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Home > Destinations > Western Australia Email a friend Print

Western Australia

AAT Kings offers a range of Guided tours and Day tours to Western Australia.

• Margaret River
• Albany
• Esperance
• Wildflowers
• Kalgoorlie
• Monkey Mia

Margaret River

One of the most well known wine regions in Australia sits in Southern Western Australia, the stunning Margaret River region. Originally a surfing town, which today still attracts weekend surfers due to the ideal conditions, the region is now better known for its wineries. Just 3 ½ hours from Perth, Margaret River is home to world class wineries, boutique wineries, breweries, some of the finest restaurants and there is the odd cheese and chocolate factories.

The 60 wineries operating there currently produce less than 3% of Australia’s wine but 20% of premium wine comes from this area. The Mediterranean style climate is ideal for wine making where it lacks extreme temperatures of summer and winter. Some have described the weather being similar to that of Bordeaux in France and we know how good the wine is there!

On your 15 day Western Escape coach tour, you’ll have an opportunity to sample wines from this popular region at Palandri Winery. Established in 2008, the company 3 Oceans (named after the three oceans that surround Australia) produce 4500 tonne of Palandri wines using some of the oldest vines, as old as 28 years! The company’s philosophy is “to produce wines with intensity, finesse, structure and distinctive fruit qualities”.

Margaret River Caves

Before you’ll experience some wine tasting in this area, another major highlight in the Margaret River region are the caves. There are over 100 caves that exist in this area with only six open to the public, the biggest being Mammoth Cave. On your tour, you’ll gain access to this cave where you might be able to view fossils dating back 35,000 years.

Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park

Visit one of Western Australia's premier National Parks, Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park, named after the two locations at either end of the park where a lighthouse exists (one at Cape Leeuwin and the other at Cape Naturaliste). The park is made up of Karri and Farrah forest, caves and bird species. You'll also find mammals such as bandicoots, western grey kangaroos, possums and wallabies.

You'll have an opportunity on your Western Australian holiday to explore further one of the lighthouses at Cape Leeuwin. When you visit this lighthouse, you'll be standing on the most south westerly tip of Australia. Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is a famous maritime landmark and meteorological site where data is collected. Standing 39 metres high and 56 metres above sea level, its light can shine as far as 48 kilometres and is as bright as 1 million candles. Now that's bright!

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Albany

Albany is located south west from Perth and is the oldest permanently settled town in Western Australia. Once a military outpost of New South Wales as part of a plan to forest all French ambition in the region, it was handed over to Swan River Colony in 1831 and renamed Albany from its original name Frederickstown. From the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, it was a gateway to the eastern goldfields. It was used as the port for shipping services between British and Australian colonies but when the city of Fremantle was developed, Albany turned its focus to agriculture and timber.

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Esperance

Esperance, otherwise known as “Bay of Isles”, will impress you with its white sandy beaches, a coastline that stretches forever and islands that exist offshore that can be seen from a distance. This is Western’s Australia’s southern coast and also part of Australia’s Golden Outback.

Esperance also made it in to the headlines when in 1970, it became part of America’s space programme. Attracting surfers, divers and swimmers to this area, tourism together with agriculture and fishing are the major industries. It is here that you’ll see the pink lake. The Pink Lake is a salt lake and in the right weather, it will look pink, due to high concentration of salt tolerant algae. At the eastern end of the lake, table salt is produced for consumption.

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Wildflowers

One of the key highlights of the year is the thousands of wildflowers blooming in the south west region of Western Australia. The best time to see this spectacle is during spring from August to November but they can start blooming as early as July with a good amount of rainfall. There are around 12,000 species of wildflowers and as you visit various national parks, you’ll find out that some are unique to that area only and some unique to Australia. The growth of these gems will depend on mother nature. Rain and sunshine are required, with some species relying more on sunlight, meaning blooms will not occur until late spring.

On your tour of Kalbarri National Park, you’ll see Red Kangaroo Paws, banksias, the most well known, Kalbarri catspaw, two orchids found in this park only and around 21 other species that grow around the coastal cliff tops and gorge country.

You’ll travel to Bluff Knoll Lookout to take in the views of Stirling Ranges and during wildflower season, capture the kaleidoscope of colours of around 1500 species of flowers, 87 of which can only be found here.

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Kalgoorlie

Kalgoorlie, Western Australia’s 5th largest town is located in the Goldfields-Esperance region. Still standing today are well preserved historical buildings. Discovered back in 1893 during the Yilgarn-Goldfields gold rush, it is to this day a mining area for gold and nickel. With a population of 30,000, one third works in the goldfields and not only Australians but also workers from around the globe, who work along the “Golden Mile”. Visit the super pit on your tour of Kalgoorlie, an open mine that measures 3.6 kilometres long x 1.6 kilometres wide and 512 metres deep. Created by Alan Bond, the mine operates 24/7 and produces one tenth of the world’s gold. The mine is expected to be productive until 2017 and then it will be abandoned and naturally fill up from groundwater, which is expected to take 50 years.

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Monkey Mia

What is Monkey Mia known for? The dolphins! As early as the 1960’s, pods of bottlenose dolphins began a daily ritual of swimming into the shallow waters of the bay and have been doing this ever since. Even though they are wild, they interact with tourists that visit this bay who have the opportunity to see these cute animals up close and personal. They can be seen up to three times a day, mostly in the mornings.

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