Tourism Western Australia | April 2024 • 3 May 2024

Live on the (South West) Edge

The shape of the spectacular South West Edge seems to shift with every turn, another surprising twist waiting around the corner. From lush forests to blinding white sands and turquoise seas, granite cliffs to ochre-painted outback, each stop on this epic road trip unearths unexpected joys and jaw-dropping experiences.

Tourism Western Australia | April 2024 • 14 April 2024

Fall in love with the Kimberley

When it rains in Australia’s North West, it pours. As the heavens open every wet season, they leave their magical mark all over this vast wilderness in the shape of wondrous waterfalls. While some flow year round, they burst into life from December to April, crashing down ancient cliffs and towering over ochre gorges. Many are only accessible by boat, plane or helicopter; others are just a short drive from Kununurra (Goonoonoorrang). No matter how you reach the

Tourism Western Australia | February 2024 • 27 February 2024

See the stars come out

The trees speak in captivating colour and librettos soar across pristine sands. Giants roam the city streets, stars light up under the Milky Way, and fairytales come to life. Perth Festival is a cultural cavalcade that has been firing imaginations and lifting spirits for more than 70 years, sharing hundreds of spellbinding stories in myriad artforms over three glorious weeks.

Tourism Western Australia | December 2023 • 5 February 2024

Living the dream in WA

Emerald waves gently lap on deserted pristine beaches. Traditional songs echo across ancient landscapes. Humpback whales cavort in brilliant blue seas. Underwater jewels beckon beneath a platform leading into the beyond. Magic happens when tour operators take us into their beautiful backyards via livestream – to beam the dream that is their corner of Western Australia. Why not make it real?

Pleasure Garden, Fringe World

Tourism Western Australia | February 2024 • 5 February 2024

Colour your world

Where can you watch humans fly, sing with stars, laugh with clowns, dance with queens and mingle with mermaids – all in one day? Step into Fringe World, the funny, freaky and fabulous festival that lights up Perth (Boorloo) and surrounds every summer. It’s a world awash with all the colours of the rainbow, where music, mayhem and more than a little mischief await. Discover the joys of a month-long cultural fiesta where everyone is welcome and the only limit is your imagination.

Tourism Western Australia | September 2023 • 5 January 2024

Tourism and Hospitality Careers Guide

I was delighted to edit this comprehensive guide for people interested in getting into Western Australia's fabulous tourism and hospitality sector. It's filled with lots of great personal journeys, too.

West Weekend | 1 December 2018 • 6 October 2023

Northern lights

It’s the kind of exposure tourist operators dream about. The cover of a national magazine. Except the description was far from a ringing endorsement. “It was on the front of Caravan Australia as Australia’s worst caravan park in 2004,” recalls Lake Argyle Resort’s current custodian, Charlie Sharpe. “It was so run-down ... nobody wanted it. It was derelict, horrible, it was an absolute debacle.”

Western Australia • 29 September 2023

Driving traditions

Road trips are as much about the journey as the destination, even when the destinations are spectacular. They are a chance to connect with each other as well as the wonders of the country. What better way to transport your travels than with the addition of a few road trip traditions. Australian driving holidays are rich in time-honoured rituals that magnify the memories of a road well-travelled, of a trip worth taking. Make yours go the distance with a truly local flavour.

Make a playlist

A r

Western Australia • 27 August 2023

Go above and beyond

Impossible colours shift across ancient landscapes and along endless oceans, inviting you to come closer, to see the dream slowly taking shape and discover the marvels below. Strawberry milkshakes dot green fields. Giant, almost phantasmic, figures weave through turquoise waters. Orange and black beehives rise from rusty plains. Shimmering salt blankets the landscape like a beacon in a sea of red. Welcome to Western Australia from above, where nothing feels quite real, and everything is awe-insp

Western Australia • 24 July 2023

Great Southern Land - Tourism

Feel the magic of an ancient land. Welcome to Menang Boodja, where ocean giants come to feed, granite ranges keep floral secrets and towering trees tingle. Awash with untamed beauty, the spectacular Great Southern casts a spell on all who meander through its majestic forests, wander along its dramatic coastline or nestle into its sheltered coves. Follow the highways, tracks and trails into this corner of the South West for a road trip that will lift your spirits.

West Weekend | 7 April 2018 • 14 October 2023

Country calling

"Gutharraguda, Gutharraguda, Gutharraguda ...” We’re sitting under a shelter next to the impossibly turquoise waters of Big Lagoon, in the World Heritage area of Shark Bay. It’s Darren Capewell’s country and like all good
hosts, he’s treating his guests to something special.

