The Perfect 8 Day Perth to Exmouth Road Trip
Sunday, July 17, 2022 
As I mentioned in my Perth recap, our escape to the far away state of Western Australia was one of the few silver linings of Covid. It was quite ironic given their fortress-like borders had locked out the rest of Australia for far longer than many parts of the world. But perhaps, that's what piqued our interest. After all, you always want what you can't have!
When you research WA for a holiday, the famous Kimberleys of the north pop up or the pristine south. The centre of the state has far too many long, straight roads for it to appeal to the rest of the country. But somehow, while planning this itinerary, we ended up on the Perth to Exmouth road trip. It truly was the road less travelled because we couldn’t source any testimonials from our friends or my Instagram circle. I had a serious fear this holiday would end up quite a dull adventure. But wow, the long never-ending roads connect seven completely distinct landscapes. Nothing is similar to the other and you end the trip with an absolute bucket list item – swimming with whalesharks! Quite the big deal for a non-swimmer like me.
So let’s dig into our itinerary.
Day 1 - Cervantes for The Pinnacles Desert - After spending 2.5 days in Perth, we spent our third day driving out to Cervantes in the afternoon, a small town close to The Pinnacles. It is a 2-and-a-half-hour drive and we timed it perfectly to reach The Pinnacles around sunset. You can also check out the white sand dunes of Lancelin on the way if you wish, but we decided to skip it.
The Pinnacles Desert is located in Nambung National Park and also has a discovery centre which closes at 4.30pm. Luckily, there are no locked gates after hours for the desert itself, so you can go straight in -- just remember to drop the money in an envelope at the entrance as indicated.
The Pinnacles are large, natural limestone structures formed 25,000 to 30,000 years ago after the sea receded. You can drive around the 4km loop in the desert with plenty of spots to park and get out to explore on foot. The desert is something out of a movie, offering plenty of space and privacy to get lost. If you time for sunset like us, the colours come out spectacularly. Of course the downside is that you miss out on the discovery centre, which is easily remediated by coming earlier, checking out the discovery centre and then the desert for sunset.
After the Pinnacles we went to our hotel to rest before searching for dinner. There are limited food options in Cervantes, a local pub and a small pizza shop, so you'll find food but not ambience. But given the trip you're on, I'm sure a fancy restaurant is not on your list to do!
Day 2 - Jurien Bay and Geraldton - The next stop from Cervantes is Jurien Bay – from the dry sparse desert to a spot famous for snorkelling with sea lions. It's only a 15-minute drive, so before heading out, we paid one last visit to the Pinnacles Desert in the early morning.
We had a 2.5-hour tour booked with Turqouise Safaris which takes you close to the islands with sea lion colonies. Being pretty weak swimmers, we were nervous about heading into the water but the tour guides gave us life jackets that kept us afloat in the shallow waters of only 2.5 - 3 metres. We jumped into the water, some meters from the shores of the island and waited for the sea lions to approach. They're supposed to be playful and curious creatures who love swimming up to humans, especially the baby sea lions. However, we didn’t have much luck and the sea lions seemed shyer than usual. There was staff in the water with us on their paddleboards, guiding us to where the sea lions might be and we managed to come up very close to one or two but given they are speedy swimmers, they zoom past you before you realise what’s happened.
Although we got limited time with wildlife, I would still recommend the tour because you could be one of the lucky ones and at only 2.5 hours it’s not too long or too expensive.
From Jurien Bay we drove up to the town of Geraldton, 2 hours away. Geraldton is a large town with a big port and plenty of nice eating options and accommodation. It’s a great spot to stay at night given the better accommodation options.
Day 3 - Hutt Lagoon and Kalbarri National Park – Ask Instagram about WA’s most iconic spot and you’ll see thousands of pictures of the stunning pink lakes. The Hutt Lagoon is definitely the post accessible of them all, so long as you are willing undertake this road trip and its many adventures. At just an hour away from Geraldton and on the way to Kalbarri National Park, it’s the perfect stop to break the journey.
For anyone wondering how the stunning lake gets its strawberry pink hue, the colour is derived from algae dunaliella salina -- a food colouring agent used in cosmetics and dietary supplements.
Completely free and with a lookout to boot, the pink lake is gorgeous to photograph. You can also walk into it like I did, but in the spirit of being transparent, it was stinky and slimy. So be aware that it’s not something you'll want to swim in or want to stay around for too long given that the mosquito problem will really start.
As I foreshadowed, our next stop was Kalbarri National Park, about 40 minutes to an hour from Hutt Lagoon. This was also the site of our accommodation for the day which gave us plenty of time to explore the park.
