MOORE River really does give two holidays for the price of one.
Hailed as the holiday spot where river and Indian Ocean meet, you can stand on the sandbar separating the two and, depending on your mood, opt for some wave dodging and bucket-and-spade fun on the seashore, take a dip or kayak in the calm of the river.
The Moore River estuary is on the banks of the coastal town of Guilderton, gazetted in 1951, where there’s a caravan park and holiday rentals aplenty.
Originally known as Gabbadah, meaning a mouthful of water, it is about 80 minutes’ drive north of Perth.
The area offers picture postcard outlooks, fishing, swimming, cruises, golf, lawn bowls, tennis, scenic riverside bushwalks and, for thrillseekers, the chance to slide down pristine white sand dunes on a bodyboard.
A roadhouse and general store make self-catering easy, and there is a good cafe and tasty fare on offer at the Guilderton Country Club.
Take a walk to Wreck Point and the last lighthouse to be built in WA, constructed with distinctive red clay bricks back in 1983.
A must-see is the Gravity Discovery Centre, a half-hour drive away in Yeal.
This hands-on astronomy and science centre provides a mind-expanding experience. It includes The Leaning Tower of Gingin, which enables people to replicate the experiments by Galileo from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
If you don’t want to climb the 222 steps to the top and drop down water balloons of varying sizes, signs on the tower provide the perfect excuse.
Every few storeys they remind you the higher you go, the faster you age, so remain on the ground to stay younger longer.
There is also a biodiversity walk, cosmology gallery, and scales that tell you how much you would weigh on other planets. Hint: for weight watching holidaymakers, Pluto is the place to be.
