Distance travelled: Approx. 3150km
Towns Visited: Carnarvon, Exmouth, Coral Bay, Monkey Mia, KalbarriPassengers: Just us two. (Andrew and myself, for those playing along at home)
Reason for us driving So. Damn. Far: For Andrew to swim with whale sharks, which he absolutely loved! As soon as I grab his Go-Pro I’ll post some underwater snaps.

The Pinnacles

Car snack of choice: Honey flavoured NutriGrain. As addictive as crack. Or so I imagine.
Road Trip tunes: Various Triple J ‘Hottest 100’s from ’93 onwards.

Accommodation: 1 x overpriced motel, 5 nights camping, 2 nights hotel style
No. of car issues: 1 (the battery briefly carked it)

Best meal: Dipping Andrew’s chips into my Vietnamese Chicken Curry, Kalbarri
Best bakery: CORAL BAY. My goodness.

No. of breath-taking sunsets over the ocean: 2 (both in Coral Bay, go there right now!)

Hikes: 3, all incredible. The first one was through a Gorge in Cape Range National Park. The others were in Kalbarri National Park, as well a sneaky visit to Nature’s Window

Cape Range National Park

Kalbarri National Park

No. of ridiculously touristy activities: Just the one, surprisingly.
Monkey Mia: Some Dolphins, a lot of tourists. Not recommended at all.
Selfie sticks created: This gem:
No. of “Wolf Creek” towns passed through: 2. DO NOT GO TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:
– Overlander
– Hamlin Bay
Unless you would like to get kidnapped/raped/murdered; then go right ahead! Send me a postcard.

Best Snorkeling: Turquoise Bay. One half is for “drifting”. So when you’re feeling incredibly lazy, just jump in the water and float while the scenery changes for you. Thank you strong currents!
Coral Bay was equally convenient. 50m from the Caravan Park is the Bay. Another 20m off the shore is all the snorkeling you need!

No. of Quiz Nights: 1 in Exmouth. Goddam I love Quiz Nights! Especially when you have no idea they’re on and you team up with 1 x German girl and 1 x Chilean guy.
We didn’t win, but we learnt a lot, and had a good laugh!

No. of Whale Shark selfies: Countless

Places to revisit: Coral Bay (if you haven’t already gathered how much I loved it there). It’s just a beautiful slice of heaven up there. Snorkeling at your doorstop, fantastic caravan parks, THE BAKERY, relaxed and friendly people. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Kalbarri’s hiking was incredible though, we did went through gorges and one coastal walk, which didn’t even scratch the surface of what they have to offer. I’d love to return in warmer weather and check out their beaches and snorkeling too!

Kalbarri National Park – Coastal Walk

In conclusion; we loved the trip, but would definitely do things differently the next time we go. Having never seen Northern WA before we wanted to check it all out, but that meant we were on the move. A lot.
The constant driving and setting up of the tent took a toll on us at times.
I’d also research a lot more. This trip snuck up on us, and therefore, we decided just go drive and ‘wing it’. It worked sometimes, but we also had a lot of downtime which made us a bit fidgety (we’re not used to relaxing!) and I think we probably missed out on some awesome things to do.
It also pays to have a 4WD (Andrew has a 2×4, so we managed a lot but couldn’t drive onto certain beaches or a whole National Park in Shark Bay).

HOWEVER: Australia is seriously beautiful, and I’m so happy that we managed to see more of it.
Goddam, we are so lucky to call this breathtaking country home.

Hanbel.
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