Our Road Trip Through Western Australia - Adventures from Perth to Shark Bay

After a week long loop of the South West Coast visiting the tallest trees, most beautiful beaches and stunning views, we returned to Fremantle to stock up before our journey North. It was lovely to be back somewhere that felt like home and had a significantly warmer climate than the South! It was also a great chance to catch up with our lovely friends at brunch in Subiaco, followed by drinks in our local pub. We made the difficult decision to continue our road trip up to Darwin and then fly home in a couple of weeks to attend the funeral of Josh's Nana. It was hard to know if we were making the right decision as we were both keen to be with family, but to continue this once in a lifetime journey seemed like the best thing we could do.

It was time to head into unknown territory and go North of Perth, although for our first night we didn't head too far and stopped in nearby Yanchep National Park, a popular spot in the wilderness with lots of wildlife. We were relaxing in our tent nestled in the woods when Josh heard the sound of footsteps breaking the peaceful silence. We nervously poked our heads out of the tent window wondering who it could be, when we saw a family of Kangaroos noisily nibbling on the grass by our car. In the morning we were treated to another wildlife spectacle when hundreds of rare Black Cockatoos began flying overhead as we tucked into breakfast. We tore ourselves away from our new animal friends and headed to the Lancelin Sand Dunes, a spot perfect for sand boarding or taking your car off-road. It was a lot of fun rolling around in the giant dunes but we didn't dare take our X Trail any further than the compacted sand as we had more sights to see. The infamous Pinnacles Desert was next which are a collection of mysterious tall, pointed rock formations. It is not fully known how these three metre tall structures were created, but they are certainly spectacular spanning across the dunes. It was fascinating wandering around in the forest of rock right in the middle of the desert and a great place to stop for lunch. Our final destination for the day was Jurian Bay, a pretty coastal town famous for the friendly Sea Lions that live here. We prepared ourselves to go snorkelling by the pier, but the water was just that little bit too cold so we contented ourselves with watching the sunset. A friendly Dolphin popped in to say hello and we watched him cruise around the bay with the fiery sun fading in the background. Despite it being winter, we were starting to get back to proper Australian temperatures, with 30C plus days and no more freezing cold nights.

We continued driving North over to a town called Geraldton which was full of industry, plenty of beaches and an ocean that seemed to go on forever. In fact that isn't far off as we were overlooking the Indian Ocean and the next landmass that would come into view would be Africa. An interesting phenomenon was next on our list with the mystical Pink Lake of Hutt Lagoon near Port Gregory. At first we were disappointed as we couldn't see even a hint of colour on the surface as we drove past. It wasn't until we were facing the other direction, away from the direct sun, that the pink hue began to glisten. Josh even jumped up on the car to get a better view of the colour created by specific types of Algae. We also got to witness a hilarious moment when a family got too confident and took their brand new Jeep down to a solid looking section of the lake, only to find themselves completely bogged. They must have been stranded there for hours, but we had other places to be so drove towards Kalbarri. The westerly side of the National Park is all about the wild coastline so we stopped at various points to admire the rich red rocks contrasting against the bright blue ocean. After a quick sunbathe at the Blue Pools, we settled in to our Station Stay out in the bush next to the river. It was very homely and complete with friendly goats, a beautiful dog called Cleo and a real army tank.

In the morning we were lucky enough to catch the resident Pelicans who visit every day to enjoy a couple of fish from the volunteers who monitor them. It was fascinating and hilarious to see them up close and watch as they gently ruffled their feathers in anticipation for a snack. We also bumped into Jenny and Tony, Josh's work friends, who were doing the same trip as us which was nice. At this point we were noticing that our car didn't seem to be running as well so got some advice from a local mechanic who put our minds at rest. There are two halves to Kalbarri, one is the rugged coast line which we visited yesterday and the other is the wild mountainous interior full of beautiful gorges and places to hike. We stopped at the Z Bend which was a stunning 2km climb down the mountain to the river's edge. The rich red rock contrasted against the sandstone swirls that had created waves of colour in the gorge. We couldn't stop admiring the scenery as we traversed the ladders and tunnels of rock to the bottom. In fact you could even say it was gorge-ous. We visited one famous lookout named Nature's Window which is a rock formation shaped like a frame, perfectly encapsulating the view of the river below. The only down side to our visit to the National Park were the millions, maybe billions, of flies that descended as soon as we stepped out of our car leading to us constantly swatting the air in frustration. It was almost comical as they swarmed us, going directly into our eyes or up our nose, and it was impossible to stop them as they hitched a ride on our backs. This meant we hopped back in our car pretty swiftly, with twig swatters in hand, and continued up the road to our next destination. 

There was a large amount of this trip that involved driving on long, straight roads through the outback which you would think is pretty mind numbing. In fact it was actually full of exciting moments including spotting dust tornadoes, seeing a dead Echidna and passing lorries otherwise known as road trains towing six cargo beds. One of these instances involved us driving around a bend to see a very large shape in the middle of the road which wasn't moving. It wasn't until we had slowed to a stop only metres away that we realised it was a giant Eagle sitting on top of a dead Kangaroo. We were both blown away that we were in such close proximity to this majestic creature and also that it wasn't scared of our car hurtling towards it. There were many set-backs of this nature including stops to check out a stick that looked just like a Thorny Devil, an animal we were desperate to see. We eventually made it to the unique Billabong Roadhouse, a free camp spot with some really good vibes. Unfortunately the flies were also holidaying here so we didn't get any relief from the swarms until the sun set and their cousins the mosquitoes joined us. The landscape was starting to look more like the outback with lots of red, dusty dirt and sporadic bushes sprawling across the flat plains. It was a relief to see some water at the Hamelin Pools the next day where Stromatolites, a fascinating organism similar to the Thrombolites, live. These organisms form in a similar way by deposits of Calcium Carbonate, but they are more clearly layered and therefore show obvious evidence of ancient fossils. 

Finally we pulled into the wonderfully named Shark Bay which is a World Heritage site that covers 2.2 million hectares! It contains vast seagrass beds that are the perfect home for the mystical Dugongs as well as some geologically fascinating formations that are habitats for many endangered plants and animals. Cruising alongside the bright blue ocean was a great way to end the day although a pretty intense breeze had begun to follow us which was frustrating. On our way into the town we stopped at Shell Beach which, you guessed it, is made of tiny white shells layered ten metres deep. It is the unique topography of the bay that has created this phenomenon as the shells that are found here are entirely Shark Bay Cockles that reside in the saline water. It was lovely to be down at the water's edge, but we wanted to see it from a different angle so we headed to a walk along the cliffs called Eagle Bluff. It was unfortunately very windy so we didn't spot any Dugongs, Sharks or Rays, but we enjoyed the views. Eventually we made it into Denham which was a quaint little seaside town, complete with resident Emu gang which we saw wandering next to the rows of houses. After a visit to the Little Lagoon, we settled into the warm Coral Coast preparing for the next few days here. The next post will talk about our time exploring the beautiful water of the Ningaloo Reef and our adventures as we continue to head north.