From mighty Mount Augustus to the quirky Tin Horse Highway, WA’s Golden Outback is making a bid for best road trip destination in the country.
WA is a big, bold place that takes up almost half the country – and more than half of that is glorious Golden Outback.
Stretching from Mount Augustus in the north, all the way south through countless outback adventures to the blinding white sands of Esperance, the road trip potential is vast. There’s so much to explore, the real challenge lies in deciding what not to see.
Beach bum kangaroos at Lucky Bay.
Spoilt for choice
Do you make the pilgrimage to Mount Augustus, twice the size of Uluru and three times as ancient? Do you pull up a chair right on the beach at Lucky Bay for a barista-brewed ‘Kangacino’ literally surrounded by curious roos? Or do you surf the famous granite face of the 110-metre-long Wave Rock, one of the Wheatbelt’s most iconic landforms?
These are all trick questions, because the answer is: You do them all, and you take your time, because the wonders don’t end there.
The spectacular Mount Augustus.
Retrace the faded fame of the gold rush era through historic Kalgoorlie and its brutal, mesmerising open-cut Super Pit.
Wander among the striking sculptures dotted across the Lake Ballard saltpan, transformed by Antony Gormley’s 51 steel creations into the world’s largest outdoor gallery. Or take a fascinating flyover of Lake Hillier, a body of water so bubble-gum pink your eyes won’t know what to make of it.
Bubble-gum pink Lake Hillier.
Rugged, remote and rewarding
Nature lovers in the know will set their clocks for springtime before setting off along the Wildflower Way in the Northern Wheatbelt, when thousands of colourful species – some found nowhere else on Earth – carpet the landscape and fill the air with fragrant promise.
Four-wheel-drivers geared for adventure already have the remote John Holland Track or world-famous Canning Stock Route on their all-terrain to-do lists, while coastal cruisers along Esperance’s Great Ocean Drive will be treated to some of the finest beaches in the country.
Be blown away by some of the finest beaches in the country.
Character around every corner
Those with an eye for the truly quirky will be blown away by the constantly evolving – and quintessentially Australian – Tin Horse Highway.
Taking up a 15-kilometre stretch of golden wheatbelt paddocks near the tiny town of Kulin, there are new roadside metal masterpieces popping up every year, erected by the locals with love, passion and a unique sense of fun.
Been to all of these except the John Holland track. Love them all, especially the best beaches in the world at Cape Le Grande NP (been to the Maldives but Lucky Bay etc are better). WA has it all, and this article neglected Karijini & the Kimberleys both of which are exceptional and absolutely world heritage worthy. I’m not originally fromWA but love what it has to offer.