Words to describe the past few weeks since we left Perth: Wet, Hot, Unforgettable & Surprising. The wildlife we have recently encountered includes: Stingrays, Dolphins, Camels, Cows, Goats, Dingos, Kangaroos, Koalas, Mosquitos, Frogs, Jellyfish and Whale sharks! The list could go on for a while.
Here we are verging on the border of the Northern Territory, 10,274 kilometres into our trip and I have driven for a total of… dun dun dun. 1 hour! That’s about 60km. No joke. I was seriously concerned I was going to forget how to drive so I asked Tom if I could have a turn and regretted it as soon as I took the wheel. Something about driving our home around made me feel very under pressure. My hands were sweating at the thought of a kangaroo or emu coming out onto the road and I was too nervous to overtake any caravans or road trains so we soon swapped back at the next servo. I will try again another time, but for now, I think we are both happier with me in the comfort of my passenger seat, dishing out the snacks and travel sweets. Thank goodness for Tom hey!
So we left Perth over 2 weeks ago in some pretty terrible weather. It would seem Australia’s winter was catching up with us, so we were keen to push on and seek out the coral coast, and hopefully some sunshine again.
Our first stop was Yanchep National Park where we walked through a koala sanctuary and saw lots of large kangaroos which were lazing around the park. We then took Barker for a drive through the Pinnacle Desert. The weather couldn’t have turned more perfect for us, stunning blue skies which complemented the bright yellow sand. It was one of those moments where I had to hang out the window to try and get the best adventure video but ended up with Tom climbing on the roof of the van to get a pretty epic shot.
Geraldton was our next stopover and what a lovely surprise it was. Our first free camp, 24 hours only, where we could park up in the heart of the town, almost beachfront and with five bars of signal! Hurray! Tom took the opportunity to do some work so I grabbed my backpack and headed off to explore. Tripadvisor is always a useful tool for me to seek out the ‘top 10 things to do’ in a new place and that’s where I discovered the Sydney 11 Memorial with the perfect views across the bay. It was so pretty I took Tom back there at sunset so he could see for himself. The photos say it all really…
We headed into June doing what I like best, finding the most incredible beaches. We had a big day in Shark Bay, stopping at shell beach, Denham (for a local veggie pie), a small lagoon and Eagle Bluff with the hope of spotting some whales. We failed. There really aren’t enough hours in the day!
The next day we landed in Carnarvon. It had been a few days since we had a shower through all the excitement, but all we managed was a quick scrub down using a bowl full of soapy water. Don’t judge – This is camper life. And whilst feeling that 5% cleaner, we started toying with the idea of swimming with whale sharks when we get to Exmouth. I’m sure it started as just a passing comment when we kept seeing advertisements around for it. We knew we were heading to one of the few places in the world where you could actually swim with the largest fish in the world, but it just wasn’t something we had seriously considered doing, until now. The fact that it was way out of our budget was questioned for about minute and then we weighed up how we would feel regretting that we never took the chance while we were here. So we booked. You only live once right!? We were actually going to swim with whale sharks in 2 days time!!
We kept an eye on the weather forecast over the coming days as we knew we were due for some bad weather coming our way. So we wanted to make the most of the sunshine and cram in as much of the coral coast as we could. We did a morning of snorkelling in Coral Bay, finding lots of tropical fish and rose shaped coral. We then took to the water again at Turquoise Bay which was in the Cape Range National Park 1 hour away from Exmouth. It’s known for its tide taking you from one side of the beach to the other which was awesome. The water was crystal clear and we spotted hundreds of tropical fish almost instantly. We also found a small stingray, but still yet to find any turtles which is a shame.
After a night at the Exmouth Big 4 caravan park, we were up by 6 am nervously excited about our experience ahead. Check out our next post for what was our favourite day so far. It deserved a post of its own!
After such a high and adventurous experience came a few damp and stormy days. We hit the road with the intention of heading inland towards the Karijini National Park which we were so looking forward to. But with the weather turning worse and extremely wetter we knew there wouldn’t be much point as all the gorges at the park would be closed.
So we took to the highway and carried on along the coast up to Port Hedland via Karratha to delay our trip in for a few days. We had a couple of visits to the supermarket but that was about it. There really isn’t much to do here when the weather is naff.
And with the rain came a few unwelcome surprises. We were simply setting ourselves up for a movie one night, the door was open as it was still really hot but the lights were off to avoid mosquitoes. I felt something slimy touch my foot and screamed. Lights went on and there we found a little frog jumping all over our bed!! Luckily Tom caught him pretty quick and the door stayed well and truly shut for the rest of the evening.
It was the next day, at a servo where we stopped for fuel and a toilet break where I encountered my second surprise. Going about my usual business in the bathroom I heard a splash in the water. There was another frog looking straight up at me which must have slid down from the toilet seat! I ran out of the toilet to tell Tom my horror for him to only laugh amused.
The worst part was only later that day did I have the same encounter! That’s 2 frogs in 2 different toilets. Only this time I saw him in there (as he was huge) before I plonked my bum on the seat. Safe to say I now have a growing phobia of frogs and unfortunately we haven’t seen the last of them yet. I am still finding them in or beside toilets which I instantly turn around and avoid now.
So on Friday we eventually decided to head down to Karijini. The weather was still bad but the forecast was saying Saturday would be better so at least we were there ready to explore when we could. We arrived Friday afternoon to what we expected, all the gorges were closed, but we managed to go on a walk which overlooked Dales Gorge from high up which had some pretty amazing views. We woke up feeling optimistic as the sun came out to find only one gorge was opening as the water levels were still too high in the other gorges. But one was better than none and we took off on a 2-hour hike through Dales Gorges wading through water, spectacular cliff edges and waterfalls. We may have only scratched the surface of this National Park but we knew it was still our favourite one yet. We would love to return one day.
From there we took to the road and headed towards Broome. Broome was a lot smaller than we expected but lovely nonetheless. With no free camps in sight and most caravan parks fully booked with it being peak season, we ended up staying in a lovely pet-friendly campground 30km out called Broomes Gateway. We headed straight to the beach to watch the sun go down and then treated ourselves to a Lebanese dinner and ice cream that evening. Cable beach was a ‘must see’ in Broome and is where we spent the following day relaxing and soaking up the beautiful sunshine. Camels were a lovely surprise which we admired from afar as they took groups of people up the beach.
From there, well there was little to do without a 4 x 4 as most surroundings had unsealed roads and weren’t prepared to risk the van falling apart on the way. So we kept to the highway and covered some serious mileage through the Dampier Peninsula and Kimberly ranges.
Here we are, exactly 2 months into our trip and on the Northern Territory border laying in our 33-degree van. Urgh. We have had surprises and unforgettable moments in WA. We’ve visited lots of incredible national parks, swam in the bluest of oceans and stood on the whitest of sand. We’ve hiked through caves and waterfalls, across mountains and gorges. We swam with wildlife we could only have dreamt of, and as of yesterday saw my first croc in the water as we drove over a creek. It was certainly a taster of what’s to come…
See you in the NT!
Gemma.