Destination: Western Australia, Australia

Western Australia, Australia

Odyssey offers easy, convenient, and relaxed escorted small group tours across the great state of Western Australia. This collection of small group tours Western Australia explores the state’s unspoiled native wilderness, sites of its ancient Aboriginal history, World Heritage Sites, and breath-taking wildflower blooms, all with some truly spectacular scenery along the way. This and more is all waiting to be explored on one of Odyssey’s small group tours of Western Australia, designed for the senior traveller, and led by experienced, and enthusiastic like minded people. Odyssey Travellers small group tours Western Australia are a guided tour by luxury coach, private air tours or motorbike adventure tour for the mature solo traveller.

Occupying the western portion of the Australian continent, Western Australia is Australia‘s largest, and 4th most populous state. Covering an area slightly larger than Western Europe, or roughly four times the size of Texas, Western Australia is home to 2.7 million people, about 76% of which live in the state’s capital Perth . Covering such a vast area, Western Australia‘s geography is defined by its sheer expanse, with most of the state being covered by vast tracts of arid plains, deserts, and shrublands, Outback Australia . The coastal areas are where much of the state’s life flourishes, with the warm Indian Ocean waters of the Leeuwin current helping to create a hot Mediterranean climate in the south west corner of the state, where the vast majority of the state’s population lives. This south west corner is also home to an enormous abundance of local flora, with many of the wildflowers dotting the landscape being found nowhere else, and with the area hosting the largest seasonal wildflower bloom on earth.

Odyssey offers easy, convenient, and relaxed escorted small group tours across the great state of Western Australia. We explore the state’s unspoiled native wilderness, sites of its ancient Aboriginal history, World Heritage Sites, and breath-taking wildflower blooms, all with some truly spectacular scenery along the way. This and more is all waiting to be explored on one of Odyssey’s small group tours of Western Australia, designed for the senior traveller, and led by experienced, and enthusiastic like minded people.

Occupying the western portion of the Australian continent, Western Australia is Australia‘s largest, and 4th most populous state. Covering an area slightly larger than Western Europe, or roughly four times the size of Texas, Western Australia is home to 2.7 million people, about 76% of which live in the state’s capital Perth. Covering such a vast area, Western Australia‘s geography is defined by its sheer expanse, with most of the state being covered by vast tracts of arid plains, deserts, and shrublands, Outback Australia. The coastal areas are where much of the state’s life flourishes, with the warm Indian Ocean waters of the Leeuwin current helping to create a hot Mediterranean climate in the south west corner of the state, where the vast majority of the state’s population lives. This south west corner is also home to an enormous abundance of local flora, with many of the wildflowers dotting the landscape being found nowhere else, and with the area hosting the largest seasonal wildflower bloom on earth.

For many travellers couples or solo, Western Australia tours for seniors are defined by a Kimberley tour. However, small group tours of Western Australia should consider;

• A Wildflower tour that includes Esperance, and the Margaret river region
• Avon valley tour
• The National park small group tour around the Pilbara
• Kimberley tours based out on Kununurra

There is is so much more to WA tours than just Exmouth and a whale shark on the Ningaloo reef. Odyssey looks forward to sharing its small group tours Western Australia portfolio with you.

In the north of Western Australia you can also find the incredible National Parks of the Kimberley region. The Kimberley coast with a history of pearl divers and deep aboriginal history, north in the Kimberley region with spectacular gorges observed from a scenic flight, round to Kununurra, Western Australia tours are unique. A region of outback Australia for small group tours whose outback beauty encapsulates the ancient and surreal beauty of Australia‘s wild places, with places such as the Bungle Bungle range, and Lake Argyle being some of outback Australia‘s most spectacular gems. In all, Australia‘s isolated west coast makes for an altogether different experience of the continent, with its own unique landscape, flora, and natural heritage making for a distinct Western Australian experience.

History

Western Australia‘s earliest history traces back to its Indigenous people, with a history that predates European colonization in the region by an estimated 60,000-120,000 years, when Aboriginal Australians first arrived on the continent. It is generally held that first Aboriginal people arrived in Australia via insular South-East Asia, in a period before rising sea levels, when there were more dry land bridge connections between the islands of South East Asia. Boats would have been used for some of the migration. One possible northerly route would have been through Sulawesi to New Guinea via a series of smaller islands, as new Guinea and the Australian continent were connected as a single landmass known as Sahul until about 10,000 years ago. Another possible route goes through Timor and ends with a significant sea crossing to the Northern Territory or Kimberley coastline about 90km away. Over the next tens of thousands of years these Indigenous Australians slowly moved southward and eastward throughout Western Australia and the greater Australian landmass. Archaeological evidence indicates human habitation at the upper Swan River in south of Western Australia by about 40,000 years ago.

