Celebrating Western Australia Day

Today, Monday 7 June is WA Day in Western Australia. It is the day set aside for Western Australians to celebrate all that makes Western Australia a wonderful place to live and the diversity of our people and cultures, those now, and those in the past who have made Western Australia what it is today. 

And WOW those landscapes!

When I looked back at last year's post: Celebrating WA Day - Wander out Yonder in Western Australia - we were in the midst of the first months of the Covid crisis, and Western Australia's internal borders with the other states in Australia and internationally were closed. Our cases remain low here in Australlia, due to our strict quarantine regulations with people entering Australia from overseas. Unfortunately in the last two weeks there has been a rise in cases in one of our eastern states, Victoria, but thankfully WA remains a relatively safe place to live and a great place to travel. 

Western Australians are exploring our state more than ever before. Accommodation is booked out months ahead and caravan sales are on the rise. Those who usually holiday overseas are discovering the amazing diversity of our own State. 

Here's a look at our map and a couple of fast facts:

• Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of 2,527,013 square kilometres (975,685 square miles)
• Western Australia occupies the western 32.9% of the land area of Australia
• Perth (WA’s capital) is the most isolated city in the world, with its closest city being Adelaide and that’s over 2,200 km (1367 miles) away.
• Western Australia boasts approximately 10,194 kilometres (6,334 miles) of coastline. No wonder water sports are so popular. 
• Our capital city Perth is closer to Bali than to our National capital, Canberra. 

Australia is the world's sixth largest country after Russia, Canada, China, the USA, and Brazil and the world's largest island. 

Don't believe Australia or Western Australia could be this big? Look at this comparison over a map of the USA. The red line down the middle of the map is my poorly drawn approximation of the WA border. 

So Western Australia is a BIG state. 

In last years post: Celebrating WA Day - Wander out Yonder in Western Australia - I took you on an A-Z mini tour of our state. Western Australia is very diverse - from outback deserts, mountains, rocky gorges, forests, coastline, coral reefs, grain fields, remote tracks and walking trails, minerals, history, art, unique wildflowers and wildlife. I could go on and on. 

I've written about Western Australia many times. You can check out posts under Western Australian travel in my Index. You can also click on the links in this post to read more on my blog about these places. There are also links to official tourism sites for more information. 

In July and August 2016 we did a 42 day 9,331 kilometre road-trip up to the Kimberley in the far north of our state. You can read about it here: On The Road Through the Kimberley. 

The Kimberley is an area of 423,517 square kilometres (163,521 sq miles), which is about three times the size of England, or just slightly smaller than California.

One photo cannot possibly encompass this huge area, but here is the iconic tree of the Kimberley - the Boab.

And one of it's most celebrated parks - Purnululu National Park

Continuing on down the Western Australian map from north to south, the Pilbara covers 507,896 square kilometres (196099.742 square miles) 

One of the spectacular regions of the Pilbara is Karijini National Park. I took you to the magnificent gorges of Karijini in 2014: Karijini camping Part 1 and Karijini camping part 2

As well as the rugged landscapes of the inland Gascoyne-Murchison region, the Gascoyne is famous for the Ningaloo Reef at Coral Bay and Exmouth, and the wild dolphins at Monkey Mia at Shark Bay. The Gascoyne 137,938 square kilometres (53258.1595 square miles) has more than 600 kilometres of Indian ocean coastline. Life really is a beach in Western Australia. 

Moving on further south to the Midwest we come to the amazing gorges of Kalbarri and explore the historic inland Wool Wagon Pathway 
The Midwest spans around 478,000 square kilometres (184556.832 miles) from the coast to more than 800km inland to Wiluna in the Gibson Desert.

Next we come to our grain growing region, the wheatbelt an area of 154,862 square kilometres (59,793 sq miles) 

A feature of the wheatbelt is the huge granite rocks which are great for free camping and exploring. 

Inland from the wheatbelt is the Goldfields-Esperance region. Located in the south-eastern corner of Western Australia, it is the largest region in the state with a land area of 771,276 square kilometres (297791.328 square miles) extending from the outback to the southern coast. 

This is a fascinating area centred around the history of gold rush in the late 1800s and how they managed the need for water

And then south to the towering forests and wine regions of the cape to cape South West corner covering 23,970 square kilometres (9254.8687 square miles). 

Finally the Great Southern, an area of 39,007 square kilometres (15,061 square miles). This is where the forests meet the Southern Ocean, next stop Antarctica.  Things to do in the Great Southern.

And the towering Stirling Ranges National Park. You might remember I shared the amazing array of wild orchids we saw last year. 

Of course there has to be wildflowers...... There are more than 12,000 species in Western Australia. 

Want to visit? or want more information? Here is a good place to start:

Western Australian tourism

Wander Out Yonder Western Australia

Western Australian Facts for kids

Western Australian facts for teachers and students

15 of the biggest fast facts about Western Australia

 

And: Tour Downunder Western Australia at Life Images by Jill

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed my quick trip through Western Australia. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   

All Seasons
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Sharon's Sovenirs 
Our World Tuesday
Pictorial Tuesday 
ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Der-Natur-Thursday 
The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
 Month end link up @ Live love craft me
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