Kalbarri river-mouth cottage

This 68 square-metre weatherboard cottage sits on an easy walking block in the Coral Coast town of Kalbarri, about six hours' drive north of Perth. The house is honest, low-maintenance Western Australian coastal stock — hardwood frame, painted weatherboards, a corrugated tin roof designed for cyclone season, and a shaded verandah facing the afternoon sea breeze. Inside there are two bedrooms, a compact bathroom and a simple open-plan kitchen and living room finished in polished jarrah floorboards. The lot is generous by Australian coastal standards, with off-street parking for a car, boat trailer and camper, and enough room to add a bunk room or granny flat down the track.

Kalbarri itself is one of the last genuinely affordable towns on WA's coral-fringed coast. Freehold ownership in Australia is straightforward for foreign buyers of established houses in most cases (rules do apply to non-residents — a local conveyancer will guide you through the FIRB process), and the town's remoteness has kept prices well below the busier Margaret River and Perth metropolitan markets. Utilities are reliable, mobile coverage is good, and the community swings between quiet winter months and a busy but relaxed summer season built around fishing, four-wheel-driving and school-holiday families.

The cottage sits 250 metres from the calm river-mouth lagoon at Chinaman's Beach — flat, protected water that is ideal for swimming, stand-up paddling and teaching kids to fish. A further ten-minute walk takes you along the foreshore to the town's main beaches and the Murchison River mouth, where turquoise water cuts through red sandstone cliffs. The open coastline immediately south is a string of empty white beaches broken up by ochre-red bluffs; Kalbarri National Park's famous gorges and wildflower drives are twenty minutes inland.

Daily life is easy and unpretentious. The town has a small IGA supermarket, a bakery, a butcher, two pubs, a handful of cafés and a Sunday market. Fresh western rock lobster, snapper and dhufish are landed at the co-op most weeks in season. Kalbarri Airport handles small charter and connecting flights to Perth, and the Indian Ocean Drive coach services run daily. If you want a house on the WA coast that trades in salt, red rock and slow mornings — without the Margaret River price tag — this is one of the last genuinely reachable options.