Why Not Bus Perth to Exmouth, Karijini Return 14 Day West Coast Tour

Map

DAY 1: PERTH TO JURIEN BAY

The bus leaves Billabong Backpackers in Highgate at 9:30am on Saturday, and the first stop is the supermarket for snacks and drinks. Then it's north up the coast to Lancelin, where white dunes rise straight behind the town and you sandboard down them. In Nambung National Park you walk among the Pinnacles, thousands of limestone pillars standing out of yellow sand, some of them taller than you. Tonight is a holiday park campsite at Jurien Bay, where a colony of Australian sea lions lives on the offshore islands. The guide shows first-timers how to pitch a tent, and everyone pitches in on the first group dinner. About 230 km.

Overnight: Jurien Bay (holiday park campsite)

DAY 2: JURIEN BAY TO KALBARRI

A morning at the beach, or, for an extra cost, a two-hour boat trip to swim with those sea lions. Lunch is in Geraldton, the biggest town on the coast north of Perth. Then the bus pulls up beside Hutt Lagoon near Port Gregory, a lake coloured pink to red by an alga that makes beta-carotene, the same pigment as in carrots. The colour changes with the light, the cloud and the time of year. In the afternoon you check in for two nights in Kalbarri, at the mouth of the Murchison River, and watch the sun go down from the beach before dinner. About 370 km.

Overnight: Kalbarri (Kalbarri Backpackers)

DAY 3: KALBARRI NATIONAL PARK

A full day in Kalbarri National Park, where the Murchison River has cut an 80 km gorge through red and white banded sandstone laid down more than 400 million years ago. The Kalbarri Skywalk juts out from the rim on two platforms, hanging high over the gorge. A short walk leads to Nature's Window, a wind-carved arch that frames the river bend below. Then you hike down into Z Bend gorge, with a swim if the pools have water, and eat lunch along the gorge. Back by the sea, the coastal cliffs are a lookout for humpback whales and their calves in season. Dinner tonight is the first of three pub nights.

Overnight: Kalbarri (Kalbarri Backpackers)

DAY 4: KALBARRI TO MONKEY MIA

Into the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, listed in 1991. At Shell Beach there's no sand at all: the shore is made of billions of tiny white cockle shells, piled metres deep, and the water is so salty you float with ease. From the boardwalk at Eagle Bluff you look down into clear shallows for sharks, turtles and dugongs; Shark Bay's seagrass feeds one of the largest dugong herds on earth. After Denham, the most westerly town in Australia, you reach the dolphin resort at Monkey Mia. The afternoon is for the beach, the pool or a paddleboard (extra cost), and after dark you can walk the jetty looking for dolphins and turtles. About 400 km.

Overnight: Monkey Mia (hostel dorms at RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort)

DAY 5: MONKEY MIA TO WOORAMEL RIVER RETREAT

Early morning, walk down to the water as the wild bottlenose dolphins swim into the shallows. They have been coming in to this beach since the 1960s, and today rangers keep the feeding small and closely watched so the dolphins stay wild. There's more time by the beach and pool before the bus leaves Shark Bay and heads up the highway. Tonight is a working station stay at Wooramel River Retreat, with tents among the river gums. The best part is a soak in a tub filled by hot artesian water from deep underground, followed by dinner under a sky full of stars. About 240 km.

Overnight: Wooramel River Retreat (station campsite)

DAY 6: CARNARVON TO CORAL BAY

A restock stop in Carnarvon, the banana-growing town at the mouth of the Gascoyne River, then north to Coral Bay. Here Ningaloo Reef, World Heritage-listed in 2011 and one of the longest fringing reefs on earth, starts just metres from the sand, so you can snorkel straight off the beach. Snorkel gear can be borrowed from the dive shop for a deposit. If you want more, a glass-bottom boat, quad bikes or a paddleboard are there at extra cost. Dinner is at the pub, your second pub night, and you settle in for two nights. About 350 km.

Overnight: Coral Bay (Ningaloo Club Backpackers)

DAY 7: A FREE DAY IN CORAL BAY

No driving today. Coral Bay is a town of only a couple of hundred people, so everything is a short walk away. Snorkel the reef again, walk the coast or spend the whole day on the beach. This is the day for the manta ray swim (extra cost), the town's most popular trip; reef mantas live off Coral Bay all year and can measure several metres from wingtip to wingtip. After the group dinner there are bars, a pool and sometimes live music.

