Family Holiday Ideas, South Pacific

Hi not sure how long you have but if you want to see something different - theres MORE to aus than the great barrier reef (which is the second rate reef btw and not accessible from the shore) and Sydney - try heading west and take a trip from Perth the sleepy city up the coast to Ningaloo Reef where your kids will be able to walk from shore out to the reef and snorkel safely or just potter around in rock pools when the reef is exposed at low tide. Then head up to Broome for the gorgeous Cable or 80 mile beach for lazing around in very tropical surrounds - things to do in Broome - go for a camel ride along cable beach, visit china town from when Broome was a base for chinese and japanese pearlers in the pioneering days. If you are limited for time I would suggest flying from Perth to Broome, hiring a car and driving down to Exmouth to see Ningaloo reef and hopefully spot a whale shark or a humpback whale (they will be migrating in june/july) with a stop at the awesome wild Karajini national park where you will see fantastic gorges and real outback scenery. In Perth itself check out the heritage city of Fremantle on the coast. Have fun 😊 Reply to this

Hi Wendy - The 'problem' (we like to think of it as an advantage!) with Perth is we are the most isolated capital city in the world which is the reason we on the west coast of Aus get far fewer tourists. Not sure of your point of origin but if you can get a direct flight to Perth you will save yourself time and money. I can get return flights from Perth to Singapore/Kuala Lumper or Bali from $200 but to fly to Sydney will cost me a minimum of $550. Ive just had a quick google and found 3 and 4 day tours by bus from Exmouth (Ningaloo) to Broome with a couple of nights camping at the Karajini Eco Camp. These bus tours are actually great because they tend to take you to a lot of the other gorges through the area so you are seeing landforms around 2.5million years old and there will be no shortage of wildlife to see. If you arrived in Perth and spent 2 days in Fremantle (only 20 mins by public transport to Perth itself - we have a nice zoo, no steel and concrete) then caught a flight up to exmouth, spent two days lying on the beach, snorkelling and perhaps going out on a whale shark tour at Ningaloo (accom there is either backpackers in exmouth itself or a couple of eco camp resorts on the coast itself) then caught a bus tour for 3 days to Broome taking in Karajini on the way you should have a lovely ten days. If your kids prefer theme parks I would have to honestly say that the east coast may be better for them as you have the big name parks such as Sea World and Dream World on the gold coast (QLD) so i guess it depends on what your family is into. If you do make it to Perth and decide to check out the remote North West please dont hesitate to contact me - I worked at Ningaloo for a couple of years and my dad threw in an executive high paying job to be a tour guide at the round house (first prison and convict building in the west) for $5 a day...and he loves letting kids fire the noon day cannon so I could probably arrange that for you.

Cheers
Cindy

OOPS - edited to add link to a blog i found on travelblog.org - these travellers have some good shots of Karajini and Ningaloo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/blog-200991.html Reply to this