Western
Australia is Australia's largest state. It comprises of 2,525,500 square kilometres,
(975,134 square miles) which is 32.87% of the continent. We have 12,500 kilometres
of coastline. By comparison France, Europe's largest country, is 550,000 square
kilometres and Alaska , the largest state in the U.S., is 586,412 square miles.
Our nearest capital city is Adelaide which is 2725 kilometres away. Most of
the population of around 1,800,000 live in the capital city Perth, approximately
1.3 million, most of the rest live close to the coast line. By comparison
France's population is 58 million and Alaska has a population of 634,892.
When travelling in W.A. there are a lot of wide open empty spaces, especially up north, I like to allow an hour per 100 kilometres as a guide to how far you can go. If you travel for eight hours (a long time when you are driving) you will go about 800 k's, which makes places like Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Esperance within reach, but Carnarvon is pushing it. Try to stop frequently to give yourself a break. Try to resist the temptation to disappear down tracks unless you know where you are or if it is well used track. People have been stranded out in remote place, some never make it back. You are not going to see everything in a week, even a month is pushing it. I have lived here thirty years and still there are places I haven't been to, one day I will make it.
Spring time is wildflower season, depending on rains, and is most probably the best time to see wildlowers. Our wildflowers are often endemic, some occur nowhere else in the world, and some are restricted to very small areas. W.A encompasses 5% of the worlds bio diversity, Australia encompasses 10%. To put things in perspective, to quote a newspaper article, "while just 6sq metres of southern heathland in W.A. has more varied species than 1sq kilometre of Amazon Jungle."..."Stirling Range National park (115 920 hectares, 448 sq miles) has more species than all the UK." The Sunday Times, July 29, 2001.