Watch the above video to see the highlights of our road trip to one of the most underrated places in Western Australia.
Collie is in WA’s South West region, just over 2 hours from Perth so it’s a perfect day trip or camping weekend away.
My friend Cait and I hit the highway up the hill to see how much we could fit into one day.
Is this the bluest lake in WA?
Black Diamond is arguably one of the most Instagrammable places in WA and is fast gaining popularity thanks to photos of the aqua-coloured lake going viral on Instagram and Facebook. Here’s my article I wrote for ABC News about it.
Black Diamond is actually a disused coal mine and has received mines department funding to rehabilitate the area for leisure activities and a more recent grant from the Collie Futures Fund will fund a study into installing facilities for visitors like toilets and bins.
If you want to swim in Black Diamond Lake, check the shire website first or read the signage at the water hole because there has been harmful organisms detected in there in the past. The most recent testing in 2018 showed it to be fine, but just be sure to check!
Why is Black Diamond Lake so blue?
This is one of the most asked questions about the lake but it’s difficult to find a definitive answer. I’ve been told by locals that it’s believed to be because of the way the light reflects off the limestone rock that forms the base of it. It’s pretty spectacular!
Collie is more than a coal mining town
The tiny town of Collie’s two coal mines provide the entire coal supply for Western Australia and its three power stations generate 70 per cent of the state’s coal-fired power.
But with the world turning to cleaner energy sources, the town is working to ensure it’s not left behind, with initiatives like the Collie Futures Fund set up to fund other industries to get started.
Tourism could be the new future in Collie
Tourism is the key industry many are pinning their hopes on because of all the beautiful places Collie has to offer!
I absolutely love camping at Honeymoon Pool, a ranger-run campground alongside a chilly section of river. We stopped by just before heading home for the night, as Caitlin is not one for camping.
Minninup Pool is also a nice place to stop by, with a young family feeding ducks and an Aboriginal man doing a tapping sticks ritual when we visited.
We stopped at the first little parking area to see the ducks and then we drove a little further around the track to find a more bushy area where this photo below was taken. We were warned some tracks are only suited to four-wheel drives so we stayed on the beaten track in Cait’s little Corolla!
Another area we didn’t get time to fit in was Stockton Lake, which is also apparently quite blue like Black Diamond.
I’ve been camping before at Potter’s Gorge, another great place I’d recommend which is next to Wellington Dam, a gravel-lined dam area, popular for water sports.
You can also go down to see the Wellington Dam facility, watch the overflow area and check out the little cafe there – it was a while ago I was there but I remembered liking it!
Where to stay in Collie
There are only a handful of hotels in the actual Collie town so I’ve put together some handy affiliate links for you below for staying in town or in the wider region.
Find your perfect place to stay in the Collie townsite here or continue your road trip throughout the wider Geographe Wine region to these hotels.
Or find your very own cosy Airbnb to enjoy your stay.
Finding food in Collie
In the video at the top of this post, Cait and I couldn’t find any restaurants open after 2:30pm. We checked several pubs, the old pub-turned-cafe and they were all closed or not serving food. We asked around and were advised there was a lunch bar open in the suburban area.
We opted for the little cafe inside the shopping arcade. The bakery was also open but we felt like a sit down cafe-style meal. If you can recommend any other places in town open for a late lunch, please let me know for next time!
Put Collie on your list of places to visit!
I definitely recommend a trip to Collie!
I hadn’t even really heard about this place when I lived in Perth but after moving down to the South West region, it became one of my favourite areas to spend a day or weekend in nature because it’s not overrun with tourists like many other areas down south.
Where’s another underrated town or region I should visit? Let me know as I’ll be back shooting in WA again for another short stint soon 🙂
See below pics from across the Bunbury Geographe region including Collie, Dardanup and Ferguson Valley.
