Rose's Tour of western australia

Back in 2016, I travelled from my small rainy village in Wales, UK, to Perth in Western Australia. Having saved up enough money to scrape me through 6 months of travelling in Australia and New Zealand, I landed in Perth and was ready to explore! 

​Staying with a friend in Cottesloe in Perth, I wrote down everywhere I wanted to visit during my time in Western Australia. Number one on the bucket list was to swim with Whale Sharks in Exmouth. With over 1200km between me and my goal, and with no car and a small budget, I was looking for value for money and after hitting Google hard, I found the website of Red Earth Safaris and booked myself in for a tour to Exmouth! 

​We were picked up by Darren (a.k.a. Booz) from central Perth and our first stop was to Yanchep National Park on the outskirts of Perth, to spot some kangaroos and koalas! At this point I was starting to get to know the group better. As a 25 year old travelling on my own, it was really important to me to meet new people and going on this tour was the perfect way to do that. Amongst the other travellers were Lindsay and Sam, a couple from England, the StLouis family from Canada, Theodora, another single traveller from Romania and Gerald and Cora, a father and daughter from Perth. So we were a very mixed group and it turned out to be a lot of fun! 

​Next stop was at Lancelin Sand Dunes to try our hand at some sand boarding down sheer dunes of perfect white sand. The scenery at the top of the dunes was stunning - very space age. A lot of fun, even if I spent the rest of the day picking sand out of my eyes! That night we went to The Pinnacles for sunset, an incredible eerie place, steeped in aboriginal history.

Did you know there is an independent country within Australia?! I didn't until this tour. The next day we visited Hutt River Province, where we had our passports stamped and even met the Prince! He asked for my number but I won't think too much of it as he was well over 80 years old! We also got the chance today to visit a wildlife park and cuddle some orphaned kangaroos. We finished the day at the Kalbarri coast, admiring the scenery and watching whales passing by.

​The next day was jam packed with visits to incredible spots; Kalbarri National Park where we got our pictures taken at Nature's Window and hiked down into the canyon. We visited the stromatolites at Hamelin Pool, living fossils that I'd only read about before in a Bill Bryson book! Then we entered the Shark Bay World Heritage site and paddled on Shell Beach before heading to our hostel for the night. Tonight was our chance to visit the most Westerly pub in Australia, which we gladly took! It just happened to be karaoke night, so we spent the evening scaring the locals away with our rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody! 

The next day involved sad goodbyes with the other travellers who were stopping at Monkey Mia. We watched the dolphins together and then the three of us that were continuing our journey to Exmouth were collected by Nicola, Darren's partner. Australia is huge and at times there are looooong distances between places. This wasn't a problem when I was travelling with Nic- at one point we didn't stop talking for 6 hours! 

​This evening was one of the most special moments of the trip. We were staying at an outback sheep station in the middle of nowhere and it was beyond beautiful. We jumped in the back of a Ute (Ozzie pick up truck!) and drove through the bush to a deserted beach to watch the most stunning sunset (with beers of course!), then headed back to the accommodation to light a fire. With no light pollution, the night sky was spectacular- I've never seen the milky way so clearly. The rooms were basic but this was honestly no hardship when the place was so special. And I hear they even have a hot tub there now! It's worth going on the Red Earth Safari tour just to see this special place. 

​The next day we arrived at the stunning Ningaloo Reef. This is one of the most pristine coral reefs you will find in Australia and we spent the day snorkelling from the shore and spotting fish and turtles, before bedding down in Exmouth for the night. If you are lucky, you'll arrive on one of the nights the bar near the hostel is turned into a club for the night- all the locals and travellers come along for a dance and it's a lot of fun. 

​The next day we explored the Cape Range National Park, spotting Rock Wallabies and sunning ourselves on the incredible Turquoise Bay beach. At this point, I chose to stop in Exmouth for a week to explore, soak up some sun and swim with Whale Sharks! Nic headed back to Perth (where we later met up for tea to continue our long chats!) but I stayed on to jump on the bus back to Perth with Darren again the following week. During the week I stayed at Exmouth I met some lovely people in the hostel, explored the national park some more and my dream came true when I got to swim with not one, but four Whale Sharks.

​I had an amazing time on my tour of Western Australia and I can't express how lovely the guides Nicola and Darren were and it is testament to this that we are still in contact two years on! If you are looking to take a tour from Perth to Exmouth, I recommend this one - it's a lot of fun and the best value for money. 

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