Our first Australian Road Trip was a little tester for the car to see how it did, and it took us all the way from Perth to Port Douglas! So, I thought I’d share an overall view of our trip, listing where we camped, our trip highlights, and what we ate… just in case you’re interested. (map below)
The Land Down Up!
Starting from Perth Centre, we made our way up to our first stop in Yanchep to visit the Alex T. Brown Shipwreck, located on the most beautiful beach I’d been to yet. Afterwards, we headed to the abandoned King Neptune, who once reigned over his own marine park! I’ve shared pictures of that on Instagram.
Free Camping in Perth
Our first stopover was located in Gabbadah, just one hour North of Perth. This beautiful spot was very convenient for us; it has its own toilets, barbecue and benches, and it was located on the spectacular Margaret River!
The first night left a bump in our tracks when we quickly realised just how uncomfortable our sleeping situation was. So, we headed back south for the nearest K-Mart, a 40-minute drive away, and bought a blow-up mattress and some more pillows.
Our Meal for the Night
You would think that we would get food nearer Perth, wouldn’t you? Nope, not us! When we were at King Neptune’s crib, we visited the local convenience store to get some Kangaroo burgers. I thought it would be appropriate for our first trip. Would I get them again? Maybe, probably not.
When we were sitting eating, I did see a bull ant. These little buggers are meant to be very painful, so I spent the next half an hour or so with my feet levitated off the floor.
A Breathtaking View for Day 2!
Okay, so the first part of the day wasn’t breathtaking, as we were heading south again. However; since we did set off at around 6 am, we were blessed with a nice full day ahead of us! So, to use it to our advantage we headed over to the lovely Lancelin. We saw the dunes from a distance but unfortunately, the car isn’t quite set up enough yet to join in with the antics over there.
After that, we hopped on over to The Pinnacles Desert. Oh my gosh, this was absolutely beautiful! I even got to drive a part of it, and Liam almost gave me a thumb’s up, which was good!
We then made our way for parking attempt #1, which scratched both sides of the car. So, we bailed and went back on Park-4-Night, and spotted another one somewhere in Jurien Bay.
We Found a Men’s Shed!
After a quick trip to the cemetery, early-doors (those who know, know), we set off on our journey even further North from Perth. Our next hotspot was in the lovely village of Port Denison; might I add, that I would retire here if it wasn’t so secluded. I’m a bit of a strange one here, I added this because the name sounded nice, but they had a Men’s Shed so Liam was happy.
After that, we found a Giant Crayfish, and some Giant Rubiks Cube toilets in the next big town of Geraldton we had a picnic there and got hassled by a seagull called Steve.
A Beautiful but Ropey Camping Spot
We resorted to Google Maps for our next stop. This is where we found the John Batten Community Hall. This place advertised free camping with toilets, showers, barbecue etc… we couldn’t say no!
We were instantly surprised when we got there at just how beautiful the beach was. The toilets weren’t so lovely but you can’t complain for a freebie. However, what I wasn’t particularly fond of was the fact that only the women’s bathroom had showers. As I was sitting outside I noticed a gentleman helping himself to a shower after a visit to the beach.
Food For Thought
They also didn’t have a barbecue anymore! These were the only two things that I would suggest the place to change. We did have a curry though… perks of having a gas cooker! When we parked up we noticed that the solar panel had broken, causing our trip to be cut shorter than we had hoped.
Unfortunately, I did have a 3 am wake-up call to a group of what I assume were younger people driving on the beach, screaming and doing doughnuts in the car park. This alerted a nearby dog and upset the German baby sleeping in the roof tent next to us. Oh, the perks of being a light sleeper!
Up to the top and back again!
Our last full day on the road consisted of a drive up to Hutt Lagoon Pink Lake in Port Douglas. Unfortunately, it was cloudy which meant I had to do a bit of editing to make it look pink! It did have a pink cloud above the lake though which was cool. Here’s a before and after:
After that, we took a plunge down to another couple of old cemeteries in Northampton. One of which was the Old Gwalla Cemetery, which was signposted everywhere but it isn’t on Google Maps. I’ve requested it to be put on there! We then made it back down to our original spot on the Margaret River as we felt this would be fitting too. We didn’t have any kangaroo burgers this time. This time, we had tinned spaghetti and a packet of macaroni cheese – you decide which one was better.
Trip Back to Perth!
Heading back down to Perth we stopped at the Shalom Pet Cemetery, and after that, we headed an hour over to Mingenew. This was just for the name too. Sorry to the people of Mingenew reading this; I’m a lass from Yorkshire with a bit of a peculiar sense of humour. We then went to Scarborough Beach, and nearly got taken out by a wave, before heading back to Perth, which is pretty much where I am now!
Did you think we missed out on some areas? We’re planning on heading back up North even further at some point. Let us know your favourite spots in North-West-WA in the comments.
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