Most indigenous communities were semi-nomadic, systemically moving over a defined territory following seasonal changes and food sources and trading routes. In doing so, people only needed to spend about 5 hours a day working to ensure their survival, leaving plenty of leisure time for different groups to develop distinct, rich, and complex spiritual and cultural lives. This included laws, languages, customs, ceremonial traditions, and social rules and kinship obligations that were all based on their deep connection to the land. According to Aboriginal beliefs, the physical environment of each local area was created by ancestral heroes during the Dreamtime journeying across a formless land and creating all natural phenomena. This spirit of Creation is embodied in the landscape and connected to the people, tying family groups to their own specific Country and sacred sites. The Aboriginal communities therefore cared for and nurtured the land, never overusing or damaging it, taking from it only the things they needed, such as shelter, water, food, and weapons.

Evidence of the longevity of Indigenous spiritual beliefs and cultural practices are evident throughout Western Australia’s rock art. The fascinating Kimberley region, spanning north west from Broome to Darwin, is home to thousands of ancient rock art sites, believed to the world’s oldest examples dating back at least 16,000 years. Here, the Gwion Gwion rock paintings display distinctive spindly stick figures – human figures ornamented with accessories such as bags, headdresses, and tassels. The other major form of rock painting in the Kimberley are the Wandjina, believed by the local Mowanjum people to be the supreme creator, depicted with huge eyes but no mouth. It is said that this is because the presence of a mouth would make them too powerful. The first Wandjina are believed to have been painted 4000 years ago, and the figures continue to be painted today – making it the world’s oldest continuous sacred painting movement. Western Australia is also home to a wide range of Aboriginal stone arrangements in various forms across the state. These are a form of rock art deliberately placed in position by Indigenous Australians and associated with spiritual ceremonies or utilitarian purposes. Although many are difficult to date, they are the only prehistoric structures associated with prehistoric Aboriginal culture, believed to have been part of their practices for a very long time.

Arrival of the Colonials

The first European contact with Western Australia came in the year 1616, with Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog sighting the West Australian coast after being blown off course on his way to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. Despite being the second Dutchman to set foot on the Australian continent, he was the first European to suggest that the new landmass was indeed its own continent, rather than an extension of New Guinea. Exploration of the coastline by both the Dutch and the English continued throughout the 17th century, with much of the north, west, and southern coastline of Australia being mapped out by this time. The west coast in particular was often come across accidentally, with the roaring forties wind current along the route to the East Indies often blowing ships well past their course, this proved treacherous on many occasions, with the coral coast and treacherous shoreline claiming many wrecked ships over the ensuing years. Exploration continued by many Western European countries throughout the 18th century, though “Nieuw Holland” was largely ignored by as a site for settlement until late in the century.

The first known colonization mission came in 1786 from King Gustav III of Sweden, though war with Russia ultimately lead to the settlement plan being scrapped. Some islands along the west coast of the state were also claimed by Britain and France, though it was not until 1827 when the British colony of New South Wales established a garrison around current day Albany that the state was formally annexed to the British Empire.

Shortly after its annexation, settlement around the Swan Valley region began in earnest, with the main settlement coming to be known as Perth, and the smaller towns around the port region eventually growing into Fremantle. Inland settlement followed soon after, with towns like York in the Avon Valley becoming important agricultural settlements, and greatly assisted the Swan River colony in becoming self sufficient. The population of the Swan River colony as it was then known, remained low in the first half of the century, and convict labour was eventually imported to satisfy the demands of capitalist ventures in the region. This demographic problem eventually came to an end in the 1880s, with the discovery of gold prompting an influx of migrants, which persisted in stimulating the growth of the colony thereafter.

Western Australia joined the Commonwealth of Australia in its 1901 federation, though unlike the other states it was rather reticent about its decision, demanding concessions and the construction of a trans-continental railway line as part of their accession. This isolationism was evidenced once more in the year 1933, with the WA successfully voting to secede from the Federation, though the British Parliament ultimately rendered the decision null and void. Today Western Australia is a vital, and economically important state, being traditionally more export oriented than some of the more populous states on the east coast. It is well known for its immense resource wealth, extracting 32% of the world’s iron ore, as well as huge amounts of bauxite, gold, nickel, petroleum and diamonds. Western Australia is also known for its agriculture, producing much of Australia‘s fine Merino wool, as well as roughly half the country’s annual wheat crop.

Travelling to Western Australia

A tour of Western Australia can offer a unique experience of the Australian continent, from its blooming wildflowers, to the vast expanses of the Pilbara, and the outback wonders of the Kimberley, Western Australia has plenty to offer for regional, and international travellers alike.

