I arrived in the pearling town of Broome a few days before my overland camping trip from Broome to Perth began. A scenic camel ride on Cable Beach, beautiful sunsets, floating through the many small galleries and museums in Broome and finding my way to Cygnet Bay with stops along the way was the beginning of an epic trip from Broome to the Pilbara region.
I met up with the group of 15 super keen adventurers like myself and we were on our way across the Great Sandy Desert, calling in at 80 mile beach on our way to spend the night on a Station past Port Hedland, the centre of the iron ore industry.
The first night was our introduction to group cooking, cleaning, camp set ups and just hanging out and getting to know eachother before we set off to explore Karijini National Park.
Karijini is spectacular, the colours, the sheer size of the landscape surrounding us, the gorges, gullies and breathtaking views and ice cold swimming holes….ones which we did swim in, what an absolutely exhilarating, take your breath away experience.
I am a total cry -baby when it comes to the cold but surprisingly in the water once the numbness disappears, it’s a beautiful thing. Camping in the cold is different though, oh my gosh, I worked my muscles, tensing from my body shivering in the cold of the night. Karijini was SO cold at night!
From incredible views over the lookout points, to climbing down into the gorges and making our way through the magnificent trails, barefoot over rocks, wading through cold water and gradually losing clothing and backpacks to lighten the load, we discovered the many swimming holes of the park. Hancock Gorge, Dales Gorge and Oxer Gorge were magic. Some of the gorges were not able to be accessed due to falling rocks and recent catastrophes, however we managed to explore alternative waterfalls and appreciate the beauty before us. The colours of Karijni take your breath away.
There was a tonne of driving on this trip, the distances are pretty wild and the view out the window of the truck is vast. Red sand, scattered bushland and a few too many kangaroos that has been left by the side of the road.
After the cool of Karijini, we headed toward the coast to Exmouth to swim with the whale sharks.
We spend the night at Yardie Creek in the Cape Range National Park. A very cool campsite, a real community of travellers all with their own stories to tell and all travelling with their pets too. Lots of campervans are currently moving up and down the WA Coast, so much so there is an 18 month wait list for campers.
The night at Yardie creek was a sleepless one, right off a beach and so, so windy the tent felt like it was going to get swept up in the tornado going on outside!
No sleep at Yardie Creek means up early and on the move to the whale sharks on Ningaloo Reef where we are spoilt with a two for one offer, Whale sharks and breaching whales! Highlight of my trip for sure, to see the whales so close, breaking out of the crystal ocean no more than 20 meters in front of the boat was seriously emotional and just so breathtaking it took my breath away! The team on the boat were pretty chocked up too. It was a pretty special day out with Kings Ningaloo Reef Tours who pampered us with a great lunch and snacks, spotter planes to find the whale sharks and the beauty of snorkeling on Ningaloo Reef.
The coral and sea life continued on in Coral Bay where the nature reserve was practically at the waters edge. Snorkeling out from the shore we were suddenly in a world of coral and multi coloured fish. Coral Bay is a sleepy town, purely inhabited by reef operators, with a huge camping park and a few small eateries and a pub of course.
Sunrise and sunsets here are so colourful and so worth rising early for.
After downloading the day with one another we were back on the road the following day, crossing over the Tropic of Capricorn, headed to the Peron Peninsula, Shark Bay and Monkey Mia, known for its friendly, playful dolphins. In peak season Monkey Mia can see over 3000 people gathering to view the dolphins. We had a good crowd of people, all able to stand ankle deep in the water as we watched the rangers feed them a very small amount of fish. This has been practiced for over 10 years now as the dolphins came to rely too heavily on humans for their food, so now they only fish for themselves. Crystal clear waters, dolphins and their calves & turtles all before 10am, a special morning which began with another glowing WA sunrise.
We head to Kalbarri National Park after our up-close encounter with the dolphins and stop to see the stromatolites (look it up!), Shell Beach and set up a lunch spot on our own secluded beach with crystal clear cool waters . Back in the truck, we head to the Murchison Gorge a spectacular 80 km sandstone gorge, the landscape is phenomenal. It is here we can sit and admire the view through ‘’Natures Window’’ and of course we are all keen for that photo! The Murchison River stretches all the way to the town of Kalbarri, where the mouth of the river meets the ocean.
After spending our final night on the road in a hostel and cooking a Mexican inspired meal, we are up early again for a long drive to Perth. We watch our final sunrise, viewing the mouth of the river and the Indian Ocean merging as the sun came up in the distance, cruise through the gorges of Kalbarri National Park jumping in and out of the truck to check out the amazing scenery.
Lunch at the pretty coastal town of Dongara, a stop at Geraldton to view the HMAS Sydney memorial which is a moving commemoration to the 645 service personnel who died when the HMAS Sydney II was sunk on the 19 November 1941.
Back on the road and we are heading to the Pinnacles Nambung National Park, to walk around the strange limestone formations taking over a vast yellow sand desert. These were formed 30,000 years ago after the sea receded and left deposits of seashells. Their shapes take on many different forms. This is our final stop before our wild adventure ends and we arrive back in the city of Perth.
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