Northern Territory + Western Australia = Trip of a lifetime
Darwin, Broome & Karijini National Park
October 23rd 2019th:
Landing in Darwin, Australia around 5pm after 29h of flying from Nice, France. The air is hot, heavy, I missed the smell of nature and wild sights of Australia. We order an uber to drive us to the Apollo car rental center of Darwin, and on the road, I’m already trying to spot kangaroos. We are tired but so excited to finally start this new adventure!
Arriving to the Apollo car rental company, we hand us the key to our beautiful 4WD campervan, the perfect combo for comfortable space and functional driving on all types of roads.
Our first step on this adventure is El Questro, in The Kimberley, Western Australia. After 1h30 driving, we start to really feel the fatigue from the long travel and decide to stop on the side of the road and sleep. At 3am, we wake up, jet lagged, eager to kickoff our new day.
October 24th 2019th:
We drive until arriving to El Questro (https://www.elquestro.com.au/the-homestead), but little did we know, it was dry season in Western Australia, and so there was no water, no waterfalls, no cascade to visit! HAHAHA what a fail for a first destination. We could only laugh about it, and since the road (yes, because there is oly ONE road) was literally empty, we took a little detour to find a nice spot to have break, eat some easy lunch (the eternal noodles for adventurers souls), and take an outdoor shower – BEST – FEELING – IN – THE – WORLD. The only thing disturbing me at this precious time, was being constantly checking for snakes around. I guess this was making it even more enjoyable.
After 21 long hours of straight driving this day, we reach Broome, Western Australia at 7pm. The satisfaction of seeing civilisation!
October 25th 2019th:
We wake up in beautiful Broome, Western Australia, to witness the flashy red sand dunes and orange soil fade into the electric turquoise Blue of the Indian Ocean. These views are worth paintings, it is unreal landscape, there are so many different kinds of landscapes in such a small space. I think one of my favorite was the red cliff rocks that looks like Dinosaurs footprints.
Blue sky and burning sun means direction to Cable Beach, a huge white sand beach. A romantic story between eclectic sunsets, breeze and chills winds, sweet smells of Ocean, and poetry of colors. I a officially falling in love with this place, and I’m sensing I won’t get enough of Broome anytime sooner. I don’t want it to be just a souvenir, I want to live the moment at the fullest but at the same time I’m feeling I want more and more of this hypnotic scenery. Depending on the tides, the water gets more or less light, and the contrast with the sand is just strangely inexplicable. At Port’s Beach in Broome, the mangrove trees nestled on the shore makes you feel like you are in a lake, adding again an other touch of magical points on the views. Be aware of saltwater crocodiles, as this perfection needs to have some flaws. While Vincent was fishing, I was tanning in the shallow water, always keeping an eye on any crocodile coming our way. In Broome, people say “for every crocodile you see, there are 5 or 6 around you you don’t see”, reassuring!
Maybe it is the reward of driving 21h on desert road, maybe it is the fatigue from all this travel combined, but all I’m thinking of at this moment is, Broome is a magical Oasis.
Some cool activites to book in Broom:
At sunset, we head to James Price Point. On the map, it didn’t look too far, but as the road is unsealed, we have to drive in 2WD, and respect the vehicle by not driving too fast, around 30km/h. It took us approximatively 1h to get there, and it was black dark when we arrived. We were the only ones, and I was secretly hoping other cars would be around. As you know, the area is inhabited by crocodiles, which makes the pipi time way more challenging and spicy than ever. We only have our frontal lights, the front camper van lights, but still, in this situation, you can only imagine yourself in the horror movies. Of course, it was not a movie, and the only wild creature we saw was a 10cm spider, waiting for us nicely at the front door of the camper van. We couldn’t tell if it was deadly. So while one of us was gently peeing in maybe the sight of 6 crocodiles, the other one was keeping an eye on the spider, and all the way around.
October 26th 2019th:
We then head to Willie Creek Farm, and again, an other magical drive through such different landscapes. The views from above are exceptional, we met the owner of the pearl farm which told us he saw a crocodile on the creek, the day before. And if we wanted to have a swim, it was ok, but just stay on the shore, and if we see a saltwater crocodile, that we should just step on top of a rock. He was totally serious about that, as if we would dare to swim there! I love how Australians people are so badass and comfortable with wild life
We now hit the road for our next 10h straight drive to Karijini National Park: https://www.australiasnorthwest.com/destination/karijini-national-park
So many amazing spots to discover: Dales Gorge, Weano Gorge, Knox Gorge, Hancock Gorge, Joffre Gorge, Oxer and Junction Pool Lookouts, Kalamina Gorge, Hamersley Gorge, and Mount Bruce.
October 27th 2019th:
It was SO hot we couldn’t resist but taking a plunge in the natural pool. Thought you only think about possible river snakes, your mind can’t stop but wanting to dive in. From what we read, there was no chances of spotting snakes in the area, so it was pretty cool to at least feel relaxed on that point.
Our video of the whole trip, shot with a Dji Mavic 2 Pro (details here), puts the perspective on a top level! Tell me what you think!
tanya hayek
A creative way of storytelling through visuals, products I make, travels, videos.. the basics of life! You know what I mean?