Described as the capital of the Southwest, BUNBURY, the state’s second-largest population centre, is a pleasant town, clearly prosperous and content, but not the sort of place you’ve crossed oceans to see. A day’s dallying here on the way south certainly won’t give you nightmares, and a chance to commune with the visiting dolphins (found around The Cut on Leschenault Inlet) is a lot less regimented, if less predictable, than traipsing all the way up to Monkey Mia. Two boat tours can take you to the right spot: one from the Dolphin Discovery Centre on the beach off Koombana Drive (daily 9am-2pm; tel 08/9791 3088; $4 admission; tours $15-25), the other with Bunbury Dolphin Tours (tel 08/9721 7922; $15) at the Parade Hotel on Stirling Street alongside Leschenault Inlet.