After COVID cancelling our travels back in March, we were very happy (and we know we were extremely lucky!) when two weeks ago we hit the road to see some of WA.  I’ve been in Perth for 18 months and until very recently the furthest north I’d ventured was about 2 hours passed the city…I can certainly say there is a lot to see…in a 4000km round trip!

We traveled up the Coral Coast, stopping overnight in Geraldton, before spending a few days in the calm waters of Monkey Mia, getting up close and personal with more sea creatures that we could ever have imagined in Coral Bay and Exmouth and doing some amazing hikes over the cliffs and through the gorges of Kalbarri.

Not to mention quite a few long stretches of driving in between. Although there was not much to note on the drive, it was actually the “nothing” in itself that made the journey so interesting. On the lengthy drives I learnt quite a few things:

• Caravans would be a pain to pull but are more painful to drive behind  
• Having a thermos full of coffee for the drive each day was one of Jordan’s more brilliant ideas
• A ‘road train’ is not just a funny nickname but a perfectly adequate description
• And WA is massive!

On the east coast we would’ve crossed many state borders. If we were in Europe we’d have driven through multiple countries! But while we were still within WA the changes in landscape and general vibe of the different regions was so interesting to see.

Perth to Monkey Mia

Once we left the rat race and the city traffic behind, only an hour outside of Perth we were driving alongside big white sand dunes on our right and the roaring blue ocean on our left, passing small towns like Cervantes and Jurien Bay. Entering the Mid-West, the landscape changed to rolling green paddocks before arriving in Geraldton. We weren’t expecting much, Gero gets a pretty bad rap with Perthites, but for a coastal city, with a major port and a great look out at the HMAS Sydney memorial, we were pleasantly surprised. An early morning beach jog set us up for the next stretch to Monkey Mia.

This was when the feeling of being quite remote really started to set in. Big long stretches of open road (and a few Grey Nomads) and counting down the hours and kilometres between tiny road houses. But even though we were a long way from anything much, there was something about that red dirt, scrubby bushes, eagles soaring overhead and glimpses of the ocean that seemed so quintessentially Australian that the remoteness felt very right.

That didn’t mean we weren’t excited to arrive in Monkey Mia, and walk out of our front door onto the white sandy beach. Monkey Mia itself is a National Park and is protected to preserve its most famous attraction, the dolphins! Every morning there is a ‘dolphin experience’ where these amazing creatures come close to the shore to feed. Of course it has become very touristy and we learnt very quickly that once the ‘experience’ ends that’s actually when the real experience begins!

Dolphins, pelicans and other sea birds spend their day cruising up and down the shoreline, while we spent it sunbaking, fishing, stand up paddle boarding and sea kayaking. Surrounded by red cliffs and white sand, the water is absolutely calm and it is the most amazing shade of blue! We were greeted by resident emus in the mornings and enjoyed cooking BBQ dinners, having a beer and watching the stunning sunsets over the water in the evenings.    

Knowing that this was my first experience of the real outback WA I was very happy and even more excited to continue our journey north.

Highlight: Having my reading on the beach interrupted by dolphins swimming past in the shallows every morning and afternoon and spending a “winters” day paddling the sea kayak to remote beaches around the red cliffs and hunting for pipis to use for fishing bait.

Lowlight: Despite the success of pipi hunting, catching predominantly seaweed on our fishing attempts! Sharing BBQs with miscreant campers who put sand on the hot plate = sand-wiches for dinner!