The Beauty of Nature in Paraburdoo, Dampier and Broome

Paraburdoo is a town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The name of the town comes from an Aboriginal word for 'white cockatoo'. It is located 1,536 kilometers north of Perth and 79 kilometers southwest of Tom Price. Paraburdoo is some 651 km inland, north of Carnarvon, and 1536 km north of Perth. Paraburdoo is on the southwestern end of the Hamersley Range National Park and some 81 km south of Tom Price.

Mother Nature has bestowed Dampier with two extraordinary gifts - Dampier Archipelago, the most biodiverse marine environment in Western Australia, and the awe-inspiring illusion known as the Staircase to the Moon. Over 30,000 years, the local Indigenous people have added to these treasures, turning the Burrup Peninsula into one of the richest prehistoric art collections on Earth.



Located 14 minutes drive from Karratha airport, Dampier is easily reached within a few hours from Perth. Driving west from Port Hedland, it's a three-hour journey, but by far the most enriching way to get here is via the Warlu Way. This 2,480-kilometer drive reveals the mysteries of the Warlu and other Indigenous legends, leading you through the highlights of the Pilbara and Kimberley regions.

Follow the road to Burrup Peninsula and you'll enter one of the greatest manmade marvels of the prehistoric age - a fine collection of more than 20,000 Indigenous rock engravings, some of which are believed to be 40,000 years old.

In more recent times, Dampier has established itself as a major shipping port with massive export facilities. Guided tours and lookouts offer you a window to its mammoth port facilities, immense stockpiles of salt and iron ore, and epic 2.3-kilometer trains.

Accommodation-wise, there's a caravan park across the road from the town beach and a pub offering motel-style rooms - once frequented by the famous 'Pilbara Wanderer', Red Dog, whose statue stands guard over the town.

During the winter months in Port Hedland, you will be able to find a multitude of native wildflowers. You can make an adventure of wildflower viewing by following the Pilbara Wildflowers Trail by road through the region. July to September is the time to experience this beautiful natural occurrence unique to the Pilbara. Look in the right places and you will find the unmistakable Sturt's desert pea, Mulla mulla, and the tall majestic Ashburton pea, as well as up to 65 species of the Acacia (wattle).



Care for Hedland's Turtle program provides much-needed monitoring, awareness, and conservation for these local threatened species. This program is a part of a wider turtle monitoring project encompassing nesting rookeries from Shark Bay in the south, up to Kimberly. Guided evening tours operate for anyone to watch the turtles nesting while following the turtle watchers' code of conduct. Nesting season is from October to January. Hatchling season is in December to March.

Exotic, extraordinary, adventure and luxury can all be found on a fly-stay trip to the tropical pearling town of Broome. It’s home to one of the most beautiful beaches and the largest pearls in the world. It’s where natural phenomena create the Staircase to the Moon and Horizontal Falls. It’s the gateway to one of the last true wilderness areas on Earth.

Broome's Cable Beach is justifiably world-famous for its 22 kilometers of sun-kissed white sand, turquoise water, and spectacular Indian Ocean sunsets. But what really gives it a top spot on the must-do list is the experience of taking in all its tropical splendor from the seat of a camel train.

The beach is very much a part of Broome's history, earning its name from the telegraph cable laid between Broome and Java in 1889, connecting Australia's North West with the world. Word of this beauty spot has traveled far since then, but it's still possible to find your own secluded slice of paradise.

Walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs at Gantheaume Point, near Broome. Here, preserved in the reef rock for over 125 million years, are the footprints of long-extinct dinosaurs and a few plant fossils too, making it one of the best paleontological sites in the world. Situated just five minutes drive from Broome, the footprints are only visible at low tide. However, you can view plaster casts of the dinosaur tracks embedded at the top of the cliff if the tide is high. Check tide times at the visitor center in Broome before your head out to the point.

Just a short stroll to the northern side of Gantheaume Point and you'll find a touching piece of local history at Anastasia's Pool. This natural spa pool was lovingly modified by one of the early lighthouse keepers, making its therapeutic warm water easily accessible for his wife, who suffered terribly from arthritis.

The most thrilling way to reach Gantheaume Point is by zooming across the mudflats of Roebuck Bay on a hovercraft tour from Broome, then taking a guided walk among ancient footprints. Along the way, you can view coastal scenery, where red cliffs meet the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean.

This rugged and pristine slice of the Kimberley is famous for its Aboriginal heritage which continues to thrive. Equally famous are the striking colors of the landscape, where dramatic red-rock cliffs meet bone-white sand and clear turquoise water. The area is popular for swimming, snorkeling, boating, and whale watching. Fishing is world-class throw in a line from the side of a boat to catch mackerel, tuna, cobia, and sailfish. 

The white waters are thrilling to ride by boat and awe-inspiring to view from the air. Join a scenic flight or sea safari to the Horizontal Waterfalls from Kooljaman in Cape Leveque, Broome, or Derby to see and experience it for yourself.

So, what makes the waterfall sideways? These incredible natural wonders are the work of some of the largest tidal movements in the world. As the tide ebbs and flows, a huge volume of water is forced through two narrow cliff passages, creating a variation in ocean level of up to four meters and a unique waterfall effect.