Exmouth Road Trip
A few weeks ago a friend and I embarked on an adventure packed trip up North. As far as WA goes, i had never been North of Lancelin and decided it was time to explore a little more of my home state. Unfortunately we were restricted to only ten days but optimistically set off from Perth on a cold Monday morning, adamant we were going to experience a taste of what our north has to offer.
Our first night was spent in Kalbarri, what a great little town, the inlet and views from red bluff really are worth taking a look at. After an extremely cold night we made the trip through the Kalbarri national park to see natures window and the 'z' bend. This area truly is remarkable, the view is amazing and the rock formations are like nothing i had ever seen before. On the 30km or so long gravel drive back to the highway we came accross the unfortunate sight of a campervan which had lost control on the gravel and ended upside down in the bush, goes to show how easily accidents happen, especially in unsuitable vehicles, fortunately nobody was badly hurt.
As our plan was to chase the sun with as much enthusiasm as possible, we continued heading up North towards Shark Bay. We pulled up at shell beach (about 40km south of Denham) just as the sun was setting, and there and then i witnessed the most incredible sunset i'd ever imagined. The glow of the setting sun made the pure white shells seem to glow and the dead flat water of the bay reflected back with striking blue colour. One half of the sky burned red and orange, whilst the other direction was a mix of purple and blue. Certainly something i will never forget, and you must see for yourself! Consultation of my trusty camps book revealed a free camp spot nearby, it was great, like shell beach the ground was covered in small white shells making it really easy to keep everything clean. Once set up we cranked up a fire and felt it necessary to have a few (ahem so maybe more than a few) beers!
The next day was spent exploring the peninsula, visiting Monkey Mia and Denham, after witnessing another incredible sunset at Eagle Bluff we went back to our great camp site. The next day, after checking out the stromatalites in Hamelin Pool, we shot back up the highway with our sights set on Coral Bay. To our surprise Coral bay was packed but nonetheless a great stopover, regrettably due to our time constraints we never went for a swim, i have since found out the snorkelling is amazing (you'd think we would have worked that out from the name of the place wouldnt you), least it gives me an excuse to go back.
After driving past hundreds of huge termite mounds and stopping for a few herds of uncooperative cattle we found ourselves in Exmouth. The town was smaller than expected but development looks underway at breakneck speed. We spent our first full day snorkelling at turquoise bay. Due to the mountain belt the drive back to exmouth required driving to the North of the cape then back down the other side, a journey we couldn't really be bothered making after an exhausting day at the beach. Like any good 21 year olds in a four wheel drive we thought we had the answer- why drive around what we can drive over? We made a b-line for the mountains along a track veering off the side of the highway. So far so good we thought, impressed with ourselves for not taking the bitumen with the 2wder's, we drove alongside kangaroos and emu's, through a dry creek bed, i felt like i was in my own pajero ad! Unfortunately the so called track turned more into a collection of loose rocks and as we scrambled up the incline the track disappeared altogether. Feeling like explorers we got out of the car to assess our next move and then i heard the noise no one likes to hear. The front drivers tyre was hissing and suddenly i was not so impressed with myself. We jumped back in and decided the safest bet was just to retrace our steps, the ride back was not so relaxing, i wanted to floor it to reach the highway yet at the same time knew reckless driving would increase the risk of a second puncture, before long we were on the rim. Fortunately i had a compressor and was able to inflate the tyre enough to reach the highway and put on the spare. We drove back to exmouth along the highway, not the shortcut we expected!
The next day i learned the tyre was destroyed and to my surprise no tyre shop in exmouth carried a 265/70/R15 tyre to suit the Pajero. Please keep this in mind if you have similar tyres on your vehicle. The good news is this gave us the excuse to spend another three days in Exmouth rather than rushing further up north. We discovered the snorkelling to the left of turquoise bay is best with brightly coloured corals, turtles, heaps of fish and even a few small sharks. We did not want to leave but eventually made the slightly resky decision to head back to perth without a spare. We decided not to take any more 'tracks' off the side of the road and made it back without any further problems. all in all the whole trip was a great experience, however ten days is simply not enough time, i plan to go back next year for a more substantial trip, hopefully with a camper trailer in tow and perhaps a few more spares!
