When West Aussies head down south for a break, Walpole is often just one bakery stop too many for holiday-goers.
We want to be able to crack the first beer or wine about three hours from pulling out of the driveway, so the quaint township in the Great Southern region, just over 400 kilometres from Perth, doesn’t get the kudos it deserves.
Four out of the five holiday companions of Foster’s – Frankie Foster, Aislinn Cranfield, Finlay Foster and Cristina Skelton.Credit: Brendan Foster
While I have nothing against cautiously swaddled beings happily basking in deckchair tourism, if you want to absorb nature in its wondrous, sparkling glory then the five-hour trek to Walpole is worth every torturous game of I Spy.
Its vast and expansive wilderness covers over 3500 square kilometres and includes breathtaking beaches surrounded by towering forests and rugged limestone cliffs that look like the location for a Jurassic Park movie.
Around 20 kilometres east, sitting atop spectacular granite headlands, Conspicuous Cliff gives you one of the most mind-boggling views of pristine coastline anywhere in WA.
I became so bewitched by the aqua ocean I momentarily denounced my non-secular ways to........