26/03/2023 From Toodyay to Horrocks
What to expect
The West Coast
Let’s start the day “refreshing”
We woke up to rain drops dripping onto our faces – inside the van! Since it hasn’t really rained a lot since the start of our road trip, we haven’t noticed the hole in the roof until now. At least we were right awake at 6.30 in the morning.
Shower and breakfast at the beach
On our drive we stopped for showers and breakfast at a cute little beach town.
See Pinnacles National Park
Next we visited Pinnacles National Park. With our holiday pass (for AUS $60 together), we got in for free. We didn’t even need to leave our car as we could just drive past the pinnacles on a 4 km loop. With all the interesting rock formations it felt like being on Mars (at least that’s how I’d picture it there).
Eat lobster (tacos) at Lobster Shack
After that we drove to Cervantes for the famous Lobster Shack. Since we just had breakfast and our budget didn’t go as far as buying a whole lobster (in South America – yes; in Australia – no!), we went for lobster tacos instead.
Reunion with friends
In the evening we caught up with Dan and Nadine from Perth, who were travelling up the West Coast with friends as well. Since the two couples and their three kids had rented an airbnb in a little beach town called Horrocks, we stopped by for drinks and dinner. Then we found a camp spot by the beach on a car park closeby.
Did we see the “no camping” sign at night? Maybe. Did we care about it at 11 pm? Not really.
27/03/2023 From Horrocks to Kalbarri
This didn’t go as planned
Well, it turns out we should have cared more about the “no camping” sign last night. At 6.30 am we woke up by a truck stopping behind our van and a ranger in a yellow vest wrote down our license plate. On his way out, he honked his horn so loudly to make sure we were really making a move.
Okay, so now we were either in the system twice after the first warning in South West Australia. Or – with a lot of luck and wishful thinking – our license plate got saved in a different type of system, which would make this warning count as our first one again. Either way, we were ready (and forced) to start our day early.
Visit the Pink Lake
On the way to Kalbarri we stopped at the Pink Lake, which looked stunning!
Kalbarri National Park
We got to Kalbarri around lunch time – the hottest part of the day. Maybe this wasn’t the best time to do a hike. We did notice how the West Coast was already so much hotter than the South West Coast.
Walk the coastal track from Natural Bridge
This is why we decided to leave the national park for tomorrow morning and do some coastal and beach time today instead.
We first drove down the coast to get to the Natural Bridge and to Kalbarri Castle Cove. Since it was still very hot and the flies were getting a bit too annoying, we only made it to the next lookout.
Go snorkeling at Blue Holes
With our new snorkeling gear, we went to the Blue Holes next for some – you guessed it – snorkeling. We saw a lot of fish, but the visibility was a bit murky. But we still had high hopes for a better snorkeling experience in the Ningaloo Reef.
Watch sunset at Jakes Point
After using the public shower at the main beach, we just made it in time to watch sunset at Jakes Point. We’ve almost watched sunset religiously every evening on the West Coast. But it also seems as if we were always chasing sunset with our (not so great) time-management. The struggle is real…
28/03/2023 From Kalbarri to Eagle Bluff
Not another warning for freedom camping
We followed the visitor center lady’s advice and started our day early in the Kalbarri National Park. Furthermore, waking up in our van “Wally” behind a tiny bush on the side of the road seemed like a much better hiding spot last night when it was already dark. So it was time to hit the road early as we couldn’t risk another warning from a ranger.
Just like in the movies
Being inside the national park as one of the first ones at 6 a.m. felt so peaceful. Kangaroos were hopping next to us on the red dirt – exactly how we had always envisioned Australia!
Walk over the Kalbarri Skywalk
[…] You take a thrilling walk out along two cantilevered viewing platforms that hang in mid-air 100 metres above the gorge.”
www.kalbarri.org.au
We first walked over the Skywalk from where we had an amazing view over the national park.
Look through Nature’s Window
Next we walked a short way to see Nature’s Window, which was magnificent. The whole area was very stunning with its red cliffs and huge gorges.
Hike the River Trail
Before it was getting too hot, we did the 2.6 km long river trail, that included climbing down ladders and walking in between tight rock formations. We both loved this trail and were rewarded with a great and refreshing river at the bottom of the path.
Go for a swim at Chinaman’s Beach
Once we were back in town we needed to cool off. Going for a dip at Chinaman’s Beach with its shallow crystal clear water seemed just right.
A shower, a coffee and some relaxing time by the beach later, we were ready to hit the road to a world heritage site. Shark Bay – here we come!
