Western part of Australia.

GMT + 8 (GMT + 9 from last Sunday in October to last Sunday in March - three year trial until 2009, followed by referendum).

2,529,880 sq km (976,787 sq miles).

2.1 million (official estimate 2007).

0.8 per sq km.

Perth. Population: 1.5 million (2006).

Western Australia covers one-third of Australia; it is larger than Western Europe, but has a relatively small population. It is bordered in the east by South Australia and the Northern Territory and in the west by the Indian Ocean, with the Timor Sea to the north. The west coast is nearer to Bali and Indonesia than to Sydney, making Perth a viable stopover destination en route to the rest of Australia. To the south, the nearest land mass is Antarctica, 2,600km (1,600 miles) away. It has mineral wealth in iron, bauxite, nickel, natural gas, oil, diamonds and gold. There are vast wheatlands, forests and deserts, and several national parks. Kimberley, in the far north, is one of the oldest geological areas on earth, a region where time and weather have formed deep gorges and impressive mountains, arid red plains and coastal sandstone rich in fossils. In the northwest there are two notable features: Wolf Creek Crater, an immense hole left in the desert by a giant meteorite 50,000 years ago, and the Bungle Bungles, an ancient sandstone massif covering 3,000 sq km (1,160 sq miles). Southeast of Perth, near Hyden, is the 2,700-million-year-old Wave Rock.