Overnight: Coral Bay (Ningaloo Club Backpackers)

DAY 8: CORAL BAY TO EXMOUTH

A last morning in Coral Bay, then up onto the North West Cape. At Charles Knife Canyon the road climbs along the edge of deep red gorges cut into the Cape Range, with views across Exmouth Gulf. The day ends at the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse, built in 1912 on the tip of the cape, where you can watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean. Tonight you cook together, and you stay two nights in Exmouth. About 200 km.

Overnight: Exmouth (Potshot Hotel Resort, hostel rooms)

DAY 9: CAPE RANGE NATIONAL PARK

If you have booked a whale shark swim (March to September, extra cost), the boat collects you from the resort for the whole day. The whale shark is the biggest fish in the sea, and it gathers off Ningaloo each year to feed. Everyone else crosses the cape to Cape Range National Park to snorkel at Turquoise Bay, where a gentle current carries you along the reef edge over coral, turtles and reef fish. In the evening the group meets for the third pub dinner, at Whalebone Brewery.

Overnight: Exmouth (Potshot Hotel Resort, hostel rooms)

DAY 10: EXMOUTH TO CHEELA PLAINS

Travellers on the Exmouth-only trip leave here, and the rest of you head inland into the Pilbara. The land turns to red rock, spinifex and termite mounds, and the long drive is a good chance to spot emus, kangaroos and wedge-tailed eagles. Tonight is a station stay at Cheela Plains, a working cattle station with its own gorges and pools, where you camp in tents and cook dinner as a group. About 460 km.

Overnight: Cheela Plains (station campsite)

DAY 11: KARIJINI NATIONAL PARK

The big hiking day. Karijini National Park sits in the Hamersley Range, and its gorges are cut through banded iron rock about 2.5 billion years old. You hike and swim in Knox Gorge, Weano Gorge and Hancock Gorge, where the last stretch to Kermit's Pool means edging along the rock walls above the water. From Oxer Lookout you look down to where four gorges meet, and you also stop at Junction Pool and Joffre. It's about 5.5 km of rough walking, the hardest of the trip. If flash floods close parts of the park, the guide swaps in other walks. Tonight is a hostel in Tom Price, Western Australia's highest town.

Overnight: Tom Price (hostel at the tourist park)

DAY 12: DALES GORGE TO NEWMAN

A last morning in Karijini at Dales Gorge. Fortescue Falls is the park's only waterfall that flows all year, tumbling over stepped red rock, and a short walk upstream brings you to Fern Pool, a cool swimming hole under fig trees that is a special place for the Banyjima people, so swim quietly. After lunch, at Auski Roadhouse, you wave off the travellers heading north to Broome and turn south. Tonight you camp in Newman, an iron-ore town built in the 1960s beside Mount Whaleback, one of the largest open-cut iron mines on earth. About 380 km.

Overnight: Newman (holiday park campsite)

DAY 13: NEWMAN TO DALWALLINU

The longest day on the bus, about 900 km south down the Great Northern Highway, with regular stops to stretch your legs. The red Pilbara gives way to mulga scrub, salt lakes and then wheat country. You pull in to Dalwallinu, the first town on the Wildflower Way, where from late winter into spring the roadsides fill with wattle and everlastings. It's the last night together: one more tent to pitch, one more group dinner and plenty of stories from the trip.

Overnight: Dalwallinu (holiday park campsite)

DAY 14: DALWALLINU TO PERTH

A final 250 km south through the wheatbelt to Perth, and you're dropped back at Billabong Backpackers in Highgate, where it all began, around midday on Friday.

Map

• Outdoor wear
• Very warm clothes from June to August — it can be 2 degrees at night when camping in winter
• Walking shoes
• Sunglasses and hat
• Swimwear and towels
• Sunblock
• Head torch
• Ear plugs
• Small pillow for camping
• Passport or ID
• Dive logbook or cert card if you dive

• Nambung National Park (Pinnacles) entry
• Kalbarri National Park entry
• Cape Range and Karijini national park passes
• Monkey Mia dolphin entry
• 13 nights' accommodation: 8 in hostels, 3 in holiday park campsites, 2 at station campsites
• Hikes and daily activities, beaches and snorkelling on Ningaloo Reef
• Tents, sleeping bags, mattresses and snorkelling gear

Not included

• Food: $100 cash per person for the food fund, paid on arrival, covers most breakfasts, lunches and group dinners
• Three pub dinners (Kalbarri, Coral Bay and Exmouth), about $20 to $40 each
• Optional extras such as the sea lion, manta ray and whale shark swims

Preparing for the trip

Private tours and families

Booking the trip

Who travels with us

Cost and Fees

Whilst on tour