A visit to Perth

A good place to begin a Western Australia holiday package tour would be the state’s capital city of Perth. Located on the Swan River, and alongside its port town of Fremantle, Perth is the metropolitan, and cultural heart of Western Australia, with the majority of the states inhabitants residing in this city alone. Perth is at its best when experienced as an outdoor city, with many of its best attractions coming under the sun. Among these are its many beaches, which facing the Indian Ocean come with a refreshing sea breeze just a stones throw away from the city proper. The city itself also hosts some amazing outdoor attractions, with the city’s ‘Kings Park‘ being the world’s largest inner city park. At 400 hectares, Kings Park is a full 60 hectares larger than New York’s central park, and houses war memorials, conservation gardens, as well as the city’s botanical gardens.

The nearby Swan Valley is also a great place to visit for wine lovers, with the fertile soil in the area making it one of the few places in the state with the right conditions to grow wine grapes.

See a Quokka

Just off the coast of Perth you can find Rottnest Island, the island is a popular destination mostly thanks to its peculiar inhabitant, the Quokka. Quokkas are small cat sized marsupials known for their friendliness and tendency to always look like they’re smiling. These cute creatures live mostly on small islands off the Western Australian coast, and due to their lack of natural predators have no fear of humans, and will happily wander around your feet without a care in the world. On a trip to Rottnest Island you can also find plenty of reefs perfect for snorkelling, as well as wild dolphins, and migrating whales, making it a perfect stop on a wildlife tour of Western Australia.

The Coral coast

Heading north from Perth, you’ll come upon the town of Cervantes, this marks the beginning of Western Australia‘s Coral coast, and is a great jumping off point from which you can explore the areas surrounding national parks.

To the north, Leseur National Park is a great spot for walking trails, particularly for the budding botanists, or flower lovers. The National Park is mostly known for its abundance of native Western Australian wildflowers, with over 1,100 different species found in the park’s area, some of which are found nowhere else in the world. This represents over 10% of Western Australia‘s plant life found in a single place. To the south of the town, you’ll find an altogether different kind of landscape at Nambung National Park, which houses the famous Pinnacles Desert.

The Pinnacles Desert is characterised by the limestone pillars that jut out across the landscape, which cover the desert floor like a forest of pillars, making for a strange and uniquely beautiful experience. There are multiple theories about what formed the strange forest of pillars, from karstification, to some even suggesting the pillars were once trees, whose cores were preserved in coastal sediment.

The Margaret River region

On the other side of Perth, to the south, is the more fertile south west corner of the state, home to much of Western Australia‘s regional population, as well as a number of popular destinations for travellers on a Western Australia tour. The Margaret River region in particular is a great place for a day trip from Perth, or along a larger tour of Western Australia. The Margaret River region is most well known as a wine region, whose vintages are amongst the sought after in Australia, representing about 20% of the premium wines market despite only accounting for 3% of domestic production. Most of the wineries are relatively concentrated, making a winery tour an easy and thoroughly enjoyable experience. Aside from wine, the Margaret river is also a great place to go spelunking, with places such as Lake Cave, Mammoth Cave, or Jewel Cave all being amazing examples of the variety of natural heritage on display in the state.

Kalgoorlie

Circling around to the other corner of south west WA you’ll find the town of Kalgoorlie, one of the largest outback towns in Australia, here you’ll find charming colonial era architecture that marks the town’s gold rush era heritage, eerie ghost settlements of the rush, as well as the nation’s largest outdoor art gallery at Lake Ballard. The town was also one of the first bases for the Royal Flying Doctor service, information about which can be found at their visitor centre in town.

Esperance and Albany

Heading south from Kalgoorlie, the coastal town of Esperance is another regional highlight, and a great base from which to explore the surrounding region. The town is most famous for its annual wildflower blooms, which occur each year around September to October, coinciding with the Esperance Wildflower Festival which celebrates the event. Some other highlights around Esperance include the Dempster Head Walk Trail, Cape le Grand National Park, where you can see the beautiful ‘Lucky Bay‘, as well as Helms Arboretum, and Fitzgerald National Park. Further to the west, along the state’s southern coast is the town of Albany, this town marks the starting point of the Bibbulmun Track, one of Australia‘s great walking trails spanning from Albany to Perth 965km away. It is also a great point from which to explore the Stirling Ranges National Park, which is home to the states only mountain range, as well as over 1500 species of wildflowers, some of which can only be found here. Aside from the stunning mountain views around the national park, Albany is also known for its history with the Australia & New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), being the final departure point for ANZAC soldiers making their fateful journey to Gallipoli. To commemorate this heritage, the National ANZAC Centre is located in Albany, and allows visitors to assume the persona, and follow the journey of one of these fateful soldiers in their interactive exhibits.

