Kapalga Travel West Coast tour (North)

Map

DAY 1: PERTH TO THE PINNACLES AND PORT GREGORY

Pick-up is at 6am outside the Adina on Barrack Street, so grab breakfast beforehand or bring a snack. You head north to Nambung National Park and walk among the Pinnacles, thousands of limestone pillars up to 3.5 metres tall rising from yellow sand. Up the coast in Beekeepers Nature Reserve you see the leaning trees, river red gums blown sideways by the constant wind. Inland, Northampton is one of Western Australia's oldest country towns, founded on lead and copper mining in the mid-1800s. At Port Gregory you see the Pink Lake (Hutt Lagoon), coloured by an algae rich in beta-carotene, before reaching the farm stay.

Overnight: Farm stay (two nights)

DAY 2: KALBARRI NATIONAL PARK

In Kalbarri National Park the Murchison River has carved deep gorges through the Tumblagooda Sandstone, rock about 400 million years old that holds some of the earliest tracks of animals walking on land. You step out on the Kalbarri Skywalk, two platforms that jut out 100 metres above the gorge, then visit Nature's Window, a natural arch of layered sandstone that frames the river below, before walking down into the gorge. The afternoon is for the wildflowers the area is known for and the Kalbarri coast, where in 1629 two mutineers from the wrecked Dutch ship Batavia were put ashore, the first Europeans known to have lived in Australia.

Overnight: Farm stay

DAY 3: HAMELIN POOL, SHELL BEACH AND DENHAM

Into the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, listed in 1991. At Hamelin Pool the water is about twice as salty as the open sea, which lets the stromatolites survive: living rock-like mounds built by microbes, a life form that dates back about 3.5 billion years. Shell Beach is made of the shells of a single small cockle, piled metres deep. You see the Project Eden fence that keeps foxes and cats off the Peron Peninsula, and at the Discovery Centre learn how Dirk Hartog landed in 1616 and nailed an inscribed pewter plate to a post. The day ends at Little Lagoon, outside Denham, Australia's most westerly town.

Overnight: Peron Peninsula (camp)

DAY 4: MONKEY MIA TO CORAL BAY

The morning starts at Monkey Mia, where wild bottlenose dolphins have been coming into the shallows to meet people since the 1960s. You watch from the water's edge as the rangers feed them. Afterwards, take the Wulyibindi Yanayina walk to look for the thick-billed grasswren and malleefowl, or relax on the beach. In the afternoon you drive north to Coral Bay, a tiny town where the reef starts just metres from the sand.

Overnight: Coral Bay (camp, two nights)

DAY 5: CORAL BAY AND NINGALOO REEF

A free day on Ningaloo Reef, about 260 km long and World Heritage-listed in 2011, one of the largest fringing reefs in the world. You can snorkel straight off the beach in Coral Bay. For an extra cost, and booked through your guide, you can swim with whale sharks (ask for this when you book), snorkel with manta rays, take a glass-bottom boat over the coral or ride a quad bike through the dunes. Whale sharks are the world's largest fish, and Ningaloo is one of the few places they turn up reliably each year. Or just stroll around the bay.

Overnight: Coral Bay (camp)

DAY 6: CORAL BAY TO EXMOUTH

Start with a walk to the shark nursery at Skeleton Bay, where young reef sharks gather in the warm shallows. Then it's north through Cape Range National Park along the Ningaloo coast. At Yardie Creek a short gorge cuts through the range to the sea, home to rare black-footed rock-wallabies on its red cliffs. You stop at lighthouses, reefs and beaches on the way to Exmouth, with plenty of chances to swim.

Overnight: Exmouth region (camp)

DAY 7: EXMOUTH TO KARIJINI

A morning stop at the Pot Shot Memorial in Exmouth tells the story of Operation Jaywick, in which a small team sailed the fishing boat Krait from Exmouth Gulf in 1943 to raid Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour. Then you head inland through iron ore country, stopping for the views, to Karijini National Park, the second largest national park in Western Australia.

Overnight: Karijini National Park (camp)

DAY 8: HANCOCK GORGE AND DALES GORGE

Karijini's gorges are cut through banded iron rock about 2.5 billion years old. This morning you take the spider walk in Hancock Gorge, bracing hands and feet against both walls to edge along a narrow chute, to reach Kermits Pool, a green pool deep in the gorge. In the afternoon you swim at Fortescue Falls in Dales Gorge, the only permanent waterfall in the park, and visit Fern Pool (Jubura), with its two small waterfalls, a special place for the traditional owners where you swim quietly.

Overnight: Karijini National Park (camp)

DAY 9: HAMERSLEY GORGE

You stay in Karijini this morning for Hamersley Gorge, where layers of rock have been folded into waves and zig-zags by huge forces deep in the earth. The colours run from rust to purple to blue-grey, and the upper and lower parts of the gorge both have pools for swimming and plenty of photo spots. From here you move on to a bush camp nearby.

Overnight: Bush camp near Hamersley Gorge

DAY 10: WITTENOOM AND MARBLE BAR

Leaving Karijini, you pass Wittenoom, a blue asbestos mining town closed in 1966 over health concerns. You don't stop, but your guide tells you its story. Marble Bar is known as one of Australia's hottest towns: in 1923 and 1924 it went 160 days in a row above 37.8°C. Out at the Coongan River, you see the bar the town is named after. The early settlers thought it was marble, but it's jasper, banded in red, white and grey.

Overnight: Bush camp near Marble Bar

DAY 11: EIGHTY MILE BEACH TO BROOME

The last morning is on Eighty Mile Beach, 220 km of unbroken white sand between Port Hedland and Broome, the longest beach in Western Australia. It's a Ramsar wetland, and hundreds of thousands of migratory shorebirds feed here after flying in from as far away as Siberia. After a walk and maybe some shell collecting, you stop at Sandfire Roadhouse and cross the Roebuck Plains before seeing some of the sights of Broome, the old pearling town, and a drop-off at your accommodation.

Map

• Sleeping bag (a bag rated to about -5°C from May to September)
• Small or inflatable pillow
• 2 litres of water bottles
• Sturdy walking shoes or ankle-strap sandals
• Thongs or light shoes for the truck and camp
• Shoes that can get wet
• Swimmers and towel
• Snorkel or goggles
• Head torch or torch
• Hat, sunglasses, sun-protective clothing and sunscreen
• Insect repellent and toiletries
• Jumper or long pants for the evenings
• Rain jacket for tours in May, September, October and November
• Camera or phone
• Some cash for souvenirs

• Small-group 4x4 air-conditioned truck
• Driver-guide
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner every day (except breakfast on day 1), plus snacks and drinking water
• Two nights at a farm stay
• Camping equipment, including swags
• Camping fees
• National park entry fees
• Drop-off at your accommodation in Broome

Not included

• Breakfast on day 1
• Optional activities at Coral Bay: whale shark swim, manta ray swim, glass-bottom boat, quad bike tour (your guide helps organise them)
• Sleeping bag and pillow

Preparing for the trip

Private tours and families

Booking the trip

Who travels with us

Cost and Fees

Whilst on tour