Shark Bay
A wonderland of world-class natural attractions, the Shark Bay World Heritage Area was the first location in Western Australia to receive UNESCO status in 1991.”
australiascoralcoast.com
Watch sunset at Eagle Bluff Lookout
We got to Eagle Bluff Lookout just in time for cooking a veggie stir fry with cauliflour rice (and sausages for Blake – the man needs meat) while watching sunset. It was pretty special!
Since no one else was around, we decided this would be the perfect spot to set camp for the night with a million stars above us.
29/03/2023 Shark Bay
Watch sunrise
Who would have thought we are sunrise people now? I’d always figured we’d be sunset lovers – mainly because it’s beautiful and so much easier to watch (in our case still difficult since we are always running late). But since the sun goes down at 6.30 pm on the West Coast and we tend to go to sleep earlier, we are also awake earlier.
We loved watching sunrise over the calm sea as the only ones and not knowing what the new day will hold for us.
Kangaroos on the road
But we knew about one highlight we’d hopefully get to see today. And for that we had to leave our view point early in the morning. On the drive a kangaroo hopped by our car. This day was already looking promising!
See the dolphins in the morning
In Monkey Mia wild dolphins are being fed every morning between 7.45 am and 12 noon. When I went to Monkey Mia in 2009, I got picked from the crowd to feed the dolphins. I absolutely love dolphins, so I was hoping that they would pick me over the little kids out of the crowd again.
Watch the emus and pelicans
When we were waiting for the dolphins to arrive, we saw a turtle in the water and a big pelican on the beach. And then even two emus ran along the beach right in front of us. It felt like we were in a circus where the animals were lining up one by one for the next special trick – with the small difference that this was in the wild and 100 times better than in a circus (and maybe without the special trick).
And then it was the dolphins’ turn! Six dolphins appeared and before they were getting fed (unfortunately by the workers due to covid measures), they were doing laps right in front of us for a long time. They even had their eyes poking out of the water to watch us and I’m a pretty sure one of them winked at me 😉.
Do a beach walk in Monkey Mia
After seeing the dolphins, we walked along the beach with no one else around us. Monkey Mia is really such a beautiful place!
Visit Denham
After Monkey Mia we drove to the main town in the Shark Bay area called Denham. We relaxed for a bit at the waterfront before driving back to our sunset spot from last night: Eagle Bluff Lookout.
Have a bath in the natural hot pool
After another great sunset at Eagle Bluff we drove to the Francois-Peron National Park as there are some hot natural pools that you can access with a 2WD. Besides two Aussie girls we were the only ones sitting in the 40°C hot pool. I’m glad we had waited until after sunset. Otherwise it would have been way too hot (granted, it probably still was).
It was an awesome experience, but a hot tub does feel nicer when it’s -25°C outside like in Canada and not +25°C as it was here.
Sssssnake-alarm
On the way back to our car through the dark, we spotted a snake on the ground right in front of us. And it was heading towards our van! In the hot tub we had just told each other how we have become “real” campers. And before we know it, there’s a tiny snake in front of us which makes us rethink that statement again.
We quickly hopped into our van and drove back to Monkey Mia for a hot shower (that we had spotted earlier that day). Furthermore, we caught up with Dan from Perth who had just arrived in Monkey Mia with his wife and their kids. When we told him about our encounter with the snake in the wild, he let us know that that snake could have easily killed us. Good to know…
More wildlife
On the 40-minute-drive back to Eagle Bluff, the same camp spot as the previous nights, we had to be so careful not to overrun any rabbits or kangaroos that happily kept hopping in front of our van. They all seemed a little suicidal to us…
30/03/2023 From Shark Bay to Coral Bay
Never tired of seeing kangaroos
Today we were off to our last destination on the West Coast: Coral Bay. When we drove away from Eagle Bluff after one last tasty breakfast with the amazing ocean view, we spotted a lot of kangaroos around us. And we loved it!
Visit Shell Beach
On the way out of Shark Bay we stopped at Shell Beach, which is – as the name already says – a beach made out of many many little white shells.
Shell Beach […] is covered with shells for a 60 km stretch to a depth of 7–10 m. It is one of only two beaches in the world made entirely from shells. The beach was named because of the great abundance of the shells of the cockle species Fragum erugatum. […] The shells have formed a limestone that is known as coquina. Before Shark Bay became a World Heritage Site, the coquina was mined and used for the construction of a number of buildings in Denham.”
en.wikipedia.org
So many flies
In the late afternoon we arrived at a car park about an hour away from Coral Bay.
