WESTERN AUSTRALIA – I’m driving north along the lonely, quiet coast of Western Australia. I’m supposed to check into my hotel in the town of Kalbarri at 5 p.m. and it’s already dangerouly close to that.
My schedule says I should motor on, but there’s a particular quality of light in the sky. I see a sign that points the way to a coastal section of Kalbarri National Park, and decide the schedule can go to hell.
I drive down a winding road towards the setting sun and pull into looks like the closest parking lot. I quickly make my way a few meters down a slight hill and find a viewing area that looks out over the Indian Ocean. Off to my left, there’s a pure, soft, golden light hovering under a cloud of low-lying, puffy grey clouds in a sky of brilliant blue.
Stretched out in front of me are a series of towering cliffs that rise out of a royal blue ocean. The cliffs are infused with the golden light of the late afternoon sun and topped with pale, olive green chapparal. Waves that have travelled thousands of kilometers slam into the coast, sending waves of white foam high into the air.
Kalbarri National Park, Western Australia. JIM BYERS PHOTO
The contrast between the golden rays of sun and the light sky and the deep orange/red cliffs and the green plants Is almost too much for my eye, and my mind, to comprehend. I take a few (okay, tons of) photos with my phone and head back to my car. I’d seen signs pointing to other viewing areas and I want to see as much as I can before the light fades.
I drive quickly, rather too quickly I admit, to the next car park and dash down the path to the cliffs. This time I’m gazing down at a massive rock that has been partly hollowed out by the unceasing waves, creating a natural rock bridge. The ocean has gone a deeper blue, and the sun is now a fiery ball making a mad dash for the horizon. I jog along the paths to the next lookout and furiously snap more photos. I ultimately concede that the sun has disappeared for the day, and resume my drive into town.
I like to think of my travel writing research as a careful balance. I need to gather information and check out photos of a place to find out where I want to go. But I don’t want to do so much research that a place gets overhyped in my mind. If that happens, I risk being disappointed, and risk losing some of that sense of travel wonder.
AMAZING NATURE ALL AROUND WESTERN AUSTRALIA
I knew there was a good deal of natural beauty in this massive state (almost the size of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba put together) but I had no real idea what I was getting myself into with Western Australia. Time after time, day after day, I find myself gobsmacked by the beauty all around me.
The Albrohos Islands, Western Australia. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Near the town of Jurien Bay I snorkel with inquisitive sea lions that dance and dart around me. I also take a small plane ride over the Albrohos Islands with Geraldton Air Charter and stare down at coral atolls and swirling bays of emerald green and Delft blue, with pods of dolphins rifling through the water. It’s one of the most mesmerizing sights I’ve seen anywhere on the planet.
One morning in the town of Kalbarri I wake up early for a ride with Kalbarri Quad Bike Safaris.
My hotel restaurant is closed, and so’s the place I had visited the day before for a cup of coffee. Uh, oh. This is a very small town with very limited options, but as I drive down the main road I spot a light on in a café.
I knock on the door and the woman says, “we’re not open for another 45 minutes, hon.”
The look on my face spells clear coffee and food desperation, and the shop owner takes pity on me. Two minutes later I’ve got some reasonably good banana bread and a nice, flat white coffee.
RED ROCK CANYONS IN KALBARRI NATIONAL PARK
With my breakfast in hand, I head out to the Murchison River, where a small group of visitors take in a quad bike ride that has us sliding over sand dunes and bouncing over slabs of exposed rock as we go. I spot several wallabies on our ride, and admire a pretty river and deep, red rock canyons.
Natures Window at Kalbarri National Park in Western Australia.
I also enjoy a night at the Kalbarri Sky Walk with D’Guy Charters and their Kalbarri Stargazing tour. They bring a good-sized telescope so we can get great views of the night sky, and they also offer up some photo tips and information about the stars and planets.
The hiking at Kalbarri National Park is nothing short of sensational. At Natures Window I admire a large hole in the rock that frames the Murchison River. I also take in the views at Hawks’ Head and trek down to the river at the Ross Graham Lookout.
