Perth must do list for older kids.

Craig
I have not been there myself, but the wife has and a few suggestions she made were Kings Park near the CBD, Ferry trip to Freemantle, Maritime museum there, the CAT bus service [red bus, blue bus, yellow bus, all different routes] its free. Get on and off when you want, can sometimes beat driving if you don't know the area and the things you want to see are on their route. You should get some reply's from members over there.
Cheers Murray

Hi Craig,

Penguin Island

Pinnacles ........... AKA Nambung National Park ........... don't take the dog.

Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre.

Perth Observatory Day Tour.

Crystal Cave - Yanchep National Park.

Kokerbin Rock.

Jarrahdale Bushwalks ....... although it may be too early??

Dwellingup, walk or cycle or drive.

Yarloop, Historical railroad workshops ...............

Nearby Lake Clifton.

Fremantle Prison .................... and the "Tunnels Tour" .............

Do the Holland Track ........ LOL ........... after all ................... it IS a hire car ..................

Just a few to start ................... above all ..................... enjoy your trip!!

Cheers,
Wayne & Sally.

How old are the Kids????? have you thought of Scitech? Whiteman Park, there are a lot of interesting spots over here, if the children are old enough there is the Gravity Centre in Gingin, which is not too far out of the city.
Cheers
D

Perth is a top spot

Fremantle jail tour is a must Also Bondy's Americas cup boat.

You could spend a couple of days in Freo.

Take a boat cruise down the Swan

Also a great drive out the Swan Valley Chocolate Factory etc.

There is also a great beach Shoalwater Bay south of Freo where all the kite surfers go.. A full days entertainment for free, watching some very talented surfers.

It makes you young again. Have a great time. WA is a great place.

Daz

Hi Crackles

A trip through the 'Avon Arc' is quite interesting - but a bit dry this season - Head out to the hills and have a leisurely drive up through York, across to Northam and swing round to Toodyay (or other way round) then head home to Perth. Great views of the city and coast from the escarpment. Morning tea, lunch afternoon tea at different stops and a pleasant days rubbernecking.

Another day could be up the coast (north) on the new road - numerous spots to visit along the way.

Ferry trip up or down the Swan river is quite relaxing - and yair Rotto (Rottnest Island) worth a visit.

Enjoy

Regards - Phil

Don't bother with Rottnest. Very expensive and there's nothing there. Most over-rated place in WA after Margaret River, which has some of the most over-rated and certainly overpriced wine in Australia, not to mention grossly over-priced food and staff with a bad attitude problem.
Swan Valley is good, as is the Bell Tower in town. Kings Park excellent.
Cheers, Tony (born and bred West Australian).

Come on down to Mandurah.

Boat hire.

Peel Inlet.

Canal and Estuary Tour boats.

Mandurah Tourism


Just down the freeway.

cheers

Perth mint is good to watch the gold pour and let the kids pick up a gold bar(No takeaways) interesting to see and on the red cat bus route. The kids park on the north side of kings park is great for a run and play have a picnic or have lunch at the cafe. Swan valley has heaps for a day drive, chocolate, honey farm, nougat factory and lots of art galleries, drive up the coast past Observation City then inland to the swan valley to aviod the same drive out and back.
Grab all the tourist guide books at the info center in the mall or at the airport as the coupons can be a good deal, recent ones were kids cruise free to roto, or freebies in swan valley, kids free into zoo etc

Give something real to do and remember Craig.

About 1 hour north on the coast is Moore river where a small river inlet has a sand bar that mostly cuts it off from sea, you can hire canoes and stuff around , get your feet into the beach sand with short walks from nice lookout , but also there is car access to beach just north.

Tell kids your going 4wding and drive hire car up it , I can assure you it only takes about 30m to get it bogged, and then get everyone to push it out , they won't forget the holiday.

Worthwhile recovery gear to carry on plane is air transfer hose and guage - to re-inflate hire car tyres from spare.


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Have 3 older kids myself (13, 15, 17), and live in Perth, difficult to interest at times.
+1 for maritime museum fremantle and Ovens
+1 for penguin Is.
also Bullcreek RAAF museum (haven't been for a few years now, but was good)
WA Army museum at freo we visited about a month ago, kids thought it was OK.
beach, swimming snorkeling at Rottnest Is. or Marmion Marine Park is good.
Abseiling the quarries around Perth is fun, google will find who currently does this.
WA museum and art gallery in centre of Perth are pretty good.
Surf Cat Hire, Swan River, South perth, great fun.
Canoeing, canning river, great if you're into bream finshing or Ornithology (sp? bird watching), hire available or borrow one from me.
Fishing is good at the moment anywhere along the coast.

Else just find a network games venue and leave them there for the week, while you have fun.

Hi Crackles

There's The Maze up at Waneroo with a few mazes, they also have putt putt and disc golf? Not a bad day there. Out at the Swan valley there is Super Golf which is also pretty good. Apart from that all the other ideas down at Freo and in the city should be good for them and yourselves and if this hot weather continues the beaches would be good way to end the day with the sun going down with some fish and chips. Also you can hire bikes and ride around the Swan Rriver that is always fun. Possibly another interesting thing (we haven't been to yet) there are some WW2 tunnels around Mossman Park which are open on Sundays - someone else may be able to explain further or advise if they are worth it.

Have fun.

Cheers
Boags

Craig, living in the west is better than any other state...... It has the footy WCE go to the game all trains lead to WCE games... jump on a train to Mandurah a beautiful sea side spot, catch the bus to the fore shore have a looky around, lunch then head back to Perth..
The maritime museum in Fremantle is cool... adventure world for the kids (water park) ... Freo prison have daily tours, if you are game do the night time one and the tunnels underneath the prison... (spooky) if you have time to drive, down south is good to bussleton, margret river, dunsbourough, august and caves tours near Dunsborough..... I live in the Pilbara, if you want to know more about the Karijini gorges etc only to happy to help out