Western Australia covers a third of the Australian continent, yet has a population of just 2.3 million. Conscious of its isolation from the more populous eastern states, or indeed anywhere else, Western Australia is ironically the most suburban of Australian states: almost all of its inhabitants live within 200km of Perth and most of the rest live in communities strung along the coastline. The state offers an enticing mix of Outback grandeur and laid-back living, and is attracting increasing numbers of tourists keen to break away from “the East”, as the rest of Australia is known in these parts.
