BEAUTY AND THE OCEAN BEASTS
Western Australia’s Bremer Bay is the south's sleeping beauty — peaceful, pure and a dream to wander. Its natural splendour of secluded coves, granite headlands, bubble-gum blue beaches, exotic flora, and snaking bush trails can leave you eager to venture beyond its realm, even if that means finding yourself at the edge of a continental shelf.
Far from its farming origins, Bremer Bay captures imaginations with its extraordinary wildlife. It lures those who like to venture out of their comfort zone to see its famed residents despite their nightmarish-sounding names — mythical-looking leafy and weedy sea dragons and killer whales.
I felt a bit disoriented when I first arrived at this emerging tourist destination 500km south-east of Perth. There is no main thoroughfare strip with local institutions such as an old faithful country bakery or historic pub — just residential housing with ad hoc establishments in between.
Solitude is bliss in my holiday state of mind. In a place where beaches seemed to outnumber shops and the like (something of a bonus in Bremer Bay), it encourages people to seek natural forms of fun. Although the tiny hamlet may appear to be in a constant slumber, its residents — both above and below sea level — have many good reasons to expend their energies elsewhere.