Near the town of Yallingup in the Margaret River wine region, I take a tour of a vast limestone cave that drips with massive, ancient stalactites and listen to a local aboriginal man, Josh Koomal, play a deeply moving tune on a didgeridoo. Koomal also tells visitors about the flora and fauna of this place, where his people have lived for thousands of years.
I didn’t know much about the food scene in Western Australia, but I found it to be mostly sensational. At Skeeta’s waterfront restaurant in Geraldton, I tuck into a lovely salad with feta cheese and luscious strawberries the colour of Marilyn Monroe’s lipstick. In Perth and the Margaret River region I gobble down local Wagyu beef as tender as a first kiss, and seafood lifted out of the ocean mere hours before it hits my plate.
In Kalbarri, a roughly six-hour drive north of Perth on quiet country highways, I bunk down in a large but simply furnished one-bedroom suite at a place called Kalbarri Edge Resort. I wander into The Edge restaurant for dinner shortly after my clifftop excursion and peruse the menu. It looks like the safest bet is a steak or some local lobster, but I’m intrigued by the idea of pumpkin soup and an order of duck confit in a town with just 1,400 residents. So, I go for it.
Pumpkin soup at Kalbarri Edge Resort. JIM BYERS PHOTO
The waitress emerges a few minutes later with a gorgeous bowl of pumpkin soup that’s topped with a thin, crispy wafer, topped with shaved pecorino cheese and tiny flower petals. Okay, I’m surprised.
Later my dinner emerges; two generous servings (something I learn to get used to in the smaller towns of Western Australia) of duck, with a pressed square of potatoes and perfectly al dente broccoli and carrots. The presentation and quality of the cuisine is what I’d expect in Montreal or Vancouver. To get it here, in this small, spartan dining room at a modest resort nearly 600 km’s north of the only real city in the state? I’m sorry, but there’s something wrong here.
As I finish things off, the chef comes running out. He’s discovered a Canadian is in the house and he wants to practice his French. Alas, I speak more Spanish than French, but we chat for several minutes anyway. Fabrice Passicos is from the Bordeaux region of France and trained for six months at a restaurant in Montreal. He’s also worked at fancy hotels around the world, including the St. Regis in Singapore. He said he’s now trying to elevate the food scene in WA. He’s damn well succeeding if you ask me.
FINE FOOD AND ADORABLE ANIMALS IN PERTH
But it’s not just out-of-the-way surprises that spark my appetite in Western Australia. In Perth, I sit down for dinner at Hearth, the main restaurant at the new Ritz Carlton hotel on the city’s booming waterfront. I nibble on exquisite octopus and lamb, as well as wagyu beef so tender it almost cuts itself, accompanied by soft, flavourful Pinot Noir from Margaret River.
I also have a fabulous food and drinks tour of the city with its number one fan, the irrepressible Adie Chapman. She runs a Perth tour business called “Oh, Hey, WA,” and is passionate about her home, an enthusiasm that quickly rubs off on a visitor from half a world away.
Downtown Perth, Australia, on a walking tour with Oh, Hey, W.A. JIM BYERS PHOTO
“Perth has totally outgrown its reputation as Dullsville,” she tells me as we walk through downtown. There are new condos rising high in the sky, new hotels, and plenty of brightly lit restaurants and bars in the city centre.
(Perth will play host to some games in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Canada will begin its quest for a title in Perth on July 20, 2023.)
We sip outstanding margaritas and wolf down tacos at a speakeasy-style bar called The Volstead Lounge, with booths and thick, heavy drapes that conjure up images of a New Orleans bordello. We sample a bacon and bourbon pairing at a bar called Varnish on King, where I spotted a stuffed animal on a shelf that’s named “Justin Beaver.”
TRENDY BARS AND RESTAURANTS
As we walk to our next stop in the trendy Northbridge section of town, Chapman points out the minimalist Art Gallery of Western Australia. She also notes nightlife, including the city’s first gay bar and a nearby place called Tiki as F–k. At Rechabite Hall, a former temple for tee-totallers, we dine at a ground-floor restaurant/bar called Double Rainbow, where we dig into octopus with kimchi and delicious Brussels Sprouts with maple syrup and crispy pork belly.
