Esperance and South East Coast of WA

There's a photograph that does the rounds online — a kangaroo resting on sand so white it looks photoshopped, with water so turquoise it looks like the Caribbean. It's Lucky Bay, in Cape Le Grand National Park near Esperance, and it's real. The south-east coast of WA is genuinely that beautiful, and it genuinely is that empty.

Esperance is a clean, unhurried town with good coffee, an excellent fish-and-chip culture and a foreshore that faces the Southern Ocean. The Archipelago of the Recherche — over 100 islands visible offshore — creates a sheltered stretch of coast with snorkelling, diving, sea lion encounters and remote island camping for those with a boat.

Cape Le Grand is the centrepiece: a national park of massive pink granite boulders, pristine bays and a coastline walking track that connects Lucky Bay, Hellfire Bay and Thistle Cove. All three are jaw-dropping. The wildlife here is remarkably relaxed — kangaroos treat the beach as their lounge room and pay very little attention to visitors. The Recherche Archipelago offshore hosts one of Australia's largest sea lion colonies. If you've come this far along the South Coast Highway, you've earned it.