Guide to Mandurah Western Australia Australia

Just an hour’s drive south of Perth, Mandurah is a vibrant and versatile city noted for its magnificent waterways and holiday atmosphere.

The city’s restaurants, craft and souvenir shops, art galleries and cultural buildings are set around the blue green waters of Mandjar Bay. At night the bay lights up and people migrate to the waterfront to enjoy a barbeque or dine at the many cafes.

In the day, foreshore lawns and parklands come alive with walkers, picnickers, paddlers, people fishing and crabbing and children at play.

Pleasure craft and charter cruises head out from town to seek friendly dolphin schools, pelican and other bird breeding sanctuaries, the best crabbing spots, or simply the wide calm expanses of Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary and beyond, to the Indian Ocean.

Houseboats are hired for idyllic days and nights on the estuary or meandering up the Murray River. The town bridge and jetties see a passing parade of people fishing by day or dropnetting the tide for prawns by night. But the aquatic activity for which Mandurah is perhaps best known is crabbing, which brings thousands during summer weekends, wading the shallows with scoop nets and stout shoes. The Mandurah Crab Festival in autumn is the city’s major festival event of the year.

Boat ramps are located at Mandurah Marina, Mary Street, Estuary Road and Dawesville Channel and other locations.

Mandurah’s southern boundary is Yalgorup National Park where Lake Clifton contains a colony of living wonder fossils known as thrombolites. A walkway across the lakes’ shallows allows close-up viewing.

A wide variety of quality accommodation is available including hotels, holiday resorts, self contained cottages, bed and breakfast, caravan parks and camping.