This beautiful national park covers 186,000 hectares of river gorges, rock formations and coastal cliffs. There are several different locations and entrances to the park, so do a bit of research beforehand and work out which parts you would like to see.
We reached Kalbarri in the afternoon with plenty of time left to explore the iconic Nature's Window and Kalbarri Skywalk. The former is a natural viewpoint, offering the spectacular views of Murchinson river. It’s an easy 1km return hike from the car park but be sure to leave yourself enough time to enjoy the views. Regardless of how much time you have, Nature's Window is a must and well deserving of its fame.
Pro tip: Please take a fly net with you and thank me later.
Day 4 - Z Bend at Kalbarri National Park and Shell Beach - The Z Bend, as the name suggests, is a part of the Murchison River where it cuts through the gorge forming a Z shaped bend. It can be experienced through a lookout or through an adventurous hour-long hike descending into the gorge. The track is steep, with some very narrow passageways and tricky ladders to get through. However, the hard part is once again doing it all with the high number of flies getting to you. Per my tip above, I would highly recommend coming with a fly net and if not then aim for a morning hike when there are fewer flies. The route is quite rugged so make sure you're wearing sturdy shoes with a good sole, although hiking boots are not necessary. Once you reach the bottom, take a breather with some snacks and enjoy the breeze and the river views. We've heard about people swimming in the river but while we were there, the current seemed way too strong to venture into the water.
Spending a night at Kalbarri meant that we were able to fit in the Z Bend walk the next morning and we highly recommend doing this walk if you're able bodied. It’s an easy 1.2km return from the car park to the lookout and then a further 2.6km return if you want to head down into the gorge. Spend the morning doing the walk before you head out for a long 3-and-a-half-hour drive to Denham in Shark Bay.
This section of the drive is one of the most tiresome of the entire road trip because it’s just so long and straight. As you reach Shark Bay three hours into the drive, you can stop by Shell Beach for a break before finishing the last 20 mins or so. Shell beach is made up entirely of shells and no sand. While it looks a lot more majestic here in photos than in real life, it was an interesting phenomenon, and quite fun playing around with them for a little while.
Day 5 - Francois National Park at Shark Bay - Striking red cliffs and turquoise blue water is what greets you at this beautiful but hard to reach national park. With its super soft sand, this beautiful national park is only accessible by a 4WD, or if you don't want to drive one yourself, then through a day tour. Having stayed at Denham the night before, we opted for a half day tour to explore the national park. Now you could easily go for a full day tour but make sure you're staying in Denham for 2 nights as you do not want to be driving on this road trip at any point around dusk onwards. Since our trip was during the Easter break, and accommodation was very limited, we opted for a half day tour so that we had plenty of time left in the day to drive to our next destination.
We were picked up from our accommodation and driven through the sandy tracks to Skipjack Point. Perched on a cliff edge, offering stunning view of the coastline, this is one of the best viewpoints of Francois national park and must not be missed. Skipjack point is also the start or end of the 1.5km long Wanamalu walk trail that takes you from Skipjack point to Cape Peron. If you have a full day or are out here on your own, you could definitely attempt this walk, but given our limited time, we were instead driven to Cape Peron as part of the tour. Perhaps the less adventurous option, but it did allow us to see two of the most beautiful parts of this national park. Cape Peron was once again an example of dramatic scenery never seen before. During low tide, you can walk along the beach, but we were caught in high tide, so we had to stick to enjoying the views from the top.
A word of advice, it gets very windy in Shark Bay so you want to wear something you're comfortable in. I was fine in a maxi dress with a thicker material, a shorter dress would probably set you up for your own Marilyn Monroe oopsie moment.
Francois National Park was easily one of the most beautiful and unique scenery I have seen and the tedious 2 hour detour off the main highway to visit Shark bay was worth it. After our tour which ended at 12:30pm., we grabbed some food from local shops and headed to our next stop and accommodation for the night - Wooramel River Retreat.
Day 5/6 - Wooramel River Retreat - Cattle and sheep stations are the backbone of the great Australian outback, so an opportunity to experience one through a station stay is not to be missed! WA has several working cattle stations located on thousands of hectares of land that offer accommodation options. These accommodation options vary significantly, from a humble campsite to basic shearing quarters, to something a bit more upscale.
We decided to experience it by staying at shearing quarters at Wooramel River Retreat. Wooramel is one of the few cattle station that is very easily accessible on this road trip and does not require a detour when driving up to Exmouth from Shark Bay or Kalbarri. For us, it was also the only one that still had a room left when we decided to look for accommodation given we were travelling during peak season.
