G’day from Perth
In the last days we got a lot of snow pictures from home. We hope you had an enjoyable first Advent weekend! We spent ours in an Apartment in Perth with around 25-30 degrees Celcius and were happy to have Air Condition, a Washing Machine, an own Bathroom and a real kitchen with fridge. You learn to be happy with the little things after 2 months of traveling.
Over the last 3 and a half weeks, we’ve been traveling the northwestern part of Western Australia with our Toyota Hilux. In this blog post, we’ll be sharing about our first stories with our off-road camper. Have fun reading!
Cheers
Alicia & Marco
Hello there Western Australia!
On November 4th, we left Bali. After spotting a bakery we couldn’t resist buying some pretzels for our flight. The flight was pleasant, and we were lucky to have $10 seats in the first row of the plane. Upon entering Australia, Alicia filled out the necessary customer clearance details, but Marco thought we were good to go. Alicia noticed some missing information and asked Marco about it, but he didn’t have it either. We were left feeling a bit confused. We had plenty of Japanese nut snacks with us, which we enjoyed picking from. However, during clearance, officers scanned our luggage and disposed of our snacks.
Kings Park and Botanic Garden
Perth welcomed us with 25C, bright sunshine, and a small breeze. It almost felt like coming home after our last stay in Australia 7 years ago. The smell of Occipus trees in the air, the colorful parrots smell of summer. Good to be back.
University of Western Australia
Following our trip to Kings Park, we were headed to Fremantle by bus. However, we chanced upon the University of WA just before catching the bus. The campus looked like a scene out of an American movie, with beautiful old stone buildings, lovely palm parks, and bustling libraries filled with students. It was a surreal experience with peacocks roaming around the area, adding to the charm of the place.
Freemantle
In Fremantle. We went to the farmer’s market and had a very good burger on our way to the market. It is a very nice part of Perth with nice buildings and good shops.
Pickin’ up our Pick up
On November 6th, we were finally able to pick up our Toyota Hilux 4×4. The process was simple: download the app and watch the instruction videos, that’s it and here are your keys. Unthinkable if you would rent a car like this in Germany or somewhere else. Right before we wanted to start we recognized that somthing is missing as we looked at our car but we couldn’t tell what it was… Then we saw the obvious: our front license plate was missing. We went back in but everything was good they just forgot to tell us. The police already knows about it, no worries you’re good to go. All right, the car was even looking better without the front plate! Our first stop was Coles grocery store, where we filled our supplies. After purchasing some beer, we were ready to hit the road out of Perth and into the wilderness of Western Australia.
The Pinnacles Desert & Kangaroo Point
During our trip, we made a pit stop at the Nambum National Park to check out the pineapple desert. If you happen to have a four-wheel drive, you can access some stunning four-wheel tracks located right next to the rock formations. Later, we ventured to Kangaroo Point and discovered a charming little beach. It dawned upon us that we could explore even more remote beaches and have exciting adventures during the remaining 3 and a half weeks.
Sandy Cape Recreation Park
In Jurien Bay Marco spotted an Suzuki Jimny with remembered us of our time in Japan. While taking a picture one local came by and shouted in strong accent „noice little Jimny EY?! Cheers Mate!“ We love the Aussies! Our first real off road campground was the Sandy Cape Recreation Park located north of Jurien Bay. The park can be reached through the Sandy Cape Campground, which is accessible by a two-wheel drive. As soon as you reach the end of the campground, the four-wheel drive sandy tracks begin. We managed to find a quaint spot in a remote bay, offering calm and serene waters that were perfect for a swim. To get here we had to pass a small soft sand hill and one Aussie sitting right next to the hill in front of his off-road camper shouted the advice in our direction „aim for it and than just gun over the top!“ said and done, no worries mate thanks for the advice!
Hutt Lagoon Pink Lake
A few kilometers north of Geraldton, you find the Hut Lagoon Pink Lake. It’s a salty little lake with a wonderful pink color.
Lucky Bay Campground, Yallabatharra
We stumbled upon the Lucky Bay campground which is accessible by four-wheel drive. This campground offers an option to set up your tent behind the dunes on the very soft sand. However, we were advised by the locals that driving through the dunes on the beach is not a good idea, as it’s very soft and there is a risk of getting bogged down. Therefore, we decided to avoid dune or beach driving for the day.
Offroad Training in the Dunes
The following morning was overcast, and we had witnessed some young Australian guys driving around in the dunes with their cars the previous evening. Some even brought their boats on a trailer, which sparked an idea in our minds. We wanted to try off-road driving and explore more secluded places in WA where the weather is warm and hot. As we looked around the campground that morning, we realized there were many people around. So, we thought it would be an excellent training experience to practice driving in the dunes. If we had a choice to get bogged, it would be here. A lot of potential helpers around. We exercised some soft sand driving through the dunes, and soon enough, we got bogged. However, it didn’t take long before five Australians showed up with some hard sand tracks. We quickly got out and learned a lot from driving through the dunes and how important it is lowering the tire pressure a bit. We thanked them with 5 beers. On our way back through the dunes, we feelt a lot more prepared and made it through without getting bogged. We were ready for the real off-road experience!
