Tall Trees and Blue Seas | Road Tripping South Western Australia (part one)

Much like I was feeling leading up to my flight earlier this month, I was half-excited and half-daunted by the prospect of squeezing into a minivan with eleven strangers on a random Wednesday morning, knowing that we’d be travelling as one for the following ten days. 

Months ago, I read about some of the wonders of the south west of Western Australia. Determined to see them, but a little lost on how to – hostels were fully booked even months in advance, I needed a car to get between the stops – I stumbled across Share Bus. Unlike other companies, Share Bus is not a guided tour, but a shared rental. Included in the rental is a van, trailer, camping equipment, fuel, a suggested itinerary, and more. The ‘shared’ part of the rental was the most exciting – and daunting! – element. Booking my seat alone, I had no idea who I would be travelling with. But after ten days on the road together, the uncertainty is history. 

Using the suggested itinerary as our guide, we embarked on a route from Perth to Esperance, making camp at night, finding a rhythm in the twists and turns along the way (even though the roads were often long and straight). For ten days we barely stopped, always on the go, either climbing or swimming or bumping along in the van, chatting and learning and laughing. The whole trip has blurred into a vibrant scroll of my phone’s camera roll. Now I’m back in Perth, stationary for a week, I have time to remember, unpack, and process the experience.

Day One

I met some of my group the evening before we travelled. We ate takeaway pizza and began to get to know one another. We talked a lot about people’s previous Australian adventures and our thoughts for the one ahead. We also started to plan a grocery list to tackle the following day at the supermarket. We all met the following day at ten am, and after a brief introduction to the vehicle and company from one of its members, we piled into the van and set off for our first stop: ALDI. Tackling a food shop for twelve adults for several days is no easy feat. It took a significant amount of time (and dollars – although we were pretty impressed with how much we’d saved by heading to ALDI, rather than the more vehicularly accessible Woolworths). 

We ate lunch on the go and drove on. Our first exciting (sorry, ALDI) stop was in Busselton, to walk the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere, and jump off the end. After the 1.8km walk along the wooden planks, we discovered the end of the jetty was actually closed as they were doing some work on it! So we settled for watching a dolphin weave over the waves and then jumping off a platform slightly away from the end. We still got the experience: a rush of adrenaline and a blasting of salt up our noses – delightful. We did it twice. 

We made camp for the first night in a site with facilities: showers, toilets, and an outdoor kitchen and BBQ – luxury. We cooked burgers on the BBQ and loaded them into buns with salad and onions. We spent the evening making plans for the following days, researching campsites, and continuing to get to know each other. In a tree near the kitchen we spotted a possum, and decided to name our van after it. 

Day Two

After eating a communal breakfast, taking down the tents, and packing up the Possum – a routine that would soon become second nature – we got on the road and headed to the coast. We spent a morning hopping between various spots: Meelup Beach, Eagle Bay, Bunker Bay. All were stunning: white sands, deep blue sea, rocks to climb, waves to ride. We spent a while sunbathing and swimming in one spot, before drying off and moving on again.

We were in Margaret River now, which meant it was time to taste some wine. We went to Xanadu’s Cellar Door. We parked with a view of the vineyard, and felt very sophisticated as we stood around a tall, rustic table topped with a line of twelve wine glasses. We tasted five wines, each with its own distinct taste and smell. One of my new friends and I described the wines to one another with abstract absurdity: one was rectangular, another tasted purple, one was smooth until it dropped off the map...

That evening we drank more wine on the beach and watched as the sun set over the coast. Although we were only on day two of the trip, the group already felt familiar, and we were comfortable enough to even risk the group dynamic with a game of Uno on the sand. Under the sand, too, actually, as one of the group threw handfuls of it to stop the cards from flying away on the breeze.

Day Three

We spent the morning of our third day exploring the town of Margaret River. A beautiful and busy bakery, op shops on the high street, even a paddle in the river itself – a much needed refresh. As we'd walked over rising roads to find the river, I saw the air above the tarmac ripple with heat. 

Along with wine, the Margaret River region is known for chocolate. So in order to try some we went to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. Despite chocolate being the key attraction, I found the mango sorbet they served to be ten times better than the vegan chocolate bar I picked up there. Perhaps it was the weather… the sorbet I ate immediately, as intended, whereas the chocolate I left a little too long in the stuffy air of the van. Subsequently cooled down again in the esky, it wasn’t in exactly the same condition it was when I bought it in the shop.

Before heading to our next campsite, we stopped for a wander in a forest of ginormous trees. This trip really began to reveal to me how diverse the landscape of Western Australia is. It isn’t just a stunning coastline or arid plains of dry shrubs. There are lush green trees, hills, and more. We saw even more trees like these on the following days. 

Day Four

First on the agenda for day four was a morning at Hamelin Bay, a beach of clear waters filled with friendly rays that glide through the shallows. Snorkels on, we waded into the water. The day was hot already, but the water still took a moment’s adjustment. Once acclimated, we swam alongside the rays, watching their bodies ripple elegantly through the water. Being so exposed to wild creatures in their natural habitat was thrilling: exciting and somewhat scary too. 

In the afternoon we swapped our sandals for shoelaces as we climbed a sixty-five metre tall tree in Pemberton: Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree. We climbed in shifts. Metal spokes stuck out of the tree and were enclosed by a thin wire netting. The illusion of safety was not sustained, as between each spoke was a large gap that was even more difficult to descend. The afternoon sun ached through the trees as we used every muscle to pull ourselves skywards. Two of us made it to the top together and rested a while, taking in the view. We could see above the tree-line now: the landscape was an array of vibrant greens, hills in the distance blurred into the sky. The nattering of birds was even louder up there, the breeze a welcome reprieve. 

We cooled down further a little later with a swim in Big Brook Dam. Visually, the water was opposite to the oceans we’d been swimming in so far, but it was refreshing and a place to laugh and splash before we headed on to set up our next campsite. 

Day Five

Our morning was spent back in the trees. At the Valley of the Giants in Walpole, we walked amongst them. The free walk was on the ground, where we could be impressed by the heights above us, and walk through the burned centres of the tingle trees. For a slightly overpriced $21, some of us also walked above the forest floor, on the treetop walk, which was built to protect the roots below from footfall. The views were gorgeous, but at its tallest point the walk was forty metres, falling short of yesterday’s accomplishment.

We followed the same pattern as the day before, and cooled down in the water. This time, at Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks, where we climbed the rocks just to jump back into the water. We walked between the two via a large rock and coastal path, barely losing sight of the water for a moment. 

Our campsite that evening neighboured a beach. After dinner, two others and I walked down to the sand to lie down and stare at the sky. A lack of clouds and light pollution meant our view of the galaxy was unobstructed. We stared in periods of silence, occasionally breaking it to point out something we saw, or felt, or to make a joke. Knowing nothing about stargazing or constellations, I made my own pictures in the sky, and committed them to memory for nights to come. This evening was a moment of pause and reflection in tandem with two people I’d begun to form a connection with. I felt so grateful for everything that had brought me to where I was now, and hopeful for the days to come.