Riverside Park

Australia's landscape might be ancient, but it's ever changing. Bunbury, Western Australia's City of Three Waters, is one of the best examples. The former industrial port has reinvented itself as a happening hub where street art and vibrant venues line the waterways crisscrossing the town. You can see the best of it, and the surrounding region of lush valleys and peaceful forests from a berth at Riverside Park, eight kilometres from the city centre on the banks of the Collie River in the suburb of Eaton.

Well-tended grassy lawns and wide drives give the park a neat and calm atmosphere, and facilities like the laundry and the family bathrooms are conveniently together in one block. Camp kitchens and barbecues around the park mean you don't miss the great Australian outdoors for a minute and when you need supplies, there's a 24 hour store across the road.

You can play tennis at pretty much any hour too on the floodlit courts, then finish with a dip in the pool. Practise swimming like a dolphin, then do it for real. Koombana Beach (ten minutes drive) is a popular and safe spot for families but the real draw are the hundred-odd bottlenose dolphins in the Discovery Centre. Like much of Western Australia, they're wild but friendly.