Western Australia and Tasmania

Hi All,

We have a little trip planned in the next month to spend some time in WA.

I'm wondering if anyone has any good recommendations on places to visit around Perth. We have around 10 days and are armed with a rental car so don't mind travelling a few hundred km's in any direction to follow good advise...

Thanks in advance and look forward to any idea's or suggestions that can be thrown into the ring....

Well being WA my home! You must go to Margaret River, it is just lovely down there. Also the pinnicles, it is a few hours drive up north, but a very strange place!!!

Do a Swan river cruise, enjoy King's Park, go to Cottesloe Beach, and the pub there on a Sunday, and watch the sun go down.
[y]

Also you can't forget to go to Freemantle, and enjoy a coffee and watch the world go by.

Hope this helps, PM if you need any more info.

DMB

Thanks for the reply Dominic, I had a feeling you might be able to help out, I will PM you later..

Any other advise on places to see and good quality accomodation would be greatfully appreciated from anyone who can help...

I second a coffee and sit around in Fremantle[y] A trip out to Rottnest Island is good fun to see the Quokkas (marsupials). It is a very pretty place and you can catch the ferry from Fremantle. You can stay on the boat to Perth on the way back for some lovely evening views of Perth from the Swan River.

Phil

Originally posted by philadam
I second a coffee and sit around in Fremantle[y] A trip out to Rottnest Island is good fun to see the Quokkas (marsupials). It is a very pretty place and you can catch the ferry from Fremantle. You can stay on the boat to Perth on the way back for some lovely evening views of Perth from the Swan River.

Phil

I second the above! Perth was the first stop on our honeymoon 12 years ago. We spent a few hours wandering around King's Park and had some great views of the city skyline from there. We even saw some black swans too.

Our favourite place was Rottnest Island. We found a small, quiet beach and stayed for hours. Despite our best efforts we only saw one Quokka, little blighters [:(!] Definitely worth a visit.

Have a great trip.

All of the above really. Fremantle or 'Freeo!' is a great place. King's Park is nice - hundreds of steps to get up there, depending on where you are coming from, but worth it. Margaret River was decent; we went to the vineyards there and got a tour around.

We stayed in the Ridges hotel in the city, which is fantastic, I nearly burnt it down actually - but that's another story! [xx(] Every morning we would go into the city because the hot chocolate there was fantastic.

The bus service in Perth was great. If I recall, they were called 'Cats' where you would stand at a bus stop, press a button and it would tell you when the next bus would arrive (it's never long!) and you would pile on this for $0.00. Don't know if this is still the case because it was a few years ago but it's a fantastic service that we thought other cities should adapt, getting into the city centre never took long on them. We took one to the river where we had a 'Coffee Cruise' and then we took one to the WACA where we watched England warm-up for the cricket.

I liked the Zoo also! [:I]

Originally posted by FlyCC

The bus service in Perth was great. If I recall, they were called 'Cats' where you would stand at a bus stop, press a button and it would tell you when the next bus would arrive (it's never long!) and you would pile on this for $0.00. Don't know if this is still the case because it was a few years ago but it's a fantastic service that we thought other cities should adapt,

CATS (central are transit) are most definetly still in operation, there is one in fremantle too now also.

There are probably a few watering holes worth checking out. Little Creatures brewery in fremantle is nice, Swan brewery too.

If you heading down to margaret river, busselton, dunsborough and the whole cape naturaliste area including eagle and bunker bay are worth a look. Watch out for those roos if you plan driving at dusk or dawn. The are also are few brewerys down that way too, bootleg brewery for one.


Further on south pemberton, denmark and albany area might be worth considering.

robert

As others have said:
Rottnest: The quokkas are adorable
Freo: The food market is good, and the prison is especially worth a visit if only to see the resident owl!
Scarborough Beach: beatitful whatever time of year

Stayed at friends but also stayed at the parmelia hilton, which wasn't bad. Good views of kings park

oh wineries are closer at hand too in Swan Valley near Perth and there is the margaret river chocolate factory to think about [}:)]

Originally posted by woggledog

Stayed at friends but also stayed at the parmelia hilton, which wasn't bad. Good views of kings park

WoggleDog, when did you stay at the Parmelia Hilton? We stayed there while on Honeymoon, back in 1995. We weren't shown much respect by the staff(they seem to fall over the 'business' travellers though)and the food in the hotel restaurant was appalling[:$] Admittedly we were young back then and a little green. we certainly wouldn't put up with that kind of treatment now.

Perhaps it has improved since then?

Thanks all for your imformative replies...

We have a rough plan on where we wish to go and plan to check as many of your recommendations out as possible... It looks like we will be staying in Perth for 4 nights, 2-3 nights in Busselton and the remaining time towards Albany on the south coast.

We also have 3-4 days in Tasmania lined up on the same trip - Does anyone have any information that maybe helpful?

Tasmania

I visited Tasmania almost three years ago in June and whilst it wasn't that cold during the daytime (except Hobart where it was bloody raining and freezing) the evenings were very chilly (and quite windy on higher ground). Bring your winter woolies, and some good walking shoes if visiting Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake National Park. This area has some pretty spectacular scenery and should not be missed. The walk around the lake is simply breathtaking when you see the size of the mountain right over it.

I also enjoyed walking through the Cataract Gorge near Launceston. I still remember the stunning scenery as you walk quite high up and look down on the river gorge. I can't remember exactly where it is but it's extremely close to Launceston, about 5 mins drive I think. Well worth a visit, highly recommend it.

Queenstown was another place with some wonderful scenery. There's some kind of (steam?)railway line running to the west coast from there but as I only stopped off here enroute to Hobart I didn't see much. The drive into and out of Queenstown was amazing though.

Hobart was pretty boring I found. It's just another small- very small- Australian city. Last time I was here there was a red double decker London sightseeing bus offering city tours of Hobart. Might be useful if it rains as much as it usually does this time of the year but can't see much point of it. I only stayed one night in Hobart and the following day just went for a drive around the vineyards nearby and along the southern coast. Wasn't really that interesting and I think I should have visited Port Arthur instead but I didn't have much time on my hands. I would love to visit Tasmania again although not in winter.

I visited Tassie, March this year. I loved the place, spent a week driving the east coast mainly.

Started at Launceston, as The Strawb says, the Cataract Gorge is the main attraction here. It is a short walk from the main part and is worth the walk.

Next, we went to Coles Bay, BEAUTIFUL. You have "The Hazards" (mountain range), and Wineglass Bay to explore. We stayed at the "Edge of the Bay" resort. Amazing location.

Then we went to the Port Arthur area, we actually stayed in White Bay, about 10 minutes drive from Port Arthur. Stayed only one night in a fantastic B&B run buy a Scottish couple. It is called Storm Bay B&B. The lady who runs it is very welcoming, and cooks VERY nice food. Wish I we could have stayed longer.

Then finally to Hobart, which I thought was a nice city. We spent only 2 days here, and done lots of walking. We got a Heritage Walking map, which guides you around the old parts of the city. Also there are some great shops to pick up gifts for friends back home, especially the gorgeous wooden gifts.

Hope that helps, if you need more info, feel free to PM me, or look at my Travel Blog.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-en ... /tpod.html

Mark