Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine October 2015 | Page 116

114

Travel | Western Australia

Hikers on the Wansborough
Walk and Bolganup Trail in
Porongurup National Park.
Ancient Empire Walk in
Walpole-Nornalup National Park.
A whale shark, one of the many
magnificent creatures off the
Western Australian coast.
Whale watching off Albany.

everywhere, the beaches are
perfection. You could spend
a week walking the sands,
invigorated by southern
winds and cliff-top vistas,
and hardly meet more than
a dozen people.
The ‘humpback highway’
passes just offshore. If you’re
in the southwest between June
and December, you’re in for a
particular treat: the sight of
humpback and southern right
whales cruising past on their
way north to their warmer
breeding grounds, before
returning south again for
the summer. You can spot
whales from the cliffs, lifting
their flukes from the water
as if waving as they migrate
by, or take a whale-watching
boat from Albany out into
the sound and see these
magnificent creatures
up close, fabulous as sea
monsters from a children’s
story, all knobby skin
and vast pink grins.

Albany’s most-visited building
is Whale World. The town
was Western Australia’s first
European settlement and
thrived on the whaling trade.
The old processing plant out
on the peninsula outlines
its history, which continued
until 1978. Compare the size
of whaling ‘beetle boats’ with
a whale’s skeleton and doff
a respectful cap to the old-time
whalers, even if the whaling
depicted in videos seems
barbaric by contemporary
standards. Kids clamber through
the hatches of an old whaler,
giggling. Incidentally, you can
see another whaler by donning
your scuba gear. Cheynes III
is scuttled in the bay and
provides some of Australia’s
best wreck diving.
Right over in the west,
in the Margaret River region
best known for its vineyards,
there are wild landscapes too.
Cape Leeuwin is as far
south west as you can go

without falling off the edge
of Australia. Puff up the stairs
of the country’s tallest
lighthouse for fine views of
the rugged coastline, where
sweeping beaches and blue
waters meet. You might have
to cling to the railings to avoid
being buffeted into the Pacific
or Indian oceans, depending on
which way the wind is blowing.
The nearest town is Augusta,
a laid-back country escape
where you can fish and kayak
the Blackwood River or hit
the golf course.
To the north of Margaret River
and even closer to Perth, more
adventure awaits for those who
think cellar-door sipping is too
tame. The limestone of Cape
Naturaliste is riddled with caves
and underground rivers,
nowhere more spectacularly
than at Ngilgi Cave, where
stalactites, stalagmites and
other formations provide
amazing displays of nature
at its most dramatic.