Western Wonders (Family)

Seventeen nights in a loop from Perth in a motorhome, priced for a family, with six hotel nights in it.

Perth is the start, with a ferry out to Rottnest Island and a glamping night under the stars there. The island has no cars on it and a population of quokkas, small marsupials with a permanently cheerful expression that have made the place internationally famous and are entirely unbothered by visitors.

The route then runs north by way of the Pinnacles, a field of limestone columns standing out of yellow sand, with sandboarding available nearby, then Kalbarri, where the river gorges meet the coastal cliffs and humpbacks pass offshore on migration. Monkey Mia in Shark Bay is the far point, where wild dolphins come into the shallows under supervision, with manta rays and reef sharks in the protected marine park around it. Geraldton and its naval history come on the way home.

Six nights of hotel accommodation and eleven nights of maui Beach motorhome hire with the inclusive pack are included; international flights are not. Eighteen days with six of the nights in hotels makes this the gentlest of the Western Australian itineraries, which suits travelling with children: the motorhome does the long legs and the hotels break them up. Winter and spring are the seasons, and no wildlife sighting can be promised, though the quokkas are close to a certainty. The Monkey Mia dolphin feeding is managed and timed, with numbers limited, so arriving early matters. Rottnest also books out well ahead in the school holidays, which is worth knowing before the dates are fixed.