Header image by one of WA’s finest – @dg.imagery

What a year 2020 has been.

You’d think things could only go up after bushfires ravaged the country during the Aussie summer, but a global pandemic had other ideas.

And as we barrel towards the halfway mark of the year (yikes!), the WA Day long weekend looms large as a chance for all of us to take a collective breath.

We hope you enjoy it, whether on the road getting reacquainted with our great state, or at home taking it easy with loved ones.

And we hope you enjoy a giggle or two, as we run down the things that make Western Australia much more than OK, rather, the best bloody place in the world!

20 Reasons WA Is The Best:

1. This Deadly Bridge

Photo via Bell Tower Times/Facebook.

Man has waged many wars over the years, but none have brought such equal amounts of pain and joy as that between his trucks and the Bayswater Bridge. With dozens of victims over the journey, the Bayswater Bridge is a murderous slab of concrete that has shown no mercy, and in the process given us plenty of laughs (to go with many truck owners’ pain). Get the latest here.

2. These Cute Little Buggers

Photo by @cruzysuzy.

If WA has a bigger tourism export than these tiny little marsupials we’re yet to see it. From Chris Hemsworth and Roger Federer to your mum spending a full hour posing with them, no one is safe from the Quokka’s irresistible charms.

3. …And This Island Filled With Them

Photo by @liv_craven.

For such a massive export, it’s crazy to think Quokkas are (mostly) confined to WA’s favourite holiday destination cum quarantine hot spot, Rottnest Island. We may not be able to visit for a little while yet, but rest assured those pristine beaches will be there once this all blows over.

4. A Blue House That Floats On Water

Photo by @m4ttydee.

For the locals, the Crawley Edge Boatshed was just a weird little blue house on the water we drove past along Mounts Bay Road. Thanks to Instagram though, in recent years it’s probably become our second biggest tourist attraction behind only the Quokka. Whatever floats your boat, as they say!

5. And The Big Pointy Thing Up River

Photo by Sky Perth.

Call us crazy, but we’ve got a soft spot for Perth’s famed Bell Tower. No one really knows why it’s there or what its purpose is, but it is definitely an architectural structure, and in the past couple of years has become a nice little side-piece to Elizabeth Quay and its extravagant surrounds.

6. Kilometres And Kilometres Of Finely Divided Rock And Mineral Particles Alongside Water You Can’t Drink

Photo by @larkshots.

Beaches mate, we bloody love ’em, our’s are the best in the world, and we won’t hear a single thing otherwise.

7. A Dense Jungle That’s Appropriate For Humans And Picnics

Photo by @destinations_eye_go.

New York has Central Park, London Hyde Park and Tokyo’s got the Imperial Gardens. All pail in comparison to Perth’s mighty Kings Park & Botanic Garden. It’s one of the world’s biggest inner-city green spaces and packs incredible city and river views along with thousands of different native flora species to enjoy.

8. A Huge Wave You Can’t Surf

Photo by @carolinedahm_.

One of the world’s most stunning rock formations, there’s nothing quite like hanging ten in the 15m-high red dirt barrel that is Wave Rock.

9. Plus A Place Filled With Huge Waves You Can Surf

Photo by @gbeckerphoto.

Western Australia’s southwest region is one of the world’s surfing hotspots, filled with world famous waves like Surfer’s Point and The Box in Margaret River, North Point in Gracetown and Yallingup to name but a small few. Waves for the real surfer’s surfer, none of this wave park nonsense – just dirt trails, white sandy beaches and tough-as-nails limestone reef for the real soul surfers to duke it out with.

10. …And Old Grapes You Can Drink

Photo by @dylan.dehaas.

The southwest winery region is another that features on many “world-renowned” lists. It’ll take you months to work through them all, from the tiniest cellar doors to expansive restaurants over-looking valleys and valleys of grapes just waiting to be fermented into your next favourite drop. It’s not just south either! There are fantastic winery regions all over WA including the Swan Valley, Bunbury and more.

11. Giant Sharks You Can Swim With That Won’t Eat You

Photo by @dylan.dehaas.

We’ll admit in the past WA hasn’t had the best record in terms not-so-friendly sharks swimming around the southern areas, but head north to Ningaloo Reef and you’ll find their much cuter and cuddlier cousins, Whale Sharks. Part of WA’s stunning Coral Coast, you simply must add diving with whale sharks to the old bucket list.

12. There’s Pointy Rocks In The Desert

Photo by @scottiniroberto.

Another part of the Coral Coast but a little closer to home, the Pinnacles in the Nambung National Park make up an alien landscape visited by folks from around the world (around 600,000 of them per year, in fact).

13. And A Premier That Looks Good In Uniform

With wife Sarah via ABC News.

O Captain! My Captain!

14. A Four-Time Premiership-Winning AFL Team

We love our footy in WA (perhaps a little too much), and it certainly helps when you’ve had a team so successful as the West Coast Eagles since they joined the VFL in 1987. Their four premierships over the journey so far have helped cement Western Australia’s reputation as “footy mad”.

14.5 …And Another One Responsible For Gifting Clive Waterhouse To The World

Speaking of mad, the other AFL team in WA is one that loves to drive its supporters just that. The mighty Fremantle Dockers – you love ’em, we love ’em, and we look ever forward to the day they can finally stick it up their crosstown rivals with a premiership of their own – seriously.

15. A Few Other Sports Teams That Go A Bit Of Alright

Yes we are a bit footy crazy in WA, but that hasn’t stopped us dominating other codes too. Like 10-time NBL Premiers the Perth Wildcats, A-League and W-League premiers Perth Glory, 3-times BBL Champions the Perth Scorchers, 4x ABL Champions Perth Heat and WA’s netball team scoring runners up last year.

16. A Beach Filled With Little Skippies!

Photo by @ashleydobson.

Further south, Cape Le Grand National Park has some of the world’s best beaches, including the now world famous Lucky Bay – a beach where kangaroos take up all the tanning spots (and sometimes let you pat them).

17. Gorges So Gorgeous They’d Make Gorgeous George Jealous

Photo by @westozactiveadventuretours.

Karijini National Park is filled with gorges over 2,500million years old, steeped in Indigenous history and filled with some of the world’s weirdest and most wonderful flora and fauna.

18. A Location That’s Far, Far Away From The Rest Of The World

Remember when we used to complain about Perth’s title of being the most isolated city in the world? Well hands up if you’ve been thanking your lucky stars we are so far away from the rest of the world these past couple of months? In recent times WA has turned our isolation into one of our strengths, making it an incredible and unique place to live.

19. Fremantle, Where Kevin Parker And Bon Scott Are From

Photo by @drewhelsinki.

Two of the world’s biggest ever bands. One tiny little hippy commune south of Perth. You do the math.

20. The Sun Sets Over The Ocean, Like It’s Supposed To

Photo by @el.picko.

Can you imagine a world where the sun doesn’t set over the ocean? It’s just weird and wrong and exactly why we’re the best.