The rooms were very basic, simple, and quite small. It’s not luxury but I was happy to skip that for a night of breathing in the rustic, peaceful and fresh air. The 1430 square kilometres of red sand, the naturally heated artesian bore baths, the majestic sunsets, simple self-cooked meals and the historical tip or junkyard, all made it special. In Wooramel, you can explore through discarded junk dating four generations and let nostalgia wash over you. From antique cars to washing machines and bathtubs, you'll find it all here. Now if you're someone who can't live without the basic luxury of a nice fancy bathroom and spacious bedrooms then Wooramel isn’t for you. However if you're keen to experience how life was in the outback when wool prices were through the roof, then Wooramel is the perfect, and accessible way to experience a station stay.
Day
7 and 8 – Exmouth - From Wooramel, we began a long, tedious 5 hour drive to the last spot
on this itinerary - Exmouth. We broke up the lengthy drive with a stop at a
Woolworths in Carnarvon for a grocery shop before stopping at Coral Bay which
really wasn’t much to write about. But the journey wasn’t without some
surprises, with the highlight being the large sandy mound-like structures that
are common along the journey from Coral Bay to Exmouth. The structures, which
stretched as far as the eye could see, made the landscape look like an
alienscape. We were so confused having never seen anything like this before,
but a bit of Googling revealed they were giant termite mounds. Although there
was an innocent answer in the end, our speculation about it being some otherworldly
find did keep us entertained for the last 1.5 hour stretch.
Day 7 was mostly spent on the road from Wooramel to Exmouth, followed by some exploring in the town of Exmouth.
With quite a few eating options, the rest of the afternoon went by with us
relaxing and talking in awe about the road trip we had just concluded and also
worrying about the adventure of the next day – swimming with Whale sharks!
If you’re in Exmouth, then it will be impossible to escape the temptation of
tour guides everywhere offering to take you swimming with whale sharks. In
fact, Ningaloo Reef is one of the few places in the world where a whale shark
sighting is guaranteed during the right season. Neither whale nor shark, whale
sharks are the largest fish in the ocean and can reach up to a whopping 40 feet
in length. But we are not strong swimmers and haven’t even made it to the less
intense Great Barrier Reef yet. But of course, adrenaline won out over
practicality and we chose to do the activity since it was pretty unlikely we
would be back in this less accessible part of the world again.
In our defence, we did our due diligence and researched that weaker swimmers
were welcome and would be taken care of on the tour. Now began the
overthinking: What is their definition of a weak swimmer? How much were they expecting
from us? All these questions had us really worried, but we decided that even if
we’re unable to jump in the water, we’ll use the opportunity to enjoy the boat
tour instead.
But fear not because not only did we get into the water once, we jumped in twice
with an extremely close view of the whale shark every time. Majestic and
gentle, it was the most humbling experience being in such close proximity to
the animals and personally, I felt truly proud of myself.
Swimming with whale sharks is gentle and simple enough however the process
leading up to that moment is extremely organised and adrenaline driven! As soon
as the boat’s spotter plane spots a whale shark, it’s go go go. You have to
ensure snorkels are clean and wetsuits are zipped up as we line up at the edge
with our leader and photographer who jumps in first to then direct us exactly
where to jump, line up in a queue to make way for the whale shark and then put
your head down to see it peacefully swim past.
The Ningaloo discovery
guys were amazing and took care of us from the very first moment until the very
end, even when I was ready to chicken out during the second time. Beyond
helping us with the practicalities, the team motivated us and other weak
swimmers to give it a go and even calmed some of the weak swimmers down when
they realised they’re in the open ocean with nothing other than a pool noodle.
The guys at Ningaloo discovery really knew what they were doing throughout
including what’s required to make it worth the $400 for a weak swimmer!
If you’re worried about your swimming skills or the price tag – I can only say
that it was one of the most priceless experiences I’ve had and it’s worth
trusting the crew. I would encourage you to contact the tour operator and let
them know of your swimming abilities beforehand and then take their guidance on
whether you should go and if yes, then how to approach it.
The tour is worth the money as after the whale shark experience, weather permitted you can enjoy some snorkelling. For us, we got to try drift snorkelling - the boat drops you at the beginning of a current over the coral patch and then goes away while you let the current drift you to your boat's location.
And with this came the end of our epic road trip across mid-west WA. Most
itineraries include driving back, but we opted to fly out of Exmouth back to
Perth to avoid driving 1200 km back and would absolutely recommend doing that if the idea of driving all those kilometres is daunting.
I am ashamed to say I did not have a lot of expectations from this trip but was left in awe by the beauty, vastness and diversity. Here's to more exploring of our own wonderful country, Australia!
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