Perth to Darwin Overland

Welcome to Perth! Or Boorloo in the language of the local Whadjuk Nyoongar people, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which Perth is now located. Your adventure begins straight away, as you meet your group and head to Nambung National Park to check out the famous Pinnacle Desert – a unique landscape unlike any other in the country. After, journey to the massive sand dunes of Jurien Bay, where you’ll have the opportunity to go sandboarding down the slopes and perfect your surfing-on-land technique. From here, continue to Kalbarri, where you’ll spend the first night of your adventure after a group dinner.

Drive to Kalbarri National Park, where you can explore diverse scenery like Murchison Gorge, Natures Window, The Loop and Z-Bend Gorge (this gorge has a steep descent, but it’s worth the effort for the refreshing swim at the end). Maybe go abseiling here if you’re craving an adrenaline hit. After lunch with your group, you’ll visit Shell Beach – one of only two beaches in the world made entirely from seashells! Tonight, get back on the road and head towards Shark Bay.

After breakfast this morning, take the short drive across the Peron Peninsula down to the beach at Shark Bay. After a short walk, continue along the highway to Coral Bay (‘the Jewel of the Northwest’) via the fascinating stromatolites at Hamelin Pool. These are the oldest living organisms in the world! When you arrive in Coral Bay, sit down for a group dinner and enjoy a relaxing night.

Take a day to explore Coral Bay today at your leisure. Maybe kick back on the warm sand, go for a swim, or visit famous Ningaloo Reef and the amazing marine life that lives below the waterline. Go snorkelling or take a cruise in a glass-bottom boat to see the wildlife up close (while you stay dry). In the late afternoon, you’ll drive into Exmouth where you’ll spend the next two nights.

Soak up some free time in the gorgeous area of Exmouth and maybe take on some optional activities – go snorkelling (equipment provided) or diving, search for whale sharks if the season’s right (optional) or go and see Vlamingh Head Lighthouse. In the afternoon, maybe soak up the sunshine on the warm sands of Turquoise Bay. Tonight, perhaps head out for dinner with your group – your local leader will always have suggestions handy.

Today is mainly a travel day, as you head inland past many cattle stations to reach the outback oasis of Karijini National Park. Get stuck into a good book, your favourite podcasts or hit your travel playlist and watch the land pass you by. Along the way, you’ll pass through Tom Price – this small town is known for its iron ore mining – before reaching your camp that overlooks the scenic Hamersley Range, where you’ll spend the next three nights.

Enjoy a full day of exploration in Karijini National Park today, following your leader to the gorgeous gorges and swimming holes. Formed over 2500 million years ago, the Hamersley Ranges are some of the most unusual landforms on Earth and you’ll be able to take some great photos while you’re here. Deep in the gorges, you’ll come across waterfalls and fresh, still waterholes that are ideal for swimming. See Dales Gorge, where you can cool off in Fortescue Falls and Circular Pool, then in the afternoon you’ll visit the Visitors Centre. Here, you’ll deep dive into the culture of the First Nations people of the area, then sit down to dinner as a group around the campfire.

After breakfast, venture to Weano Gorge and Hancock Gorge. For those interested in a challenge, you can walk to Handrail Pool at the end of Weano Gorge or take on the Spider Walk in Hancock Gorge. Both gorges are great places for photography, with breathtaking views and lots of examples of banded iron formations, which seem to sink into the Earth.

Say your farewells to Karijini National Park this morning and travel towards the coast and the iron ore town of Port Hedland. Take some time for a quick driving tour of the town to see the size of the iron ore industry. Keep your eyes peeled for the road trains carting iron ore, some of which can be up to 60 m long. After lunch, you’ll continue to your campsite at Eighty Mile Beach. Enjoy a group dinner together and take the opportunity to do a spot of stargazing in the blanket of night sky, which boasts very little light pollution.

This morning, you’ll have some free time on the stretching sands of Eighty Mile Beach – Australia’s longest uninterrupted beach, famous for migrating sea birds. Stroll along the white sands and snap some photos of the clear water before heading to Broome – a pearling town with a rich history. When you arrive, your leader will take you on a tour of town, including China Town and the Japanese cemetery, ending at Town Beach, which is where some of your group members may leave the trip.

