I wondered how I’d describe my two weeks driving north from Perth. I guess I need to start with my mate Max. We met in the 5th form (I was 16) in High School, and have been great mates ever since. Max was in Perth visiting his son and family. It was great for me to have a friendly face.
He and I knocked around Perth, and did a little drive together. This is Max.
Then I headed north. I stopped in Ledge Point, Denham, Exmouth, Port Hedland and Broome.
And I could write pages on each place. But what did they have in common? Sleepy little towns, amazing beaches, people who were friendly and hospitable, great food… and, some the greatest sunsets I could ever hope to see.
I’ll drop some photos in but let me see if I can nail some highlights.
- Ledge Point (3 nights) – for me a great place to chill after a busy time in Perth getting my truck fixed, and helping people I met along the way through their own tough times (which was an absolute privilege).
- Denham (4 nights) – a small, sleepy little place near Monkey Mia and Shark Bay. A great pub with the best food. A really nice and eclectic bunch of travellers like me. And… the best sunset so far – maybe ever. Just down the road was this amazing beach, Shell Beach, which was made up of millions and millions of tiny shells – no sand anywhere. A miracle. Can you take minute to watch that vid?? It is spectacular.
- Carnarvon – I had lunch here. I was a bit messed up – I was alone, depressed, tired and unhappy. I was seriously considering turning around and driving back to Sydney. Carnarvon had this peace that kind of sat around my shoulders. Like a good massage. I’ve no other way to describe it. I spent two hours there, doing nothing but refreshing my soul – which needed a serious refresh!
Perhaps Carnarvon was more for me, than for you guys. I was in a big hole – I mean in my head. Too much time alone, big drives, patchy sleep. I was done – I wanted to go home. But something about this place fixed me.
- Exmouth (3 nights) – the Ningaloo reef. A sleepy little backpacker town, but home of course to swimming with the whale sharks. Sadly, I didn’t know you needed to book 3-4 weeks in advance for that privilege. I will have to go back – which will be absolute pleasure as everything about Exmouth was relaxed, high quality and real. Really real. I loved the place. I did spend an afternoon snorkelling on the reef which was a great highlight.
One little cock-up for rookie world overlanders… I’d hopped on my phone and booked a smart hotel in Exmouth for when I arrived… Sady the Exmouth I chose was in the UK. I thought at the time how cheap it was, but I was paying £sterling. So I burnt some cash – and had no accom when I arrived after a long day… Anyway, it all worked out.
- Port Hedland (1 night) – basically the biggest industrial site I’ve ever seen. And I saw only a fraction of the place – at night. A monument, I guess, to voracious appetite the world has for WA dirt.
- Broome (3 nights) – the famed Cable Beach. And it did live up to its great reputation. It’s not so much the length, but the breadth. It must be a kilometre across the sand to get to water. I swam – a bucket list thing. I did splash out in Broome and grabbed some good accom. I kind of knew, I think, that there were some tough times ahead as I headed towards Darwin. How right I was.
This is so much my favourite photo so far….
This one isn’t bad either.
- Kununurra (2 nights) – This was the start of the haul into Darwin. I had a shipping date to Timor Leste now (more later) to aim at – to fit into a plan to get a hundred things done. The first thing was to get to Darwin. This drive was 1,100km – 10-11 hours more or less straight through.
There is a really good reason why I drove straight through. It’s the same reason I paid big money for accom in Broome, and why I stayed in a caravan park in Kununurra that had 15 foot fences and a huge steal auto gate. Security and safety up in north Aust is a real issue that needs to be managed.
The drive north from Perth is something I really enjoyed. I hugged the coast, and so everywhere I was enjoying great views of the Indian Ocean, and great coastline. The food, the company on the road, the laid back towns I stayed at – it was all a bit surreal. And there are world class locations. Ningaloo Reef, Cable Beach and Shark Bay are amazing places.
I did go inland, to a place called the Kirijini National Park for 2 nights, and I’ll write about that separately. All up I spent close to 3 weeks getting from Perth to Darwin. I could have taken 3 months. The distances are big – lots and lots (and lots!) of driving. But the rewards are spectacular!
But, Darwin beckoned. I had to get my truck into a container and across to Timor Leste. And what a nightmare that turned out to be.