Our big trip was to Albany and I flew to the Ningaloo Reef on my own (which were separate posts) – but we did have a couple of short over night and day trips which were focused on finding good places to snorkel. Snorkeling this far from the equator with colder water has much less color (very little coral) and very few tropical colored fish.
North of Perth
The north areas were of particular interest to me because the transmission line on which we were working which connecting to wind and solar projects when through these towns. Starting from the north –
• Cervantes – We stayed overnight on this trip – just one step up from the backpacker dorm – kangaroos right outside the door. Entire town closed about 8:12pm. Snorkeled just north in Sandy Cape – wasn’t not great – but cyclone had recently hit north and stirred up the seas. This is an area with 300 foot high sand dunes and people “sand board” down them.
• Pinnacles Desert – One of the top tourist spots in WA – we really didn’t get it. Interesting but would not have been worth a 2 hour drive each way to visit.
• Moore River – We pulled into here to get gas when we saw a sign that this was last gas stop for 200KM. Nice family spot with a river that didn’t spill into the ocean unless there was a flood (pretty common here). Amazing most of the people swimming in the river – not the ocean.
• Yanchep – Best reef to snorkel near Perth (~ 45 minute drive). Great beach and cliffside environment. This is the one of the impressive aspects of Perth – the metro is built with a station and Transit Oriented Development in place before any one lives there. So – to a certain extent sprawl but building in the mass transit at the same time.
South of Perth
• Fremantle – We had several trips to Fres, including when we came back in Nov 2024 (https://my-jc.blog/2024/11/01/week-560-perth-and-freo/). Great place to visit and probably the most lively area in Perth. Also home of the famous Fremantle prison – we did a tour – pretty grim but we found that it was only a short period of time in the 1850s it was a English convict prison – then up to 1990 it was for Australia prisoners.
• Omeo Wreck – Barely a day trip – just south of Fremantle. We did some snorkeling there and it was interesting to see the “new urbanist” development in this region. I had a co-worker who lived there and it looked like a great family place. The wreck was OK snorkeling but not great.
• Rockingham – Just south of Omeo Wreck – went twice snorkeled there. Once on our own at a “dive trail” – the key word being “dive” as dive trail consisted of several crashed planes 20-30 feet deep. So a little deep for us.
• Penguin Island – Just south of Rockingham – We did a tour which was generally pretty good – but we were supposed to snorkel with sea lions and we never really saw them.
We had gone to Rottness Island November and cycled around the island – this trip was focused on the snorkel spots. We took the boat from the CBD in Perth (walking distance from our apartment) down the Swan River 45 minutes and then 45 minutes offshore – see my Rottness Island with both trips (https://my-jc.blog/2024/11/03/week-560-rottness-island/.
East of Perth – Swan Valley
We also did a couple of trips to the Swan Valley Wine Region – a night to see a great INXS tribute band (“What you Need”) and a boat trip out with work colleagues to a couple of wineries. The Swan Valley Wine Region is older and not as well known as the Margaret River region but a great day out close to Perth.
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