Western Australia is a huge and varied state with 12,000km of wild stunning coastline, most of it completely undeveloped.

It’s mind boggling to think that here are some of the most amazing beaches on earth, with no-one on them! You can quite honestly have a beach completely to yourself. Western Australia is so unique in that fact, if this was anywhere else in the world it’d be crammed full of people with high-rise buildings and properties popping up all over the place.

That’s why I love WA, it’s a place of contrasting colours and textures, plants and animals, land and sea. You really won’t find anywhere else like it on Earth. Here’s a look at some of my favourite coastline spots, starting with Cape Leveque in the North, travelling down to the wilderness coastline of the South West.

Cape Leveque: Situated at the tip of the Dampier Peninsula in the North West of Western Australia, it was here that I learnt to catch and cook huge mud crabs on the banks of Hunter’s Creek. After waiting for the tide to go out, myself and indigenous guide Brian Lee took our crab catching poles and hessian sacks to go get some dinner. A truly remarkable experience.

Cable Beach: One of the iconic things to do in Western Australia is a camel ride along the famous Cable Beach as the sun is setting. Rated as one of the top five beaches in the world, it’s a 22km stretch of pure white sand with red ochre cliffs on one side and the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean on the other.

Cape Range National Park: Cape Range is a place of rugged limestone ranges, breathtaking deep canyons and 50km of pristine beach. I stayed at Sal Salis, a remote beachside safari camp nestled in the dunes of the park. It’s an incredibly isolated yet stunning location, just metres from the World Heritage Ningaloo Reef. Grab your mask and snorkel for an underwater adventure you’ll never forget, or if visiting between April and June swim with the world’s largest fish, the docile whale shark.

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Broome in Australia’s North West is a fascinating town where the outback meets the ocean. With its rich pearling history and industry, fantastic community, 22km world famous Cable Beach and superb weather, it’s a great place to hang out and explore.

Not only that, it’s the gateway to the Kimberley, one of the world’s last great wilderness areas and second in Lonely Planet’s must visit destinations for 2014. I was lucky enough to stay for a week, but if you’re just there for a couple of days, here are my top tips.

WHAT TO DO

Get Educated!: Broome is steeped in pearling history and I learnt so much about the whole process, from its dangerous and treacherous beginnings to the delicate science it is today. Pop into Cygnet Bay Pearls or the Pearl Luggers and listen to captivating stories of how it all began.

When in Broome…: The place has a great community spirit so join in with the locals. When I was there I was lucky enough to be part of the annual Dragon Boat Regatta with what seemed like the entire town’s population. There always seems to be SOMETHING going on, even if it’s just the local sausage sizzle you know it’ll be a good laugh.

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One of the highlights from my three week tour of the Kimberley was hanging out at Lake Argyle, but before we could relax in the mountain-top infinity pool, we had the arduous task of a 7am champagne speed boat ride to the start of the Dam 2 Dam Dinghy Dash (oh woah is me!).

The Dam 2 Dam is an annual race from the Lake Argyle dam wall, along 55km of the upper Ord River, to the finish line at the Kununurra Division Dam. I was expecting rubber dinghies with oars, but the Australian version is a small tin boat with an outboard motor.  Two men (or women) per boat, prizes for “best dressed crew” (I saw clowns, pink tutus and what looked like Chewbacca with a bowler hat) and delicately named vessels (such as Titan Uranus) it’s a cracking event run by the community.

I reckon our early morning speed boat jaunt would’ve gotten quite raucous later on because we were travelling with pretty much all the wives and girlfriends of the competitors and the champagne corks were flying. Unfortunately (probably fortunately), ours was a one-way ticket. We disembarked at the start line and whilst the rest of the party travelled back down the river, we were picked up by Gary from Lake Argyle Resort where we were staying that night.

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