Karijini and Coral Bay- 9 Days From Perth?

Hi,

I'm just wondering how this itinerary sounds to anyone who's done similar before:

We (me, wife and two young kids) plan to go to up North for 9 days and thought we'd go to Karijini and somewhere else too. After reading in various places that three days is ample for Karijini, I thought we'd look at including Coral Bay too.

I have 10 days off work, so would plan on leaving very early on a Friday with the intention of stopping in Meekatharra (or anywhere else suitable) for the night, arriving in Karijini mid afternoon on Saturday.

This would allow us the Saturday afternoon plus three full days in Karijini, leaving on Wednesday for Coral Bay (which I'm aware is pretty much a full day's drive away). Thursday and Friday would be two full days in Coral Bay, before leaving Saturday morning for the (long) drive back to Perth. Unfortunately we need to be back in Perth for Sunday afternoon, so can't stay any longer.

This sounds ok to me, albeit with a bloody long drive back to Perth on the last day, does anyone see any problems with this?

I'm also wondering if it would be worth leaving Perth on Thursday afternoon at around 2pm in order to get to Meekatharra for around 11pm on that day, instead of driving all day on Friday, therefore giving us an extra day. I don't know what this sounds like in terms of wildlife (kangaroos, cattle, etc. regarding driving through that area at night though).

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks