Western Australia Day Trips
I tried to utilize my days off to see as much of the area as possible. I really wanted to get up north towards Exmouth or Broome, but with work and time restraints - this wasn’t in the cards. Instead, I focused my efforts within a smaller radius of Perth.
Black Diamond Lake
I’ve mentioned before my love of Facebook travel groups, but I had never done a meet up or organized a trip from one before. After getting my first roster for work, I saw I had the full next weekend off and didn’t expect that to happen too frequently (it actually never did again…) While scrolling through Facebook, I saw a post about a group going to Diamond Lake, just an hour and half south of the city. PERFECT. The group ended up being 20 people, a mix of local Australians and other backpackers. We went down for the day to the lake and another nearby swimming hole.
Yanchep National Park & Lagoon
The following week, I had my last Sunday off and a guy I had met from Black Diamond Lake reached out about a bushwalking trip to Yanchep National Park. Excited to get out hiking again, it was an immediate yes. A smaller group this time, 8 of us woke up early to head up to the park. While wandering the park’s colony of koalas, one of the rangers discouraged us from our original trail plan as it would be peak temperature with little to no shade. We changed course and had a wander down the Ghost House WalkTrack. Then, spent the afternoon cooling down at the beach.
Lancelin & Pinnacles
I met Filip at Yanchep and he was keen for adventure, so we put together a crew to head north to Lancelin & the Pinnacles. Lancelin is known for the epic sandboarding - with snow white sand dunes rising up, entry is free and you just need to rent a board. If you go directly to the dunes, you can rent a board for the day at only $5. If you go to nearby gas stations or stores, they’ll charge more for shorter periods of time. So just go to the dunes! We rented 3 for the 5 of us since we knew running up and down the sand was going to be exhausting.
Already covered in sand, we headed to the beach where the incredibly windy weather caused even more sand to get everywhere - so we jumped into the water and swam out to the platform. We stopped by the grocery store to buy a dinner of chips and dip, and headed to watch the sunset at the Pinnacles. This national park is full of natural limestone structures that make you feel like you’re walking on another planet.
Rottnest Round 2
Who can resist another trip to Rottnest to cuddle with some quoakkas (just kidding, no cuddling and no touching the animals! Just selfies). As receptionists at the YHA, we have a partnership with the local ferry company for a free trip to the island so we can discuss more with guests. PLUS, an adventure boat tour. Jerremy and I decided to take advantage before his last day of work.
The boat tour takes you on a thrill ride around the island, with an upclose view of the New Zealand fur seals at Cathedral rocks and a different perspective on the rocky coastline.
Swan Valley Wine Area
Kyra and I went biking around Swan Valley, an easy train ride from Fremantle. Our biggest mistake was adventuring with only about 2-3 hours of sleep and in incredibly hot weather…but we had limited days off in common and an urge to explore, so on the bikes we went!
