Food & wine
Perth Hills fringe
Swan Valley
Western Australia oldest wine region, 25 minutes from the depot. More than 150 cellar doors, breweries and providores in one loop.
Jurien Bay is the town most Perth road trippers drive straight past on the way to the Pinnacles, and that is a mistake. It is one of the few places in Australia where you can swim with wild Australian sea lions, and one of the very few where a tandem skydive lands you on the beach. The water is the colour the brochures promise.
The drive from Perth
About 220 kilometres north, roughly two and a half hours direct, on Wanneroo Road and then Indian Ocean Drive through Yanchep, Lancelin and Cervantes. Fully sealed and fine for any car in our fleet. Allow four to six hours if you stop properly, which you should.
- Yanchep National Park for koalas and the Crystal Cave, 45 minutes out of the city.
- Lancelin for the sand dunes, and the last reliable fuel before Cervantes.
- The Pinnacles at Nambung National Park, only a short detour off the road and an easy add-on.
Two things worth knowing about Indian Ocean Drive. There is no fuel between Lancelin and Cervantes, so top up. And it has a bad reputation for kangaroo and emu strikes at dawn and dusk, so aim to arrive in daylight.
What to do when you get there
The sea lions are the reason to come. Jurien Bay Marine Park protects breeding colonies on Buller Island, North Fisherman Island and Essex Rocks, and licensed operators run trips out of Jurien Bay Boat Harbour. Jurien Bay Oceanic Experience does a two and a half hour sea lion interaction tour and a longer five and a half hour marine park trip, plus lobster catch-and-keep charters. Tours also depart from Cervantes and Green Head.
The other headline act is Skydive Jurien Bay, which offers tandem jumps from up to 15,000 feet with a guaranteed beach landing, currently from around 399 dollars.
When you are back on land:
- Jurien Bay Jetty and the netted swimming enclosure, safe and calm for kids.
- Turquoise Way, the sealed coastal path that runs along the foreshore.
- Lesueur National Park, one of the richest wildflower sites in the state, with more than 900 plant species.
- Sandy Cape Recreation Park for a swim away from town.
- Grigson Lookout for the view over the bay and the islands.
When to go
September to November. The seas are calmer, the temperatures are mild, and the wildflowers are out inland at Lesueur. Whales pass along the Coral Coast from June through November, northbound to August and southbound from August. January and February are hot and windy, and winter swell is the main risk to any boat tour.
Lesueur charges the standard 17 dollar national park vehicle fee. There is public EV charging at both Lancelin and Jurien Bay if you need it.
Day trip or overnight?
Jurien Bay works as a day trip only if you leave early and keep the stops short. Five hours of driving plus a two and a half hour boat tour is a long day, and it means skipping the Pinnacles, Lesueur and Lancelin entirely.
An overnight is the better call, and it opens up the obvious loop: drive up Indian Ocean Drive with a stop at Lancelin, do the Pinnacles in the late afternoon light, sleep in Jurien Bay or Cervantes, take the first sea lion tour the next morning, then drive Lesueur National Park on the way home in wildflower season. Two days, one tank and a bit, and you have covered the best of the Turquoise Coast without rushing any of it.
The hire car we would put you in
The Compact SUV, a Kia Sportage or similar. Five hours of driving in a day is where the higher seat and the quieter cabin earn their money, and on a road where wildlife is the real hazard, sitting up higher genuinely helps you see what is standing on the verge. Five seats and two bags handles wetsuits, towels and an esky without anything ending up on someone lap.
Making it an overnight trip with the family? The SUV 7-Seater takes seven and gives you the boot space for a couple of nights away. If it is just two of you and you are watching the budget, the Compact Hatch will do the run comfortably enough, it is simply a longer day in a smaller car.
Before you leave the depot
Ring the tour operator the morning you drive up, because conditions decide whether the boat goes out and there is no point driving two and a half hours on spec. Pack a towel, a warm layer for the boat, and reef shoes. Fill up in Perth and again at Lancelin, and plan the return leg for daylight.
