Perth to Exmouth Road trip

By Emma Pitcher, University of Western Australia Perth, Australia

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In the September break, a group of us decided to road trip from Perth to Exmouth.

This was one of the best experiences in my life so if you’re heading to WA, I highly recommend it! Go outside of Aussie summer as it gets very hot up north!

This blog covers our itinerary, plus any recommendations 🙂

We hired a Britz van for 9 days which fit four people, but we were also travelling as a part of a larger group of about 20 people.

Day 1 – Perth & Jurien Bay

The first day involved getting to the van hire place with all our stuff to then load the van up and start driving up north. Unfortunately, getting the van took longer than expected, so we departed later. Our first stop was at Jurien Bay to walk along the beach. Our original plan was to camp in Geraldton, but it is highly recommended you don’t drive after dusk, so we ended up at a roadside camp area (in the middle of nowhere) – but the stars were amazing!

Day 2 – Geraldton, Pink Lake, Kalbarri

Drove to Geraldton first thing in the morning, then went to Pink Lake in Gregory. This lake is also super salty so if you swim in it, you float really well. Finally for day 2, we made it to a holiday park in Kalbarri and visited the national park. Make sure to take a photo at Kalbarri’s nature window!

In terms of driving, Geraldton is about 5 hours out from Perth, and from Geraldton, Gregory was 1 hour away, and Kalbarri an additional hour.

Day 3 – Monkey Mia

Next we headed to Monkey Mia, 4 hours from Kalbarri. On the way we stopped at Billabong Roadhouse, Hamelin Pool, and Shell Beach, as well as Denham. Highly recommend stopping at places like these to cut up some of the driving time! Shell Beach, especially as its a massive beach purely made of tiny shells.

Our stop in Monkey Mia was another holiday park – the nicest one we stayed at. This was also my favourite place of the whole roadtrip. The location is beautiful, its calm and peaceful. The sunset and sunrise was incredible, and in the morning they do dolphin feeding which was amazing.

Day 4 – Exmouth

From Monkey Mia to Exmouth it was a 7 hour drive. In Exmouth, we stayed at another holiday park for 3 nights.

In Exmouth, we spent every day in the Cape Range National Park at Turquoise Bay (highly recommend for sunbathing/swimming), and Oyster Stacks (good for snorkelling). There is also a lighthouse where you can watch the sunset, and whale-watch if its the right season.

Here you can do Whale Shark tours (~$500 pp).

Day 7 – Coral Bay

Stopped at Coral Bay on our drive back. Beautiful spot, you can walk along the coast to find a shark nursery!

We continued driving to spend the night at a free roadside campsite. This was our second free campsite of the trip. These places only provide toilets but are an easy option when you don’t need to connect the van to power. Only thing to note is that there’s barely any service so make sure some group members are using Telstra as a provider.

Day 8 – Geraldton, Jurien Bay

On our next stretch of the drive we stopped again at Geraldton for a lunch break (grabbed a cheeky Banh Mi) and then continued on to Jurien Bay (again) but this time to spend the night.

Day 9 – Pinnacles, Perth

On our way back to Perth, we stopped at the Pinnacles – definitely worth the visit. And then our roadtrip came to an end when we got back to Perth to return the van!

Tips: you don’t necessarily need to pay for camping spots (there are several free campsites around) but all the holiday parks do come with showers, flushable toilets, and a kitchen – which we used a lot. Cooking your own food is the best option to save money. We bought a large bag of pasta and a big jar of pasta sauce. Also taking noodle packets is a good idea as those are easy to cook quickly. All of our cooking was done using the park kitchens. The van came with pots/pans and crockery, but its easier in terms of cleanliness etc to not use the van’s kitchen and gas supply. Also you’ll find that between four people, there is not that much space in the van.

Lastly, the weather in September was kind of cold in Perth but as we went north it got warmer so don’t go up north in summer.

Overall, this trip was a blast and a once in a lifetime experience. If you get the chance to, do it!