Bremer Bay is a sleepy coastal town, located between Esperance and Albany in Western Australia. It is about a five and a half-hour drive from Perth. The town has a small permanent population, with the numbers swelling to the thousands during peak holiday periods. This isn’t surprising with its relaxed atmosphere, and all the beautiful beaches it has to offer.

We visited Bremer Bay in late November, it was fairly quiet, and there was plenty to see and do. The weather was a bit undecided, we had rain for a few days, with other days being sunny with beautiful blue skies. 

Killer Whales

Bremer Bay is known for the Bremer Canyon where killer whales (orca) visit during the summer months between January to April. We would have loved to have done a tour and seen these beautiful creatures, but unfortunately, we visited out of season.

Beaches

Beaches are one of our favourite places to visit and Bremer Bay has plenty of stunning beaches to choose from. Bremer Beach is the main beach and closest to town. You can drive out to the Peninsula and visit Short Beach, Fishery Beach, Blossoms Beach, Native Dog Beach or Little Boat Harbour. 

Blossoms Beach is a popular beach for families, the water stays shallow a long way out. Fishery Beach (also the Marina) is also a safe and sheltered beach. These are good beaches for families and small children. 

We loved Short Beach, it is a stunning beach where the water is sheltered by a reef. Native Dog Beach is popular for surfing. Little Boat Harbour is great for snorkelling. Most of these beaches are accessed via a section of unsealed road, so make sure to drive to your ability and the conditions.

There is also a wind turbine in town. You can drive up an unsealed road to get a close up view of it if you find this interesting. These scare Marcus when we get up close. He thinks they are going to come spinning off and fall on us!! Or take a drive up to the rock Cairn on Cuneo Drive and check out the stunning views across Bremer Bay.

The Wellstead Heritage Museum

We love getting to know a bit about the local history, so a visit the Wellstead Heritage Museum and Cafe was definitely on our list of things to do. Bremer Bay was originally known as Wellstead as the Wellstead’s built the first homestead here in the 1850’s. A telegraph station followed in in the 1870’s. The name was changed to Bremer Bay in the 1960’s. The museum is full of a range of amazing artefacts including a great display of vintage cars.

Fishing in Bremer Bay

For lovers of fishing, there is beach fishing or you can try your luck at catching some bream in the Wellstead Estuary. The estuary is home to over 100 species of birds and is also a recuperating ground for migrating birds.

Get some exercise, and take a wander along The Native Snail Trail. This trail weaves through bushland from the town to the tourist park near the end of Wellstead Road. Its quite a long walk so we only did a small portion of it. We saw a fox running off in the distance, and unfortunately Marcus was worried we were going to get attacked, and kept panicking at the slightest of noises!!

Places to Eat in Bremer Bay

One thing I was pleasantly surprised about was the quality of food on offer here in Bremer Bay. We had great meals at The Telegraph on Bremer, Mount Barren Restaurant (which is located at the Bremer Bay Resort and is also basically the local pub) and Wellstead Museum Cafe. We also stopped in for a bite at Bremer Bay Brewing Company. The beer was great, the food okay, but the service was extremely lacking.

Fitgerald River National Park

Bremer Bay is the gateway to the West side of Fitzgerald River National Park. The roads within the park on this side are unsealed. When we visited, which was after some rain, we found them to be very corrugated. Our little Hyundai couldn't handle the drive so unfortunately had to turn around before getting to Point Ann, a popular place to visit. We did however get to visit the East side, which we absolutely loved.

We had a great time in Bremer Bay and would have liked to have spent some more time here exploring what this beautiful part of southern western Australia has to offer.

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