Western Australia has a reputation for being bleak and vast. Its State Capital, Perth, is regarded as being 'the most isolated city on the planet' - one spot of civilization amid a sprawling mix of outback, desert and wilderness.

It is true that Western Australia is the largest state in Australia, covering an area of around 2.5 million sq km (1 million sq miles), constituting one-third of the country. This one State could fit the Texan state twice into its perimeters. Such remoteness is somewhat a curse, with long distances between attractions.

However, the effort is truly worth it. Western Australia is vast but not solely bleak. Its diversity often astonishes, with extreme contrasts in climate from north to south. Although there is desert to the east, there is pristine coastline to the west. Although there is the desolate Kimberley region to the north, there are also emerald, rolling pastures to the south.

Lots of Western Australia's natural wonders are anything but barren: enormous lakes and gorges; spectacular waterfalls; the world's largest monocline, Mount Augustus; scores of colorful wildflowers that speckle the mid-west region; and the aptly named Shell Beach, one of only two in the world, and formed by the deposits of billions of tiny white seashells. In this one State, you can go from hand-feeding friendly dolphins in Monkey Mia to riding camels at Cameleer Park.

With its wealth of natural resources, including gold (the largest open-cut gold mine is in Kalgoorlie), iron, ore, gas and minerals, the land of Western Australia is one blessed by ancient and astounding ecology.

Geography
Western Australia covers one-third of Australia; it is larger than Western Europe, but has a population only one-sixth that of London. It is bordered in the east by South Australia and the Northern Territory and in the west by the Indian Ocean, with the Timor Sea to the north. The west coast is nearer to Bali and Indonesia than to Sydney, making Perth a viable stopover destination en route to the rest of Australia. To the south, the nearest land mass is Antarctica, 2,600km (1,600 miles) away. It has mineral wealth in iron, bauxite, nickel, natural gas, oil, diamonds and gold. There are vast wheatlands, forests and deserts, and several national parks. A popular resort is Rottnest Island; there are also many excellent mainland beaches, particularly around Perth. Kimberley, in the far north, is one of the oldest geological areas on earth, a region where time and weather have formed deep gorges and impressive mountains, arid red plains and coastal sandstone rich in fossils. In the northwest there are two notable features: Wolf Creek Crater, an immense hole left in the desert by a giant meteorite 50,000 years ago, and the Bungle Bungles, an ancient sandstone massif covering 3,000 sq km (1,160 sq miles). Southeast of Perth, near Hyden, is the 2,700-million-year-old Wave Rock.