WA

Submitted: Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 17:34

ThreadID: 83850 Views:3063 Replies:6 FollowUps:3

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WA Coast

The West coast of Australia is one huge stretch of white sandy beach and turquoise water. You can follow it the whole way from Exmouth in the north to Augusta in the south at the end of the Indian

Clint & Chell

G'Day everyone,
We are currently in Darwin on our around oz trip in our Jayco Sterling with the boss and the two kidlets.
We left Coffs Harbour in August and have not got passed Darwin.
How good is Darwin in the wet.. We are loving Darwin. We have the park to ourselves, the missus and I have both picked up some work & the kids are back to school tomorrow.
We have been here since end September.
That said, we are looking forward to getting to WA once it all opens up again after the wet.
The questions are this-
i) I know this is very subjective, but how long do we need to get from Darwin to say Perth. I understand we could spend months at the top of WA but I am thinking 4 wks at the top of WA and then another 4 to get down the coast.
Does this sound realistic? Keeping in mind we do not have an off-road van. We are however, driving a landcruiser so can do some 4wd stuff.
ii) Again, i understand there are a lot of variables to this but,when is a good time to head west. April, May, June, July?
Cheers everyone and happy travels
Clint

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Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 17:40

Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 17:40

We left Darwin early June and didnt get to Perth till mid Sept but spent 5 weeks at Geraldton.

The West is the best and we could have spent longer there. Went via Kakadu back to Katherine and then meandered across to Kununurra and onwards south slowly.

Plenty of places to go in car and leave van in park.

We are back in soggy Qld till April when going north if weather picks up

Cheers

G

AnswerID: 442822

Follow Up By: Clint & Chell - Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 17:49

Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 17:49

Hahaha.Hi Graham. Do you know who this is? Michelle and I met you in Coffs before we left on our trip.

FollowupID: 714848

Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 18:48

Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 18:48

Yep Thats why I said we were back in heaven now.

FollowupID: 714854

Reply By: Motherhen - Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 17:49

Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 17:49

Hi Clint and Chell

Are you set up for tenting? If so, you could see much of your NW time allocation doing a camping loop of the Gibb River Road and return by the highway (including a couple of nights camping at Purnululu), leaving the caravan at Kununurra. Then again, you might find so many jobs at Kununurra that you'll enjoy the Kimberley for a year.

Motherhen

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AnswerID: 442824

Follow Up By: Clint & Chell - Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 17:53

Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 17:53

Hi Motherhen,
We do have a tent on board but probably not equipped enough for the whole family for extended camping sessions. I was only just saying to Michelle that there will be plenty of stuff that we'll miss out on this time that we'll just have to get to once the kids have been kicked out. lol.

FollowupID: 714849

Reply By: Member - John Baas (WA) - Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 18:30

Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 18:30

Hi Clint.

4 at the top and 4 down the coast (incl a side trip to Karajini etc) is very do-able. You won't nearly see it all but you'll get all the highlights.

I've travelled WA for 40 years and I still have stacks of destinations/trips on my list.

Cheers.

AnswerID: 442827

Reply By: Member - Graham N (SA) - Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 18:35

Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 18:35

Hi Clint and Chell
We did that trip in 05 took us about 6 weeks and stayed in cabins so was restricted by having to book ahead, we always have said it is only a reconnaissance trip we will be back with the T-Van at some stage. Our first mistake was we only stayed at Kununurra for two nights (we have been back there for a three week visit since) we stayed at Kalbarri for a week and around Karijini for a week we only heard of those gorges two days before we left SA. I suppose you are aware it gets pretty hard to get a caravan park spot around Kununurra and Broome at the height of the tourist season. One thing is for sure you will enjoy it so have fun.

Cheers

Graham

AnswerID: 442828

Reply By: djross-oz - Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 19:48

Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 at 19:48

Hi We have just returned to Qld after doing a 6 1/2 month trip around Oz. We spent a total of 3 months in WA and took about 2 months to get from Kununnurra to Perth. We felt we managed to see things but would have loved to have taken double the amount of time as some things felt a bit rushed. We are now home trying to get back to normal life. Although our kids (11 and 9) have said we are going again in 2 years, which if it works out we would spend most of it in WA.

This is a blog I kept as we travelled around:-
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/djross/2/tpod.html

Travel safe and enjoy the ride.

AnswerID: 442833

Reply By: Member - Leanne W (NSW) - Monday, Jan 24, 2011 at 09:14

Monday, Jan 24, 2011 at 09:14

Hi Clint,
My husband and I took three and a half months to travel from Perth to Darwin in 2004. We loved Kalbarri, so spent nearly a week there. We also spent three weeks in Broome - 4 nights of that was at Middle Lagoon at Cape Leveque. I know you don't have an off road van, but Cape Leveque is worth a trip with a tent for at least a night.
You should also check out Millstream-Chichester and Karijini National Parks. Well worth the detour inland.
Happy travels.
Leanne

AnswerID: 442876