The next morning at The Melbourne Hotel I order a flat white coffee and some birchermuesli for breakfast. The birchermuesli bowl is nearly the size of a volleyball and is covered with fresh fruits; strawberries, kiwis, blueberries and bananas.
“Geez,” I say to my waiter in my best North American accent. “Look at the size of this.”
He smiles and replies, “Welcome to Western Australia, mate.”
A quokka on Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Tourism Australia Photo
Just a short ferry ride away from Perth is Rottnest island, home of tiny, smiling (well, sort of) marsupials called quokkas.
They’re only found a few places in Australia, and this is one of the best places to see them. The little critters are everywhere, and they’re often underfoot on the tiny main shopping street.
They’re beyond adorable, and I enjoy a wonderful Segway ride that takes me past rolling cliffs and deserted, white sand beaches fronted by brilliant green waters.
“I like to say it’s the most fun you can have standing up,” says Belinda Hill, owner of Segway Tours WA and my Rottnest tour guide.
MARGARET RIVER: FAB FOOD AND WINE
As surprising as the Perth area is, I’m even more impressed by the Margaret River region. We don’t see a lot of Margaret River wine in Canada, where South Australia products tend to dominate the shelves. Not only is the wine superb, but the region is bounded in the west by long, lovely beaches and rocky coastlines. It’s like Carmel meets Napa. It’s simply not fair.
The Cape to Cape walking trail in the Margaret River region of Western Australia. JIM BYERS PHOTO
At Smiths Beach Resort, just outside of Yallingup, we sample a small section of the Cape to Cape Trail, which links Cape Naturaliste in the north with Cape Leeuwin in the south. It’s a glorious coastline, topped with granite outcroppings that have been twisted and crumpled into large, spiky boulders in shades of tan, orange and soft gold, surrounded by low-lying, olive-coloured shrubs. Following our hike, we tuck into wonderful local cheeses and Western Australia lamb at the resort’s dining room.
At Vasse Felix, the first winery in Margaret River, we sample their delicious Idee Fixe sparkling wine and dine on luscious toothfish with spring onion, seaweed and bearnaise, as well as kangaroo. At Frui Momento, we enjoy Margaret River Wagyu Beef with king brown mushrooms. At Windows Estate Winery, we have a great tour and sip wonderful wines accompanied by a monstrous board of charcuterie and delicious local cheeses. They can grow almost everything in the Mediterranean climate that exists in this part of Western Australia, including berries, avocados and even truffles.
At the Margaret River Distilling Company, we take a “giniversity” course to see how they make several varieties of gin, some with Australian botanicals. We also get a food tour with a local company called Walk Talk Taste, stopping at a family spot called La Scarpetta for pasta and arancini and then at a newer, trendy place called Tuck Shop for fresh fish with lime juice, yuzu and local plants for a garnish.
Over nine days I sample tremendous food and sip wonderful wines and I’m floored by the people and the natural beauty. This might be the best part of Australia I’ve seen yet.
WHERE TO STAY
The Gerald Apartments: A boutique property in Geraldton with a rooftop bar and restaurant. www.thegerald.com.au
Kalbarri Edge Resort: Roomy units in the heart of Kalbarri. www.kalbarriedge.com.au
Pinnacles Edge Resort: A comfortable, spacious property in the small city of Cervantes. www.pinnaclesedgeresort.com.au
The Ritz-Carlton, Perth: A stunning, new property on the waterfront at Elizabeth Quay. https://www.ritzcarlton.com/perth
Melbourne Hotel, Perth: A lovely, modern hotel in the heart of the city. www.melbournehotel.com.au
Smiths Beach Resort, Yallingup, Margaret River: Spacious, modern rooms next to a great beach. Terrific restaurant.
www.smithsbeachresort.com.au
Tourism Western Australia: https://www.westernaustralia.com/en/welcome-to-western-australia
GETTING THERE
I flew Air Canada from Vancouver to Sydney, and Qantas from Sydney to Perth. Air Canada has a tremendous business class on flights to Sydney, with lie-flat seats, excellent food, sparkling wine, tons of entertainment, and friendly, welcoming service.
