Coalmine Beach Holiday Park

With nature reserves and national parks overlapping in these parts, you’re sharing your downtime with the wildlife. The Valley of the Giants treetop walk (19 minutes’ drive) is a great to place to get acquainted: visitors wander a canopy of indigenous forest that includes the Great Tingle Trees, a vast local eucalyptus which lives for centuries. There are guided walks (and night-time expeditions) in the Walpole Nornalup State Park (10 minutes) and a network of trails to traverse yourself along. Bigger walks (and serious walkers) join up with the Bibbulmun Track, a thousand kilometres from the Perth Hills to the south coast. Mountain bikers can link up with the similarly-grand Munda Biddi Trail; in both cases, you could always just do a bit and buy the T-shirt... You can be just as intrepid (or not) on the water. Eco cruises around the inlet are a popular way to see the marine reserve close up; boats can be hired in the State Park and at Peaceful Bay (30 minutes) and few pleasures match just paddling up to a deserted beach for a bush picnic. Fed by two pristine river systems, the inlet is a major draw for fishing enthusiasts and you can buy bait at the site. Head to Conspicuous Cliffs (20 minutes) to spot whales or to Mandalay Beach (40 minutes) for eerie views of a ship wrecked in 1911 on its final voyage from Africa. Top it off by heading up Mount Frankland to the lookout point (20 minutes): the views there (unlike holidays, alas) go on forever.