmark to Albany
Day 9 - Albany to Perth

Have a look at the detailed itinerary and attractions page for ideas of what to do in these areas.

You can see and do a lot in 9 days in the South West of WA. There was never a dull moment as we drove from town to town. Here is the detailed itinerary of our “down south” trip in 2005.

I have provided this itinerary for two purposes, as a travel diary of our adventures and as a template for those looking to plan a trip to the South West of WA. I like a good mix of activities from relaxing wine tasting to a little more adventure, like canoeing on the Beedelup lake at Karri Valley Resort.

Amazing what you can fit into 9 days. Looking back through this list, I can’t believe a group of four, usually disorganised adults managed to do so much in such little time!

Select the attraction you would like to read about. These were the attractions we visited during our South West Holiday ing 2005.

Day 1

Serpentine Fall
Big Swamp Wildlife Park

Day 2

Dolphin Boat Cruise
Busselton Jetty and Underwater Observatory

Day 3

Quindalup Wildlife Park
Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse & Tour
Quay West Bunker Bay Resort
Wine Tasting @ Evans & Tate
Wine Tasting @ Vasse Felix

Day 4

Boranup Forest
Boranup Maze
Swim @ Hamelin Bay
Mammoth Cave Tour

Day 5

Trout Fishing @ King Trout Restaurant & Marron Farm
Climbed the Gloucester Tree

Day 6

Warren Tram
Wine Tasting @ Hidden River
Canoeing @ Karri Valley Resort

Day 7

Tree Top Walk
Ancient Empire Walk
Pentland Alpaca Farm
Wine and Cheese Tasting @ Ducketts Mill

Day 8

Natural Bridge
The Gap
Blow holes
Wind farm
WhaleWorld
Swimming @ Middleton Beach

Our trip to the South West of Western Australia in 2005 took us 9 days and 8 nights. There were 4 of us travelling this time, so we stayed at a variety of accommodation, including hotels, motels and chalets.

I booked the accommodation for this trip. I did my research on the internet and ended up using a variety of methods to book our hotels, motels and chalets. Most of the reservation were made using the HotelClub.com web site.

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  Night 1 - The Clifton, Bunbury (motel)
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  Night 2 to 4 - Gazebo Lake Chalet, Margaret River (chalet)
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  Night 5 and 6 - Karri Valley Resort, Pemberton (chalet)
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  Night 7 - Karma Chalets, Denmark (chalet)
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  Night 8 - The Esplanade Hotel, Albany (hotel)