This opinion will take on a slightly different style to my recent travel opinions as instead of a guidebook style op this will take a more travelogue description of my 10-day, 3500km-road trip of Western Australia. I should probably mention that it is by far the longest opinion I've written on the site so be warned.

After several confusing moments of trying to fathom out Perth abundance of one way roads I finally managed to navigate the car onto the highway heading north, our destination Geraldton a town some 422km away. About an hour after we set off we cleared the suburbs of Perth and two things very quickly became apparent, firstly that Australia is an enormous place and secondly that there really aren't many people in WA.

We eventually made it to Geraldton sometime in the early evening and although with a population of some 25,000 it is one of Western Australia's larger towns it seemed remarkably quite when compared with the metropolis of Perth. The YHA was a hospitable enough place with a distinctly family feel but bar a few pints of Guinness in the Freemason's hotel we found little of excitement in the nightlife of Geraldton and thus headed for the amazing Auzzie institution of the bottle shop.

A brief flick through the Lonely Planet guidebook before we left revealed that Geraldton has a “captivating museum” which we decided we should probably check out before continuing our northern migration. After a considerable amount of confusion over its whereabouts we found that it had in fact closed down and decidedly uncaptivated it seemed an auspicious time to move on.

The second was more lively (but then so are morgues) and was a ramshackle place that seemed a wonderfully cliched example of an outback pub. It seemed that many of the towns local population were present and of those most were already blind drunk by the time we turned up, one punter in particular was barely intelligible, had considerable trouble standing but somehow through his swaying managed to play a blinding game of pool. The over used expression that “you’ll meet some real characters” takes on a whole new meaning in Oz, and between the locals and Brad, a “chef” from the same desolate roadhouse we stopped at (who seemed, at best, to have a tenuous grip on his sanity), the evening was entertaining in a strange almost surreal way.

Before we left the Shark bay area a visit to Hamelin Bay to take in the Stromatolites. Stromies, as the Aussies like to call them are one of the earliest forms of life on earth and previously covered much of the earths surface they were responsible for the current levels of the atmospheric oxygen and hence the existence of life on earth. Impressive stuff but in all honesty it is only the idyllic and accessible location that makes viewing these microscopic wonders worth a visit. So onward to Kalbarri.

The fourth day of our trip promised to be the most interesting as we had traded in clocking up the kilometres for a place on a canoe tour in Kalbarri National Park. Our congenial guide for the day, Davo, collected us at about seven in the morning and it quickly became apparent that we were in for a great day. Not only was he equipped with the traditional bush style hat so that he looked the part but it was obvious that he had an impressive local knowledge and a wicked sense of humour. Our excursion into the park took us to The Loop, the first of two dramatic gorges that have been cut into the landscape by the Murchison River, the second the Z-Bend is no less impressive. The high iron content of the rocks endowed them with a redness that contrasted magnificently with the clear blue sky.

After our canoe trip during the walk back to the bus we finally got to see our first live hopping kangaroo which made a pleasant change from the plethora of roadkill roo that adorn the edges of the highways. So it was with an elated feeling of having experienced something of the Australian outback that we headed back to our hostel for a few bottles of beer and an early night prior to our onward trip to Cervantes and the Pinnacles desert.

The long long drive to Albany on the south coast took up the majority of the day, as we did not arrive until late afternoon having set off fairly early. Throughout the day the more barren and dusty landscape of northern WA gradually became the more densely vegetated and forested regions of the south. The possible tedium of such a journey was rudely interrupted when whilst overtaking a 50m plus road train it decided to pull out and emergency manoeuvres required me to take to the gravel and luckily avoid any accident? I was quite sure the irony of being involved in an accident with the only four vehicles in a hundred kilometres would have been lost on me if things had turned out differently.

This is a great idea for a hostel as it enables all the guests to meet and exchange advice and stories and find out where are the best places to go and what there is to do in Albany. The “buy one get one free” vouchers that could be used at the local pub made decisions a lot easier in my case and prompted a fun evening at first the pub and then the local nightclub called Heaven, a misnomer if ever there was one. It all culminated in an early morning stumble back to the hostel at around four in the morning and of course the inevitable excruciating hangover the following morning. My state was not aided by the crazy girl who wandered in around six screaming and swearing insults at all and sundry - very bizarre.

After several minutes of anticipating some manner of heart and/or lung failure I was able to take in the view which made the climb well worth the effort. Unfortunately the overcast day prevented any sun and so a dark and moody mountain range and surrounding landscape was the imposing view. A far less energetic and exhausting descent followed after we had sufficiently soaked up the scenery and a return to Albany that included a scary near miss with an inquisitive kangaroo. Upon our return to the hostel we gratefully received the complimentary coffee and cake which set up another evening on the beers and another return to the pain and misery of a hangover, it appears that I never learn.

Our first stop was at the famous tree top walk in The Valley of the Giants, this is a masterpiece of engineering that allows you to take in the giant tingle trees on a 600m raised walkway that reaches 40m at its highest point. As we strolled along the fairground-esque swinging walkway the vast size of these massive trees is immediately evident with the taller trees reaching over 60m in height. As well as the treetop walk which vertigo sufferers and those of a nervous disposition may not enjoy there is an excellent forest floor walk that is well worth doing. We spent half and hour or so marvelling at the dizzying heights of the trees and their impressive stature as well as taking in much of the other indigenous wildlife.

Our adrenaline used for the day we made our way to Augusta, a sleepy little town that had a distinctly retirement town feel, admittedly though the winter months are hardly the best time to travel around the area. One thing it had going for it is the Youth Hostel which has been voted the best in Australia on more than one occasion and it’s easy to see why as it puts many mid priced hotels to shame. Our main reason for stopping of at Augusta was to take in the caves, which are prevalent in the area, and so we were up and on our way early the next morning.

Before taking in the caves a quick stop off at the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse was necessary as this is the point were the Indian and Southern Oceans meet and the nearest stop off south is none other than the Antarctic. Suitable impressed we headed off to the first of the three caves we were to visit. Jewel Cave is about ten or so minutes drive out of Augusta and on a well thought out and interesting guided tour the impressive massive initial cavern and subsequent visually astounding rock formations is definitely a place to visit. The three-cave pass we bought also got us access to the deeper and, in my view, more beautiful Lake Cave, which once again was expertly guided, and the self guide Mammoth cave. In addition to all this there is the cave information centre, Caveworks, that has free entrance with the ticket we bought that was interesting if perhaps more suitable for children.

Conclusion