Western Australia's greatest landscapes aren't built for crowds. Our small group tours give you deeper access, expert local guides, and the rare luxury of genuinely intimate travel.
There's a reason the world's most experienced travellers choose small group tours for Western Australia. The state's greatest rewards — a private swimming hole in a Kimberley gorge, a winemaker opening bottles not on any public list, a remote beach that takes two hours of red dirt track to reach — are simply inaccessible to large coaches.
Cooee Tours caps every Western Australia departure at 12 guests. That's not a marketing line — it's the number that allows our guides to stop at unscheduled moments, sit with you over a long lunch, and quietly reroute when something more extraordinary presents itself.
Our flagship Western Australia tour covers the full arc of the Kimberley — from the tidal spectacle of Broome's Cable Beach to the cathedral domes of the Bungle Bungles, via the legendary Gibb River Road's hidden gorges. In ten days with a maximum of twelve guests, you'll experience a wilderness that most Australians never see.
Seven days along Australia's most celebrated coastal drive. The Pinnacles, Monkey Mia dolphins, UNESCO-listed Shark Bay, and the grand finale — swimming with whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, the world's largest fringing reef accessible directly from the beach.
Five days in the South West's most celebrated corner. Boutique cellar doors, a truffle farm, barrel blending workshops, old-growth karri forests, and a coastline where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. Our most sought-after food and wine departure.
The Kimberley's most legendary unsealed track, fully guided in a premium 4WD. Ancient reef walls, bat-filled caverns, swimming holes surrounded by sandstone, and night skies 500km from the nearest city. This is wilderness Australia in its purest form — experienced safely with expert guidance.
Western Australia's gold rush history in four days. Wave Rock's geological spectacle, Kalgoorlie's super pit, pink salt lakes, and the perfectly preserved ghost town of Coolgardie. An underrated route that rewards those with a taste for history and authenticity.
The definitive Western Australia experience. Fourteen days covering the Coral Coast's whale sharks, the Kimberley's ancient gorges, and everything in between. For those who want the full state — in one extraordinary, fully guided, all-inclusive expedition.
The state's greatest experiences aren't available at scale. Here's what a maximum of twelve guests actually changes.
Gorges with no walking track. Private station homesteads. A winemaker's barrel room opened after-hours. Remote waterholes that require a 4WD track, an unlock code, and a guide who knows the owner. None of this is available to tour groups of thirty.
Twelve guests means our guide knows within twenty minutes who needs more time at the waterfall, who's carrying an injury, who is interested in botany rather than birds. That knowledge shapes every hour of every day — and no algorithm can replicate it.
In the Kimberley, a fresh-water crocodile at a gorge, a rare marsupial at dusk, or a sunset so violent it demands an extended stop — a small group vehicle can pause for all of these. A coach cannot. We build detour time into every day.
Campfire dinners cooked by our guides with local ingredients sourced along the route. Long-table lunches at Margaret River estates where the winemaker joins you. Breakfasts at limestone cliffs. Feeding twelve people this way is joyful. Feeding forty is logistics.
Twelve guests leave a fraction of the footprint of a standard tour group. This matters enormously in places like the Kimberley and Ningaloo, where WA's most precious ecosystems are already under pressure from rising visitor numbers.
There is something particular about the friendships formed at twelve. Not the anonymous politeness of a large bus, nor the intensity of a tiny group. Twelve seems to find, repeatedly, the exact number at which strangers become genuinely glad they met.
No hidden costs. No awkward upgrade conversations. Here's what comes standard with every Cooee small group tour.
| Feature | Budget Tours | Cooee Tours | Luxury Private |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max group size | 40–50 | Max 12 | 2–6 (private) |
| All meals included | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Park & activity fees included | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 4WD vehicle & equipment | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Satellite communicator | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Expert licensed guide | Driver only | ✓ WSET + Wilderness FA | ✓ |
| Unscheduled detour flexibility | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Private access experiences | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Typical price per person | $800–$1,500 | $1,790–$9,490 | $12,000+ |
All departures run with a minimum of 6 guests. Spots are allocated in booking order — when they're gone, they're gone.
Every Cooee WA guide holds formal qualifications and has worked — not just travelled — in the regions they lead. They are the reason guests return.
Kimberley · Gibb River Road
Sarah has driven the Gibb River Road over 40 times and still stops at Bell Gorge as though it's her first visit. A trained botanist, she can identify every wildflower along the Coral Coast by sight and name.
South West · Margaret River
James worked his first vintage at a Margaret River estate in 2012 and never fully left. His WSET Level 3 qualification and personal relationships with winemakers open cellar doors no booking platform can access.
Coral Coast · Ningaloo
Rachel holds a marine biology degree and a Divemaster certification. She has guided over 200 whale shark encounters at Ningaloo and is one of the most respected marine naturalists operating in Western Australia.
"Twelve people, one vehicle, one extraordinary guide. We swam in gorges that weren't on any map, had a campfire dinner under the Milky Way, and watched the sunrise from a cliff no tourist brochure has photographed. Cooee is simply the only way to do the Kimberley properly."
"Swimming with a whale shark while Rachel calmly narrated the biology from three metres away was the single best moment of my life as a traveller. Not hyperbole. The group of twelve was exactly right — intimate enough to feel personal, social enough to make lifelong friends."
"James opened the door to a barrel room that wasn't on the cellar door list, introduced us to the winemaker by first name, and then poured a 2015 Cullen that I will be thinking about for the rest of my life. This is not a wine tour. It's a deeply personal education."