Kalbarri National Park – Coastline
The next thing on our track was the Kalbarri National Park coastline. Awesome cliffs with wonderful blue water.
Kalbarri National Park – Skywalk, Nature’s Window & Z-Bend
We entered the Kalbari National Park to see the skywalk and nature’s window and set bent at the nature’s window. There was also a walking track, but at this time of the year it was only possible to begin this track before 7:00 AM. We quckly realized why: The temperatures in Kalbarri got hotter and hotter, and 35 deg Celcius felt more like 45.
Welcome to the North West
After Kalbarri it’s where the real wilderness and romteness starts. Up here, the off-road cars are getting bigger, the road trains are getting more and longer, and cars passing each other with greet. Temperature’s climbing. 10l drinking water which cost you in Perth arround 4 AUD is sold here for 12-14 AUD. Fuel is getting more expensive. Gas cartridges we bought back in Jurien Bay for 2 AUD are now 8 AUD. Phone reception is getting rare. You need every chance to fuel up because you never know where the next gas station will be. Pure nature, pristine beaches, stunning wildlife and clear night skies. That’s why we’re here. Welcome to the Northwest.
Shark Bay
To Denham, we entered the Shark Bay World Heritage drive. Beaches full of little shells, and stunning coastlines shape the picture up here. At denham we finally had our first BBQ at a publix BBQ grill and while we were preparing our food, we were lucky enough to spot some dolphins passing by in the bay. Unbelivable.
Francois Peron National Park
Francois Peron National Park is located next to Denham. Access to the park is limited to four-wheel drive vehicles only. The sand dunes are a beautiful red color and driving through the 50-kilometer stretch of sand can be quite an unreal experience as you make your way around corners and over little hills. There are no other cars in sight as you look out to the horizon. If you plan to stay overnight, camping is also an option in the park. During our visit, we stayed at Bottle Bay, which is located at the park’s North End. We had the entire place to ourselves for the night.
During our second night, we visited Gregory’s campground and spent some time exploring the park. We discovered that the northern section of the park has very soft sand tracks, so if you plan on driving there, it’s important to keep the tire pressure around 20PSI to avoid getting bogged down.
Cape Peron, Francois Peron National Park
Cape Peron is on the North End of the National Park. When we first arrived, we didn’t realize how surreal this place was. The red cliffs, the white sand, the blue water, the sound of waves and crabs running around. This is magical. If you ever are in this area and you don’t have a four-wheel drive, make sure to book a tour or something to get out here. It’s worth it.
Little Lagoon, Denham
Right beside Denham is also the little lagoon. It’s a small salty lake with a wonderful blue color. Marco found it perfect to try out his Christmas gift, a stand-up paddleboard he bought back at Jurien Bay. Seeing Marco out there on this beaten lake made Alicia also wanted to hop on the board. In the end we paddled for around an hour, and crossed the whole lake back and forth together on one board.
Last Preparations in Denham
While off-road driving in Francois Peron National Park, we lost some nuts and bolts from our rooftop tent. Although we replaced them, we did not use sealing nuts as we did not have the right tools in our vehicle. So, we visited a marine repair shop and asked the owner if we could use some of his to fix the sealed nuts on our rooftop tent. The owner informed us that he had to go to the airport and his wife went grocery shopping but allowed us to use his workshop. We discussed our plans to go to Steep Point, the most westerly point of mainland Australia, located around the Shark Bay Area. As it is accessible only by four-wheel driving about 140 kilometers, we had concerns about the track conditions and how to get there easily. Fortunately, we got valuable information from someone who showed us the track on a map and even advised us with which tire pressure we should drive on each section of the track. We planned to stay for one night at Steep Point and heard from Janie that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth and he gave us the advice to spend as much time as possible there. All right we booked our stay for the second night. Supplied up, fueled up (even with a 10l backup Diesel canister) and loaded with some local advice for the track we began our way to enter the steep point off-road track. The words of Jamie ran through our heads „oh I don‘t need to show you the place on the map, you will recognize the big sand dune you need to drive up. Just make sure to drop your tires to 20, better 18 PSI (1,2 – 1,3 bar) and enjoy the ride!“
Thanks if you made it down here! Stay tuned if you want to see how we made it to the steep point and if it is worth the 140 km of offroading.
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December 4, 2023 @ 12:14 pm
Sehr schönes Abenteuer
December 4, 2023 @ 12:17 pm
Vielen Dank Regina!
December 8, 2023 @ 1:22 pm
… ein Blick aus dem Bürofenster, Schneeregen. Ihr macht alles richtig.
Liebe Grüße, Rico
December 10, 2023 @ 1:34 am
Hi Rico, freut uns wenn wir ein wenig Sonne nach Deutschland schicken können 🙂