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Western Australia road trip --
By Alyssa Betts
Great Australian Road Trip
Large is not the word for it. Massive doesn’t cover it either. Gigantanormous might be a little closer to the mark, but unfortunately you won’t find it in any dictionaries. Welcome to Western Australia, where elbow room has never been a problem.
If you’re looking for the ultimate Great Australian Road Trip, then flying into Perth is an excellent first step. One of the most popular road trips you can do in the big WA is cruising up the enormous stretch of coastline to the north, stopping along the way to visit tiny towns, romp along beaches with no footprints, and burrow around mind-blowing national parks.
Gearing up and getting outta here!
Before you rush out into the unending horizon, make sure you’ve got a trusty car at the ready, able to take punishing distances, and equipped with life-saving air-conditioning. Not having a car isn’t even an option in a state the size of India, with the majority of the population clinging to the outskirts of Perth and south coast.
Need a car for your road trip? Rent one at Car Rental Perth
Cavorting up the coast
First stop should be the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park near Cervantes with random spooky limestone pillars standing silently in the sand, staring at you. Stay over in Cervantes or keep the wheels turning until you reach Geraldton – WA’s second largest city. If you’re a keen diver or like to snorkel, then charter a boat (or catch the seaplane) and check out the Abrolhos Islands, and have a float around the Batavia shipwreck. The history of the Batavia shipwreck is a dark one – over a third of the Batavia's men, women and children were murdered during a mutiny after the ship was wrecked. When help eventually arrived, some of the mutineers were executed, and others were flogged, keelhauled and dropped from the yard arm and then executed. Ever get the feeling that life wasn't very much fun back then?
If you don't fancy staying in Geraldton, just up the road (relative to distances regularly encountered in WA) is the resort town of Kalbarri with its national park – easily accessible by cars and walking. After a bit of a wander around here, you should get back in your car and keep your foot on the gas until you get to the World Heritage listed Shark Bay.
This unbelievably ecologically diverse area tends to be overshadowed by the fame of Monkey Mia’s friendly dolphins, but poking around the bays to spot turtles and serene dugongs can be infinitely as rewarding as an encounter with one of the bottle-nosed dolphins. Visit the Zuytdorp Cliffs and Shell Beach (where the sand is actually composed of – yep, you guessed it – little white shells). If you’re roaring around in a 4WD you can hike your way out to Francois National Park.
The next mandatory stop is Coral Bay and Exmouth to reward yourself with balmy year-round weather, and Ningaloo Reef, where you can’t splash around without bumping into a big underwater creature of some kind.
After this, it’s the determination of dusty traveler which will get you past the next many hundreds of kilometers, past the industrial towns of Dampier, Karratha and Port Hedland and on into Broome, the charming doorstep to the wilds of the Kimberley – one of the last great unconquered expanses of nature left in the world. It’s here you can throw around all the over-the-top descriptives you like: rugged, breathtaking, spiritual, bloody brilliant. But you’ll have to go there yourself. Save me from using up all my adjectives.
Beyond that, you’ve only got Kununurra and the Bungle Bungles before you cross the border and into the NT.
About the Author
Alyssa Betts has travelled extensively through the UK, Europe, South-East Asia and Australia. She now works for www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/5566.html
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