Broome & the Kimberley

Western Australia‘s second most recognisable town outside of the Perth lies in the far north of the state, with Broome being dubbed the unofficial capital of the Kimberley‘s. Being easy to access by air or land, Broome is the ideal starting point for a tour of Australia‘s Kimberley region, as well as having rich natural heritage surrounding the town itself. Perhaps one of the most well known things about Broome are the deep red sands which characterise the region, these meet the sea at Roebuck Bay for the rare sight of a spectacular red beach. Even more stunning is the optical illusion created by the moon around the Bay, where the receding tide and rising moon come together to create the illusion of a golden ‘Staircase to the Moon’, just be sure to bring a good camera to capture the phenomenon in action.

Broome is also known for its abundance in bird life, with over a third of Australia‘s bird species recorded around the area. Broome hosts many varieties of shorebirds in particular, with over a quarter of the world’s shorebirds being found around Broome. One of the best places for those interested in finding out more is the Broome Bird Observatory located around Roebuck Bay just outside of town. Heading north out of Broome you’ll come up to Cape Leveque, which lies at the tip of Dampier Peninsula along the Kimberley coast.

Cape Leveque is known for the stunning contrast between its red rock cliffs, white sand beaches, and bright turquoise waters, it also has a rich Indigenous history you can learn about on your tour of the Kimberley‘s. Heading further into the region you’ll find numerous national parks, all with amazing natural attractions, some examples include Bell Gorge, Mitchell Falls, Lake Argyle, the Drysdale River, and the El Questro Wilderness area, all of which are found in the Kimberley‘s.

On top of this, perhaps one of the most well known, is the Bungle Bungle Range. Found in Purnululu National Park near the town of Halls Creek , the Bungle Bungle Range is a collection of rock formations with beehive like, karst sandstone formations, these create the spectacular undulating shape of the range, with its otherworldly, almost alien beauty. With Odyssey you take one of the Bungle Bungle guided tours as part of the scenic Kimberley tours 2022 program whilst staying in a tented cabin at the one of the permanent campsites in the park, at the Bungle Bungle savannah lodge. These scenic Kimberley tours 2022 include usually as part of your Kimberley adventure a flight from Kununurra over Lake Argyle with some 60,000 freshwater crocodiles and onto Purunululu with its spectacular gorges viewed from the air. Your Kimberly tours 2022 also include time to learn about the Ord river system, the Fitzroy river and so much more. One of the best way to experience what Western Australia has to offer on a scenic Kimberley tour 2022 is with a small group tour.

Odyssey specialises in this kind of tour, offering an engaged and intimate tour of Western Australia ideal for seniors, solo travellers, and couples heading to Australia and WA.

Odyssey’s collection of Western Australia holiday packages with a tour manager enable you to explore each state with Odyssey’s escorted tours Australia 2022 portfolio as a city based tour or a Australia holidays package into the Western Australia outback of the Kimberley or South Australia‘s Flinders range or just spend a week on holiday in Hobart learning about a range of subjects on Odyssey’s Summer Schools tour package. This collection of coach, Motorbike and air tours of Australia has some 70 scheduled small group holiday departures provides plenty of choice for an Australian holiday. You can make your booking direct for one of our Western Australian holiday packages with us or via your travel agent or travel consultant.

Responsible travel tips for Australia

• Before departing, make sure you have a number of AU dollars in a range of denominations. You don’t want to be carrying around enormous amounts of cash, but take enough to make it easy to pay in locations that might not accept credit card. It will also help you avoid card transaction fees, and it makes tipping a breeze.
• Carry a card in your wallet or purse from your local hotel, to assist you with the return journey if you do become lost.
• Always ensure that you are covered by travel insurance. If you need advice on this feel free to contact Odyssey and we’ll be able to help.
• Before departing, make sure you have a number of AUD in a range of denominations. You don’t want to be carrying around enormous amounts of cash, but take enough to make it easy to pay in locations that might not accept credit card. It will also help you avoid card transaction fees, and it makes tipping a breeze.
• When travelling independently, make sure you check the opening hours of shops and museums so that you don’t miss out! Also be certain to check whether your trip coincides with any public holidays, so you can plan accordingly.
• Before departing on your trip, contact your bank to inform them that you may be making purchases overseas. Otherwise, they may flag any activity on your account as suspicious. Also, check which ATMs and banks are compatible with your cards, to ensure you can withdraw cash with minimal fees.