Since Coral Bay mainly consists of one street on the ocean, we thought it would be too tricky to freedom camp there (especially after having being “warned” twice on this trip so far – so no point of risking it a third time).
With what seemed like a million flies around us, we quickly cooked a curry and then ate it inside our van leaving (most of) the flies outside.
31/03/2023 From Coral Bay to Exmouth
Coral Bay
When we arrived at 8 a.m. in Coral Bay, we were still uncertain whether to go on an organized snorkel tour or just do our own snorkeling from the beach with our newly bought snorkel gear. When we talked to the discovery center, we learned that most of the coral near the beach has been bleached out and there is not much fish left in that region either. However, paying AUS $185 for “only” snorkeling for a half day tour wasn’t really what we’d hoped for either. But we still wanted to snorkel in the Ningaloo Reef!
Change of plans
The solution was pretty obvious for both of us: drive up to Exmouth instead and go snorkeling there on our own. We won’t remember the extra 2.5 hours of driving in the long run anyways…
Exmouth
Some 1,200km north of Perth, the fringing Ningaloo Reef is a sparkling gem in Western Australia’s crown. Right on the coast, the reef is UNESCO World Heritage-listed and offers a slew of outdoor adventures. Ningaloo’s most notable visitors are the whale sharks. This is one of the world’s largest aggregations, making it a great place to swim with them, along with manta rays, turtles or humpback whales during their migration.”
australia.com
Snorkel in the Ningaloo Reef
The Cape Range National Park that is half an hour away from Exmouth, offers great snorkeling spots, especially at the beaches “Oyster Stacks” and “Turquoise Bay”.
Snorkeling at “Oyster Stacks” was amazing! As soon as we went into the water from the shore we saw so many different fish in size and colour and there was coral everywhere!
After this awesome experience, the snorkel as Turquoise Beach was a bit disappointing since we neither saw fish nor coral. But the beach was beautiful to relax at!
One last free shower on the road
After snorkeling we rushed back into town to use the public shower at “Town Beach”, just to head back to the national park again for sunset. It seems like we are always a little too rushed for sunset.
Watch the turtles (hatch) during sunset
Half an hour earlier would have been ideal, but we still enjoyed a beautiful sunset at “Five Mile Beach”. Usually this beach is known for turtles hatching and weddling into the ocean during sunset. Unfortunately, we didn’t see them, but we saw a few “grown up” turtles sticking their heads out of the water while we were watching the sun go down in the ocean.
Sad and happy at the same time
Once the sun was fully gone, we reheated our leftover curry on the car park of the beach. During dinner we watched the million stars above us again and reflected on all the highlights of the last amazing month in Australia. We are definitely sad this chapter in Australia and with Wally, our camper van, is coming to an end. But we are both also very excited for the next big chapter on this world trip.
01/04/2023 From Exmouth to Horrocks
Sweating like it’s hot
The last night was pretty hot inside the van. I’m talking temperature-wise though. We didn’t want to open the van doors in the middle of the night as we had seen all these warning signs about the wild dingoes running around. So we figured we’d better be hot than bitten by a dingo on one of our last nights in the van.
Waking up to a beautiful sunrise
At 6 am we woke up to an amazing sunrise. We were grateful for another incredible day ahead of us (and grateful for the ranger for not having caught us while we freedom camped).
One last breakfast at the beach
We quickly packed up and drove to “Town Beach” for one last breakfast at the beach.
A long drive ahead
The next two days will consist of driving back to Perth where we were going to drop off the camper van and catch our flight to our next destination.
Reunion with a friend from our travels
Jy just came back from a fishing trip, so we enjoyed some fresh fish and chips from his “barbie” (Aussie word for BBQ), while drinking some local “Emu” beers. How much more Australian can it get at the end of our time in Australia 😉?
02/04/2023 From Horrocks to Perth
One last market in Australia
In the morning we stopped in a bigger town called Geralton on the last leg of our road trip. I swear it was by accident but Geralton holds a farmers’ market every Sunday. And what are the odds that we would arrive here on a Sunday?
One last breakfast on the beach
We also had one last breakfast on the beach in Geralton before we drove for the last 4.5 hours to Perth.
One last night in our camper van
In Perth we hopped into the back of the van one last time before it will be time for a new continent and a new adventure tomorrow.
Resumé West Coast
We absoulutely loved Australia’s West Coast with all the beautiful beaches, huge national parks, stunning sunsets and remote spaces! We feel like renting a camper van for exploring the West Coast properly was the perfect way to do it.
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