Western Wheatbelt

In September, when the wildflowers come, the Wheatbelt stops being background and becomes destination. The Western Australian wildflower season is one of the great natural spectacles on Earth — 12,000 flowering species, concentrated in a state that was isolated for so long it evolved its own botanical world. The Wheatbelt is central to this experience: roadside verges erupt in everlastings, banksias and hakeas from late August, and the York and Avon Valley drives are carpeted in colour by September.

Wave Rock, outside Hyden, is the region's famous landmark — a 15-metre curved granite wall, striped with mineral runs in orange and grey, that genuinely does look like a breaking wave frozen in rock. It's more impressive in person than in photographs, and the surrounding Hyden Wildlife Park is a bonus. But the Wheatbelt's appeal is broader than any single site: the granite inselbergs (Bald Rock, Sandford Rock, the Humps at Kokerbin) are extraordinary geological features rising from flat farmland like islands from a sea.

The towns have a genuine agricultural culture — York is the oldest inland settlement in WA, with a handsome main street of heritage buildings and a local art scene that's been quietly thriving for decades. Merredin and Northam anchor the east and west of the region with good facilities and strong community character. The Avon Valley in spring, green from winter rain and yellow from canola, is one of the most pastoral and beautiful landscapes in Western Australia.