Our Road Trip Through Western Australia - Beautiful Sights and Tough Experiences

We dive back into our road trip at the Ningaloo Reef which is one of the largest fringing reefs in the world at over 300kms long. It is arguably better than the more famous Great Barrier Reef on the East Coast, but it's not worth comparing when they're both so full of life! We had the chance to see Whale Sharks, Manta Rays, Humpback Whales, Dolphins, Turtles, Reef Sharks, the list is endless and this was where we would be spending the next few days. We cruised into the little town of Coral Bay after a magical night under the stars in a free camp spot, still with our enemies the flies. After a good recommendation from friends we embarked on a quad bike tour to enable us to get to some hard to reach snorkel sites and explore the coast. It was pretty exhilarating sliding around in the dunes with Josh doing all the driving whilst I held on tight behind him. Our snorkelling spot was Five Fingers Reef which is known to be a great area to spot Turtles and big fish only a short swim from the shore. We dived in and were blown away by how full of life this area was with big Trigger Fish, Parrot Fish and even Trevally greeting us. It was almost time for us to head back to the quad bikes when we saw what we came here to see, a Green Turtle only inches away having a snooze in the coral. It was a lovely end to our trip and we had big smiles on our faces as Josh raced us through the sand back to the quaint, holiday town of Coral Bay to enjoy some more snorkelling from Billy's Beach. 

This area of Australia is definitely one of our favourites with gorgeous coral reefs, beautiful beaches and quiet towns to relax in which included our next spot Exmouth. On the way there we drove through Cape Range National Park to take a look at some of the impressive mountains that create this dramatic coastline. We turned down a relatively normal looking road until we realised that we're heading directly up the cliff with some dramatic climbing on steep paths. It was all worth it when we stopped at a scenic viewpoint to look down at the breathtaking gorges below, winding around the huge rocks surrounding us. The mountains appeared our of nowhere in the flat landscape with deep ridges and gorges cutting between, whilst the bright red dirt glistened in the sun. It was a fantastic detour but we continued on to Exmouth town where we would be staying before our fun day of diving the next day.

We woke up very excited to jump into one of the best sections of ocean in the world. We were heading to the Lighthouse Reef with Dive Ningaloo who are a fantastic dive company passionate about their work in this beautiful reef. The first site we visited was called Blizzard Ridge and we soon found out why as huge collections of fish danced around us obscuring our vision. We saw a lot of fun things including tiny Catfish, Blue Spotted Rays, Turtles and even a very close encounter with a pretty Sea Snake that investigated us on our safety stop. We were understandably excited for our next dive which was named Labyrinth where we got to enjoy lots of sleepy Reef Sharks, Scorpion Fish and a feisty Mantis Shrimp scurrying along the ocean floor. It started off well as Josh found the tiniest Nudi Branches and I spotted a sneaky Day Octopus hiding in the coral, but this led to us falling to the back of the group. We meandered on with our faces to the ground, until I saw a large shape out the corner of my eye. It wasn't until I looked up that I realised a massive Ninja Reef Manta had snuck up on us, curious as to what we were doing down here with our strange bubbles. My heart was racing as it was almost impossible to get the attention of the rest of the group, but luckily they saw him as he gracefully soared into the blue. It was a fantastic day of doing what we love and we were looking forward to our next day snorkelling at some legendary spots in Cape Range National Park.

What better way to start the day than a sweaty hike in 30C heat! Luckily the views in the gore  were absolutely gorgeous and after all that walking we were looking forward to a dip in the sea. The opportunities are endless for snorkelling here as you can swim to the beautiful Ningaloo Reef in mere seconds from the shore. Our first stop was to the Oyster Stacks which you have to visit at high tide to ensure you can get into the water and not damage any of the interesting coral below. This was a fantastic start as we saw some unbelievable coral formations teeming with life, including colourful reef fish and you guessed it, giant oysters. There is a very famous snorkelling spot known as Turquoise Bay which involves an exciting drift, but unfortunately it didn't seem to be very thrilling on the day we visited and although the coral was beautiful, we much preferred our last spot! We dragged ourselves along the beach to Lakeside which was quite a walk away, but certainly worth it as we got to see a Turtle munching on the large round coral formations. The sun was beating down so we knew we had to be careful not to burn, but it is hard when you're paddling in the ocean for four hours! We managed to escape with some red noses and tumbled into our rooftop tent for some well deserved sleep. 

Our morning was a relaxed one as we tucked into scones at our cute Station Stay complete with a friendly Kangaroo. We had a day full of driving as we were going to Karijini National Park which was a fair way inland. It was lovely driving through a very wild landscape and as we settled into the campsite in the centre of the mountains, we admired the millions of bright stars twinkling above us. There was a lot to see in Karijini so we hiked over to the Fern and Circular Pool which was shrouded in shade at this time of the morning, but still a sight to behold with a bonus ridged waterfall along the way that we could climb down to. Our favourite part of the day was visiting Hancock Gorge which involved a pretty intense off-road track, we couldn't believe they let big buses and small cars drive here. We headed into the gorge, traversing down through the winding walls of rocks that led us to a section of water which is where things got interesting. We had to throw our shoes off and wade through the icy cold water until we got to the infamous spider walk where we had to use our upper body strength to shimmy along this thin section. It was so much fun and ended with a dip in the gorgeous but freezing green pool which literally takes your breath away. The journey between each gorge was a nice break from the hiking, climbing and swimming we were doing all day but we were glad to finally be at our last spot, Knox Gorge. This was all about grandeur with beautiful views and magnificent walls of rock that we admired from the bottom of the gorge. It was a lovely end to a wonderful day and we were excited to continue our journey north. 

It began to feel as if the world was against us on this trip as one thing happened after another. The final straw, quite literally, was our car overheating in the middle of nowhere, over 300kms away from civilisation. We assessed the situation, ensuring our radiator was topped up, and decided to continue at a crawling pace through the night to get as close to Port Headland as we could. It was incredibly stressful but we are the kind of people to keep each others spirits high, so we laughed off our misfortunes as much as we could and carried on. It isn't advisable to drive at night in Australia, especially through the outback, as this is when most accidents from kangaroos and cows occur, but we didn't have any other options as it was easier for us to drive slowly in the cool temperatures. We also had huge road trains to contend with which were terrifying as they slow down for no one. By some sort of miracle we made it into the town and rolled over to the nearest mechanic who broke the dreadful news that it was most definitely a blown head gasket. This could cost more than the car is worth to replace and take a huge amount of time that we just didn't have, therefore we were going to have to sell our car for next to nothing. It was a horrendously low moment as we had prepared this car to be our home and take us around Australia for the next year, pouring a lot of money and love into every aspect of it. The thought that we were losing a lot of our belongings as well as our money was devastating, but we didn't even have time to think about it as we had to get home. We sadly sold everything we couldn't carry for next to nothing, waving goodbye to the money we'd saved working in Fremantle.

There is a bright side to this story however, we met the loveliest people in the most random caravan park that really helped us through a tough time and we can't thank them enough. There were a lot of tears but also a lot of laughs and if anything, we are stronger as a couple and have made some friends we hope to see again in Australia. Happiness isn't a permanent emotion but it is something we strive to feel all the time, then we think that we've failed if we experience sadness or frustration. If this trip has taught us anything it's that we should embrace every moment of living, enjoy time spent with the wonderful people in our lives and keep persevering even when times are tough.