Retreats, nature & experiences in Perth

A Fremantle-based men's collective that meets outdoors rather than in a room: monthly trail hikes in John Forrest National Park and Ellis Brook Valley, beach meetups at Trigg, walks around Lake Monger, and a Brazilian jiu jitsu session they call Warrior Flow. Most events are free, with occasional charity runs taking donations. Joining happens through their WhatsApp group.

A flat sealed path north from the Cottesloe groyne with the water on your left the whole way, which is the point at sunset. About 3km one way to Swanbourne, and there is no hill on it.

A 3km loop over limestone headland with small bays on either side and wartime gun emplacements still standing in the scrub. It faces west across Cockburn Sound, so the light does the work at the end of the day.

Groynes either side make a sheltered pocket of water, which is why it reads calmer than its neighbours on a breezy morning. Wide lawns, a surf club and a row of places to eat directly behind the sand.

Flat, clear water and noticeably fewer people than the beaches north of it, with the working harbour in view down the coast. The southern end is the quiet end.

Over 15km of bush trails and ten lookouts on the highest natural ground along this stretch of coast. The climb from the car park to the Reabold Hill platform is about 200 metres, unpaved in places, and turns to face the ocean at the top — which is the reason to time it for the last hour of light.

Perth's best-known swimming beach, and the one most people mean when they say they went for a dip. Patrolled through summer, grassed terraces above the sand, and calmest early — the Fremantle Doctor gets up from the south-west most afternoons.

A reef-sheltered lagoon at the northern end of Trigg, flat enough that the name is fair. The reef holds the swell off, which makes it the calm-water option on a coast that mostly is not, and the water is clearest before the wind arrives.

Equine assisted learning and counselling on a Bullsbrook property, where the session happens outdoors alongside the horses rather than across a desk — the practice's own phrase is that the therapy room is outdoors. Sessions are groundwork rather than riding: no one gets on a horse. Grief and loss work runs alongside the general counselling.