Down Under Answers
Australia
About Western Australia
Western Australia covers 976,790 sq mi of Australia and constitutes one-third of the continent’s area but only has about one-tenth of Australia’s population.
In the far North, the remote Kimberley is a huge chunk of wilderness with astounding scenery. The Pilbara is a mining region, very lightly populated, with various natural attractions that are worth the stop. The coast of the Gascoyne in the middle of the State offers various wonders: the Ningaloo Reef is far to be as famous as the Great Barrier Reef, but it easily equals or surpasses it in beauty, and Shark Bay is a UNESCO world heritage site. The Western coast (Mid West) has various surfing beaches. The closer to Perth, the more temperate the weather and hospitable the landscape. Regions around Perth (Great Southern, Heartlands, Peel, Perth (region) and South West) are laid-back agricultural, with some fine wineries in the South and large forests.
Towards South Australia, the Goldfields-Esperance region is an extremely infertile dry and flat land, with the population concentrated in the town of Kalgoorlie.
A few hundred kilometers inland, the inner area of the state (technically divided between the Kimberley, Pilbara, Mid-West and Goldfields regions) is a huge remote barren desert with little to no population. This area encompasses fully several of the Australian deserts: the Great Sandy Desert, the Little Sandy Desert, the Gibson Desert, as well as parts of the Great Victoria Desert and the Tanami Desert. It is extremely challenging to access, and requires a lot of preparation.