Trip Planning for Perth & WA
 

I have been busy reading through forums on Perth and area, and think I need some advice!
We are planning a trip through Hong Kong & Bali and onwards to Australia. We have about 14 days to spend next November in Australia and were planning to go to Perth and explore the area there for that time. We would love to see Sydney & NSW and the east coast but were going to save that for a longer trip another time.
I was thinking that we would spend about 7 days in Perth and then head south towards Albany, Margaret River etc. for another 7 days, eventually returning to Perth en route home.
I was considering Exmouth, Carnarvon by car or even flying to Broome for a bit, but the flights are expensive and the drive seems very arduous for the time we have, so have dismissed them.
Should we reconsider and go to Queensland, i.e. Brisbane to Townsville?
Or, Melbourne - Adelaide?
The idea of Perth really appealed to us, but now questioning that destination, wondering if that is too long?
Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations would be really appreciated!

Sorry forgot to add we are an active, retired Canadian couple, traveling on a budget, loving walking and biking....fyi
thanks again for any help!

Hi spudley -

I live in Perth. November is a good time to visit, as it's still wildflower season and the weather is pleasant and warm, yet not so warm that you don't want to go outside!

A week in Perth will give you more than enough time to see/do most of the attractions, but if it were me, I'd reduce the Perth section to 3-4 days and add the balance to the SW portion, as it's worth every single minute you can give it.

The drive from Perth to Exmouth is over 1,200 km. We spent 17 days in June driving from Perth-Exmouth-Perth and it was a haul. You can certainly do it in your time frame, but not if you plan to spend any length of time IN Perth.

The NW of WA is rugged and desolate, with long stretches of nothing. We found it mildly interesting, but IMO the SW has much more to offer and it's a heck of a lot easier to access.

Depending on how far you want to drive, you might even consider incorporating Esperance into your SW loop. The beaches in Esperance are unrivaled and there are some fantastic walks within the National Parks, but...it's a bit of a haul too, about nine hour's drive from Perth, and then you'd want several days to explore, so perhaps not...

Here's one possible driving itinerary, which will incorporate the best of the SW:

Perth to Albany via the Albany Highway (five hours). Albany to Denmark (possibly a side trip to Mt Barker), then on to Walpole, (possibly a side trip to Manjimup), Pemberton, Margaret River, Busselton, Bunbury and back to Perth.

This route will give you a great taste of the SW with it's abundance of birdlife, kangaroos, wineries, beaches, towering karri, jarrah and tingle forests (tree top walk, fire lookouts), seemingly endless national parks with some lovely tracks, coastal scenery....the SW truly does have it all IMO.

As you can tell, I'm a fan of WA's SW. I have several detailed trip reports on WA posted here on Fodors. Just click on my name and scroll down to Trip Reports if you're interested.

Thanks Melnq8, I had read both your trip reports (North & South) and found them very interesting and helpful. Thanks so much for your advice.

I've posted 8 TRs for WA here on Fodor's Spudley, and they cover all the areas you're interested in. We've made several trips down south as it's a favorite. There's also an ongoing TR on things to see/do in/around Perth.

Good luck with your planning.

I think you could easily spend a couple of weeks in WA. There is heaps to see and do. I wouldn't recommend trying to split your time between the west and east coasts.

good luck, I hope you have a great trip.