We decided to head to Western Australia and check out the most remote large city in the world. Very nice city, but super hot while we were there. It was between 36 and 43 degrees every day we were there! Very sweaty and sticky! We didn't let that slow us down too much though.
We headed out to Rottnest Island our first full day there, it is a little island about a 30 minute ferry ride from Perth. The island is beautiful, not many cars are allowed on the island, so lots of bike riding. Although at 40 degrees the day we were there we chose to take the bus around the island and enjoy the a/c. We stopped to swim and hang out at Salmon Bay, was absolutely stunning, gorgeous water, although the Indian Ocean is much colder than our Pacific Ocean in Brisbane. There were lots of fish, crabs, coral, the water was amazingly clear. We also went for a jetboat ride around the island which was soooo much fun! We saw sea lions, Australian Sealions, dolphins, eagles, pelicans, seals, luckily no sharks although apparently the day before one was seen around the island. Lots of dinner for it in the form of all the sea lions.
We checked out Fremantle and Cottesloe Beach, and we also went down to Margaret River for a couple of days. This is a famous Australian wine region. Ed and I managed to sample a few wines, and we also checked out Mammoth Cave and Jewel Cave while we were there. We walked about 600 steps to get in and out of these caves in 41 deg weather! It was worth it, they were amazing!
The coastline was also beautiful, we stopped at a couple of different places to check it out, stunning with all the huge rocks and cliffs, and super clear water.
On our last day in Perth we drove 2.5 hours north to where there is really not much of anything and went to the Pinnacles. Not even sure how to explain it , but there are all these crazy tall, skinny rock formations poking up out of the desert. Hundreds of them all over the place. Crazy terrain. Very cool.
We had a great time in Perth, definitely recommend checking it out if you get the chance, although for us it is a five hour flight across Aus, so we probably won't be going very often.