RAC WA | April 2021 • 8 October 2023

Reasons not to bypass Bunbury

Anyone who regularly makes their way down south has reaped the benefits of the Bunbury bypass. Completed almost a decade ago, it cut a welcome chunk off the drive to the gourmet attractions of Margaret River. But what are you missing by bypassing Bunbury? Plenty.

RAC WA | 17 May 2022 • 8 October 2023

Touring the Blackwood Valley

If you ditch the time-honoured convoy of city slickers escaping Perth for a weekend down south by the ocean and instead opt for a journey inland, you can almost see the traffic disappear. While our love for the stunning South West coastline knows no bounds, Western Australians can be less inclined to take the road – or roads – less travelled.

RAC WA | 15 March 2022 • 8 October 2023

Geraldton & the Abrolhos Islands

Not all roads lead to Geraldton but there is more than one way to drive to the regional city from Perth, each with its own appeal. Only have a few days up your sleeve? Hit the Brand Highway and you’ll cover the 420km in about four hours. It’s not the most scenic of routes but it is the quickest.

RAC WA | 16 March 2021 • 8 October 2023

Southern Forests food tour

As dozens of eggs roll off a machine, Coleen is carefully inspecting them for cracks with an infra-red light, which makes the flaws in the shell easier to see. The chooks are moved around the property in their purpose-built trailers, going from one green pasture to the next, to keep them healthy. “It’s why we have such a good quality egg,” Charlie says. And why they’d never risk selling one with even a hairline crack that most of us would struggle to see.

RAC WA | 7 July 2023 • 7 July 2023

More than wildflowers

Not wild about wildflowers? Struggling to understand why anyone would design a getaway purely based on when these beauties are in bloom? Or maybe you’re just curious to discover what all the fuss is about. WA’s Wildflower Country region might be the option you’ve been looking for.

Garum, Westin Hotel Perth

West Weekend | 17 November 2018 • 6 October 2023

Grand central station

I blame the magic hands. I was standing in the lobby of the Westin, trying to attract my date’s attention without drawing attention to myself. If you happened to observe this exchange — and I sincerely hope you didn’t — it involved a lot of hand signals and mouthing along the lines of “hurry up, get in the lift” on my part and “what on earth are you doing, what are you on about” on his.

West Weekend | 20 October 2018 • 8 October 2023

The French connection

Some say bad luck comes in threes but it’s a case of third time lucky for this Francophile. The closest I got to Paris proper on my first visit was one of those roundabouts that are almost impossible to get off without a few near misses and even more choice words.

West Weekend | 20 October 2018 • 8 October 2023

Lucky break

"Mine is the glory," cries my daughter as she runs through the massive front door, towards a cathedral window bathing the entrance in natural light. If only, love, if only. The excitement has been building since we
turned off Cape Naturaliste Road and drove through
the farm gate to meet our welcoming party.

Street art, Visit Victoria

West Weekend | 9 June 2018 • 8 October 2023

Art of the city

"It will be beautiful one day and it will be blooming, and the next day it’s dead — that’s the beauty of it, it’s not meant to be forever.” Dan Lynch is not talking about the flora in Melbourne's stunning botanic gardens but another kind of transitory beauty.

West Weekend | 28 October 2017 • 6 October 2023

Land of stories

"See over there," Mick Clark says, pointing to what look like shiny black berries on a tree on top of Pigeon's Lookout. "Whatever you do, don't think of it like a boiled lolly. That's caustic grevillea. If you were to pick off that fruit and put it on your skin it would burn you."

The West Australian | 6 April 2017 • 8 October 2023

Smell the serenity

The tiny princess is holding her ground. “You can’t come up here,” she shouts, as soon as she spies the approaching invaders. Her advisers try gentle persuasion but she’s having none of their diplomacy. “No, this is MY castle,” she declares.

West Weekend | 28 October 2017 • 8 October 2023

Some kind of wonderful

Firstly, an apology. I’m sorry Sydney, I had you all wrong. I always thought you were beautiful. But you’re so much deeper than your flashy exterior suggests. I have to admit I misjudged you. And it’s all Carole King’s fault. (Sort of.) I always thought of you as the bolder, brasher but somehow less substantial cousin of Melbourne.

The West Australian | 25 March 2017 • 8 October 2023

Fuelling a passion

"Now I’m going to take you back to really early motoring,” our guide Dave Dunkley says, “and remember you’ve got to be two things — really rich and really patient.” He leads us to an antique contraption that looks like it would have trouble going down a hill, let alone up one.