Over the next four days, sit back, relax and enjoy your beach break at the Kimberley Travellers Lodge. Kick back on one of the best beaches in the world – Cable Beach – and have a couple of cold ones at Matsos Broome Brewery. Maybe search for dinosaur footprints on the rugged coastline or check out the local art galleries and spend every night watching the sunset over the ocean. 

This morning, you’ll meet your leader and new group members for the second half of your adventure. Set off into the Australian Outback early this morning and after a bit of highway driving, you’ll reach Fitzroy River. From here, it’s all off-road to the Napier Range where the main attraction is Dimalurru (Tunnel Creek) – a vast cave system that extends 750 m underground. It’s from here that the Indigenous warrior Jandamarra waged his rebellion against the colonial authorities – a legacy you’ll learn more about on a walk through the tunnel with your guide. Spend the night camping at Windjana Gorge, which was once an underwater reef. During the wet season, a river flows through it, but during the dry season, it’s a series of ponds and billabongs. Settle in and have a camp dinner with your group before a spot of stargazing – the sky in the Outback is unlike anywhere else!

Spend the morning exploring Bandilngan (Windjana Gorge). In the afternoon, journey to Dalmanti (Bell Gorge) – a segment of a 375-million-year-old reef that was once underwater. Take a refreshing swim here, soak up the natural views and then travel further east to Mt Barnett Station. This is where you’ll camp for this evening.

After breakfast, stretch your legs on a morning hike and be rewarded at the end with a swim in a large rock pool at the base of Manning Falls. After lunch, discover Adcock or Galvins Gorge before returning to camp to relax around the campfire.

Ford rivers and weave through gorges as you travel by 4WD along the wild Gibb River Road – a 600 km stretch that winds right through the heart of the Kimberley. You’ve got a fair bit of ground to cover, so there’s a fair bit of drive time, but you’ll be breaking up the journey with lunch and a few stops to stretch your legs along the way. Cross the iconic Pentecost River crossing before arriving at El Questro and your campground for the next 2 nights.

Originally established as an enormous cattle station, El Questro is now a vast wilderness reserve sprawled over more than one million acres. Camping out here, you’ll really feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere – albeit an extremely beautiful middle of nowhere. The ochre-coloured massifs of the Cockburn Ranges frame the landscape whichever way you turn and numerous natural springs offer plenty of opportunities for a refreshing cool-off. Following a soak in Zebedee Springs, enjoy a short trek to either El Questro or Emma Gorge (where there’s a very pretty waterfall). Then it’s another night camped out in El Questro.

Say so long to El Questro and hello Bungle Bungles! Today, you’ll drive through the rugged landscape of Carr Boyd and the Durack Ranges into Purnululu National Park – home to the Bungle Bungles, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dominated by massive sandstone karsts that rear hundreds of metres above the surrounding grasslands. You’ll spend the next two days and nights exploring this region. Arrive at your bush camp in time to sit back and watch the sunset over the Osmond Ranges. If you’ve had enough tent camping, you might want to spend tonight sleeping out beneath the stars, snuggled up in a swag. Unbelievably, only the locals knew this place existed until the early 1980s when they were ‘discovered’ by a film team. You’ll go on a walk through Echidna Chasm – a long and narrow ravine banked on either side by 200 m-high rock walls – and enter the massive natural Amphitheatre of Cathedral Gorge. You can also sign up for a helicopter ride over the site if you wish.

Today, you’ll leave the Bungle Bungles behind and head for Kununurra – the largest town between Broome and Darwin. Tonight’s campsite is on the shores of Lake Argyle, which you have plenty of free time to explore. Maybe head out on a sunset cruise on the lake – this is highly recommended, as the best way to witness the immensity of this lake is on the water!

Lake Argyle is a man-made lake, though you’d never have guessed it by looking! For a body of water situated in the centre of the world’s second driest continent, it looks pretty at home. Barramundi, birds and freshwater crocodiles thrive in these waters, and the islands that look like they’ve always been there (they used to be mountains). In the afternoon, push on across the state border into the Northern Territory.

Today, you’ll head to Darwin, stopping at either Katherine Gorge or Edith Falls along the way for a quick swim and a last opportunity to soak in the natural wild views of rural Western Australia. Take in the gorgeous scenery and then arrive in Darwin, where your trip comes to an end.