One of the questions we get asked most often at Cornwall House is simple: “What can we do from here?”
The answer is a lot more than most people expect. Kojonup sits right in the middle of the Great Southern region, on Albany Highway between Perth and the south coast. That position makes it a genuinely useful base. You can head north, south, east or west and hit something worth stopping for within an hour or two.
But Kojonup isn’t the only option. Depending on what you’re after and how many days you have, there are a handful of towns in the region that work well as a base for day-tripping. Here’s an honest look at each of them.
Kojonup
Drive time from Perth: about 3 hours south on Albany Highway.
Kojonup is the obvious starting point because it’s ours, but the geography genuinely supports it. From here, Albany is 154 km south, roughly an hour and 40 minutes. Mount Barker is about an hour down the road. Stirling Range National Park and Porongurup are both reachable in under two hours. Katanning is only 40 km north if you want a quick run into town for supplies or a look around.
In spring, September through October mainly, the wildflowers around Kojonup are worth a morning on their own. Myrtle Benn Flora and Fauna Sanctuary is a short drive from town, and the walks are well-marked. The Kodja Place in the centre of town is a proper cultural and interpretive centre, not just a tourist stops. It tells the story of the Noongar people and the early settlers of the region, and the Rose Maze next door has 2,000 Australian-bred rose bushes along a 500-metre path.
What Kojonup does well as a base is put you roughly equidistant from several things, so you’re not committing a whole day just to get somewhere. A morning at Myrtle Benn, lunch in town, and an afternoon drive out to a local winery is a realistic day that doesn’t feel rushed.
Mount Barker
Drive time from Kojonup: about 1 hour south.
Mount Barker is the hub of the Great Southern wine region, and if wine is your main reason for being in the area, staying here or using it as a day-trip destination makes a lot of sense. Plantagenet Wines and West Cape Howe are both worth visiting. Plantagenet was the first commercial winery planted in the Great Southern, back in the 1960s, and the cellar door has views over the vineyard that make a lazy lunch there easy to justify.
The lookout tower on Mount Barker Hill is a five-minute detour and gives you a clear view over the surrounding countryside. The Old Police Station Museum, built in 1868 by convict labour, is small but worth a look if history is your thing.
From Mount Barker, both Porongurup National Park and the Stirling Range are close. Porongurup is about 30 minutes east, and the Granite Skywalk at Castle Rock is genuinely impressive, steep in parts but manageable for most people. The Stirling Range is further east again, and Bluff Knoll, the highest peak in the south of WA at 1,073 metres, requires a longer commitment. Allow at least three hours for the walk up and back.
Mount Barker is a good base if you want to focus on wine and the ranges. It’s slightly closer to Albany than Kojonup is, which can help if you’re planning a full day on the south coast.
Albany
Drive time from Kojonup: about 1 hour 40 minutes south.
Albany is the biggest town on WA’s south coast and earns a full day on its own. The National Anzac Centre at Mount Clarence is one of the best museums in regional WA. The interactive exhibits are well done and it’s not the kind of place you walk through in 20 minutes. Albany’s Historic Whaling Station at Frenchmans Bay is the only intact whale processing facility in the world, which sounds grim but is genuinely fascinating. The restored whale chaser ship is open to walk through.
Torndirrup National Park, a short drive from the town centre, has The Gap and Natural Bridge. Rock formations on the Southern Ocean coast where the swell comes in hard. It’s dramatic scenery even on a calm day.
If you’re staying in Kojonup and doing Albany as a day trip, leave early and plan to be out on the coast or at the Anzac Centre by mid-morning. The drive south is straightforward on Albany Highway and there’s no shortage of things to fill the day. Middleton Beach is a good spot for a swim or a walk before the drive home.
Denmark
Drive time from Kojonup: about 2 hours south and then west along South Coast Highway.
Denmark is a different feel to Albany. It’s smaller, quieter, and sits on the Denmark River near the coast. The kind of town where you end up staying longer than planned. The local wine region around the Shadforth Scenic Drive has more than 20 wineries, and several of them produce wines you won’t find in Perth bottle shops. Forest Hill Vineyard is one of the better-known stops.
William Bay National Park, about 15 km west of Denmark town, has Greens Pool. It’s a calm, sheltered swimming spot between granite boulders that looks almost too perfect to be real. Worth the short drive out.
Denmark works better as a destination if you’re combining it with a night’s stay elsewhere on the coast, or if you have a full day to give it. From Kojonup it’s a two-hour drive each way, so you want to make the most of the time there rather than arriving and feeling like you need to turn around.
Cranbrook and the Stirling Range
Drive time from Kojonup: about 55 minutes south.
Cranbrook bills itself as the gateway to the Stirling Range, and that’s accurate. The Stirling Range National Park is one of the most botanically diverse areas in Australia. Over 1,500 plant species, 87 of which are found nowhere else on Earth. In spring, the wildflowers across the ranges are extraordinary. Even if you don’t want to tackle Bluff Knoll, the drive along Chester Pass Road through the park gives you the full view of the range, and the Western Lookout is a manageable stop.
Cranbrook itself is a small agricultural town but it’s a useful refuelling and coffee stop before heading into the park. It also connects you east to the Frankland River wine region if you want to add a cellar door to the day.
A Note on Planning
The Great Southern rewards travellers who aren’t in a hurry. Most of these destinations are within a comfortable day-trip radius from Kojonup, but the best days tend to be the ones where you’ve picked one or two things to do properly rather than trying to tick off everything on a list.
If you’re planning your visit and want to talk through what’s worth seeing based on the time of year and how many days you have, the team at Cornwall House is happy to help. We know the region well and we know what’s worth the drive.
Book your stay at Cornwall House Accommodation in Kojonup: Call (08) 9831 0214 or email stay@cornwallhouseaccommodation.com.au
