South West of Western Australia

The densely populated Perth conurbation is surrounded by the South West region, which extends in the north to Jurien Bay and in the south to the southwest corner of the continent and round it to just east of Albany. Among the tourist attractions in the northern part of the region are the curious Pinnacles in Nambung National Park - limestone columns up to 4m high which rise out of the flat sandy desert near the sea - and New Norcia, a mission station founded by Spanish Benedictines in the mid 19th C, with fine buildings in Spanish colonial style. To the south the coastal region beyond Mandurah (with Bunbury, Busselton, Margaret River and Augusta as the principal towns) and the hinterland, with the huge karri forests round Pemberton, offer great attractions to nature lovers, water sports enthusiasts and walkers.