A friend who lives in the Hills region of Perth – the eastern part of the city – recently gave me a great tip for an evening wildlife adventure when she told me about the Karakamia Sanctuary in Chidlow, about a 45-minute drive from the city centre. It’s a 680-acre block of land that was bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, cleared of non-native pests like foxes and wild cats, and has now become home to growing numbers of endangered mammal species like numbats, wallabies and woylies.

Karakamia offers guided walks at dusk – that is, you start out at dusk, but by the time you’ve trekked for two hours through the bushland, it’s pitch black. All the better for seeing the local wildlife! It’s kind of like being on safari and the guide has a spotlight to find possums in trees or kangaroos eating grass and all the other smaller marsupials too. Absolutely fascinating! And they finish it off with a cup of coffee or two in the wooden cabin that houses their operations there. You have to book in by email in advance. They only offer a walk when there are enough people – but the Saturday night I went, there were enough people to form two groups with two different guides, so I think most weekend nights have a walk operating. The cost of A$18 goes to keep the Wildlife Conservancy running and I thought it was money very well spent.