For my American friends :-) Check out the links for a few images to whet your appetite for a West Australian holiday!
The state I live in, Western Australia, is mostly desert. The Pinnacles, which we recently visited, and another rock formation, called Wave Rock, are the major land formations that tourists would be likely to visit. The Pinnacles are about 3-4 hours drive north of the capital city of WA, Perth. Wave Rock is, as near as I can tell, in the middle of nowhere, inland (east) of Perth.
Tourists would also probably visit the picturesque Swan River (but then, that runs right through the middle of Perth) and Rottnest Island, home to reputably cute quokkas (small marsupials) and only a ferry ride from Perth.
South of the capital there is the wine-producing region around Margaret River and the absolutely majestic Karri, Jarrah and Marri forests near Pemberton, one of our favourite places in WA.
Our holiday was to Geraldton, a day's drive north of Perth. One of the highlights of our visit there was our trip to the local branch of the WA Museum, where we saw some amazing shipwreck relics and read tales of some of the most famous wrecks on the Western Australian coast, in particular the VOC Batavia and VOC Zutydorp (of the Dutch East India merchant navy); another VOC ship the Duyfken was credited with European discovery of Australia when it reached her western shores in 1606. Click here for Wikipedia's take on the tragic Batavia story of shipwreck, mutiny and murder. I found it gruesomely fascinating. The Perth-based VOC historical Society calls it "the most horrific mutiny in the annals of maritime history" in the detailed account here. (Please be warned, neither of these accounts would be suitable for children, IMO.)
The north of Western Australia is much more sparsely populated than the south. Most of the towns are there for one of three reasons: the town is a tourist destination (such as Broome), the town provides housing for those involved in the mining industry, mainly gold or iron-ore, also such things as blue asbestos, and those who support it (such as Port Hedland) or the town is an Aboriginal community, with traditional or historical connections to the area (such as Fitzroy Crossing).
There is some breathtaking scenery in the north-west of WA, but fewer people get to see it because it is very remote and often only accessible by 4WD or helicopter, and access is sometimes limited further due to seasonal flooding. The Bungle Bungles and the unexpectedly green canyon oases of the Hamersley Ranges, which I visited as a teen with my parents on one of our annual camping trips, are both spectacular.
12/21: International Chiasmus Day
12 hours ago
8 comments:
Thanks, Sharon! I haven't yet, but I'll follow these links and check them all out. Last night, after leaving my Pinnacles comment, Mr. Edwards and I did a little Google Mapping but this is much, much better.
One more thing--I think part of the reason that I didn't know about this is that WA gets short shrift when we foreigners study Australian geography. We hit the big cities, the Great Barrier Reef, and (why?) mostly eastern things like the Great Dividing Range, Snowy River, etc. Then, of course, there is the Outback paragraph and the lesson on wildlife (kangaroos, koala bears, kookaburras).
To comfort myself, I'm guessing that Australian tykes aren't told much about Kansas!
Hyden (Wave Rock) is 2 & 1/2hrs probably closer to 3 directly east from Perth (I will admit there really is not alot else to look at on the drive apart from farmland. To get to any of the good spots in WA you have to be willing to travel great distances. I would really recommend the wildflower tour particularly north east of Geradlton as a great trip.
Hope all is well in the new house.
Alison
Hi Ali!
Jeff says he has now had enough of driving north of Perth, at least unless it is winter! So I guess a wildflower tour in the Spring is out of the question. And thanks for adding the detail. Mum & Dad stopped at Wave Rock their last night before getting to Perth, the time before last that they drove down. It would possibly make a good stop if one was heading off across the nullabor. Unless we get as far as Esperence, which always seems to be just that bit too far, I can't see us travelling that direction any way soon. I didn't realise it was as close as three hours away though. That could be done as a day trip!
New house is going great thanks. You are welcome to visit us here next time you're in town. We are a lot closer to the city now.
~ Sharon
Would love to visit when next in the big smoke (it just does not happen enough). Camping trip sounds lovely, Pete and I try to get at least one camping trip in a year. Still remember my families camping trips when I was younger they wwere a great time to explore.
Thank you so much for all the links! We just finished reading The Voyager's Stone that follows the path of a floating bottle and it ends up on the northern part of Australia. We didn't spend nearly enough time with Australia in SOTW 2 earlier this year, so I think I'll turn this into a geography lesson tomorrow and show them some of these links.
Kellie
Kellie and Amy,
You are both most welcome. I had fun compiling the links because it was great to realise how much I now know about my adopted home state. There's a lot more for me to learn, however.
The eastern states get most of the information because the eastern states of Australia are by far the most populous. They were also settled with established colonies before the west had a stable, successful colony. And when it came time to form a single country, WA took a long time before it agreed to be part of the new nation. In our constitution, there are a lot of places where the colony of Western Australia is added in somewhat in a last-minute fashion because they wanted to be sure there was some level of economic security for their remote communities before signing on the dotted line. Other than the eastern seaboard and tropical north, not much of Australia's land mass is suitable for permanent habitation because it lacks sufficient permanent water.
I am glad this was good timing. Kellie, you might want to try searching for Kakudu and Litchfield as well, which will show you two of the Northern Territory's magnificent national parks. Then you could also search for information on Arnhem Land, which is a very large area of Aboriginal Land in the Northern Territory, including lots of northern coastline.
If you are looking for a movie to watch, "Yolgnu Boy" provides an interesting modern coming of age story from the point of view of three Aboriginal boys from a remote NT community. If you can get hold of it in the US! Some of it was filmed at the school I used to teach at and one of the three main cast was in my home group the year it was put out. There's a sad ending though!
~ Sharon
Amy,
In response to your comment, Jeff says, "Australian's don't know much about Kansas? Hmmph! Kansas was where Superman grew up!"
Was that the sort of detail you thought our school kids would never learn?
~ Sharon
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