Going on a road trip is fun and all, but have you ever thought of travelling in a campervan? I recently went on a five-day road trip in Western Australia from Perth to Exmouth with a campervan, and I would like to share some of my experiences. There were 12 of us, and we booked 2 campervans, 6 people per van. During these five days, we drove up to Exmouth and slowly driving back down.
Why Campervan?
We’ve never really thought of driving a campervan until our friend told us about their experience with a campervan. We felt that it would be such a pleasant experience for all of us as we’ve never lived in a campervan before. Besides, splitting the cost for the van among 6 people is quite reasonable in our opinion. That’s why we were like, ‘Why not?”. Read our reviews and experiences of going on a road trip with a campervan in our article Things You Should Know Before Renting A Campervan.
Before the Road Trip
There are several things we had to do before the trip
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Plan out our route and stops for fuel
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Decide on places we want to visit
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Book our campervans
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Book campsites
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Look for restaurants we could go
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Grocery shopping for the trip
It’s really important to make a plan before the trip, especially with a group of 12. We need to make sure everyone knows what’s going on to prevent any miscommunications. Planning a trip for 12 is actually not as easy as you think. We have to consider everyones’ physical abilities, preference for food and expectations for the trip. You’ll be surprised how much food we bought for the trip.
Our 5-Day Road Trip Itinerary
Day 1 – LOTS OF DRIVING
We picked up our vans at 12 and started loading things into our vans. We left college at around 4 and started driving up north. To be fair, we left at a pretty bad time as it was rush hour and driving the van in Peth wasn’t the best. Our first servo stop was Metro Petroleum Jurien Bay. We’ve been told that their kebabs are actually quite good for their price.
After lots and lots and lots of driving, we arrived at Hamelin Pool Free Camp. This stop is usually for trucks, so there’s no electricity, and they charge you $5 if you’d like to shower there. Other than that, the site is a really peaceful and quiet place to spend the night resting.
Another thing that fascinated me was how lovely the sky was. With the stars sparkling, I took a gasp. Without all the light pollution, you could definitely see a lot more stars — you can even see the milky way. The picture here is not doing any justice to what I saw, but you can definitely see more stars here than in Perth for sure.
Day 2 – A BIT MORE DRIVING
After a bit more driving, we arrived at RAC Exmouth Cape Holiday Park. As it was closed to sunset, we decided to go to town beach to take some pictures and play a bit of frisbee. I have to say, looking at the sea, after almost a day of travelling, it’s finally time for us to chill a bit.
After our break at the beach, we decided to head back to the campsite. Unfortunately, something happened to the campervan, which caused everyone to panic. For more details about the story please read the article Things You Should Know Before Renting A Campervan.
We finally got back to the campsite and ready to have dinner after that minor incident. We were super excited as it was our first proper meal since we left college and finally got the chance to cook. We turned on the grills and started cooking the patties onions. To be honest, cooking for 12 people is not as easy, especially when you’re using two grills during the night; you don’t want to disturb other people on the campsite.
Day 3 – Charle’s Knife Canyon, Exmouth, Monkey Mia
We woke up to a breezy morning full of excitement because we could finally explore around Exmouth. Just only 30 minutes drive, we arrived at Charles Knife Canyon. Visitors can walk on the Badjirrajirra Walk trail from the Thomas Carter Lookout, a 4.6km return walk that lasts approximately 3 hours. I personally loooove hiking, I enjoyed the hike a lot. Honestly, looking from where I was, I felt tiny. You really got to pause and appreciate the beauty of nature.
We went exploring Exmouth and went to The Beach Shack to have lunch and let me tell you, I loved it! The staffs there were super super nice, plus the food was soooo goood, especially the Exmouth prawns with garlic butter. Mmm mmm, I wish I could go back and try their other food.
It was time for us to start driving and head down to Monkey Mia. And oh boy, that drive was long for sure.
We arrived at RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort around midnight, and we were all starving. We went to the community kitchen, cooked some ramen and sausages, and filled up our bellies to call it a day. And wow, what a day.
Day 4 – Dolphin feeding, Shell beach, Kalbarri National Park, Northampton
We woke to another chilly morning with a beautiful sky. Most of us were super stoked about that morning because we could get closer to the dolphins and learn more about them. As they have strict rules on interacting with dolphins, the park rangers were only allowed to feed at 7:45 am and 12:00 pm every day.
The dolphins of Monkey Mia are still wild, despite their frequent interactions with humans, making it one of the few dolphin experiences in Western Australia where you may observe dolphins behaving naturally. If you’re interested, here are some things you need to know about Monkey Mia Dolphins. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures here because I got carried away with the cuteness of the dolphins but here is a picture I took at the Resort when the sun was still rising.
After feeding the dolphins, we start driving to our next destination, Shell Beach, which took us less than an hour to get there. And OMG, the beach is sooo pretty. I have nothing much to say but “Wow”
From one spectacular place to another, we started driving even further down to Kalbarri National Park, another 4-hour drive. We did all the touristy things we could have possibly done. There were a couple of walk trails you can walk on, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to walk the tracks due to time restrictions.
Day 5 – Geraldton, Leeman, Gully Stockyard Caves
Geraldton was actually not on our itinerary, but our friends Geraldton recommended several food places. The first one was Beached Barrel. And wow, the doughnuts looked and tasted amazing. We basically ordered the most popular ones to make sure don’t miss out on anything.
The next place we went was Cafe Fleur. I personally didn’t order much, but the food my friends’ order was pretty lovely, and the staff there were super friendly. Unfortunately, I only took photos of the cafe with my film camera, and it hasn’t been developed yet, but I’m sure to tell you that you’ll really like this place.
The final tourist attraction that we visited was Stockyard Gully Cave. This is definitely one of the trip’s highlights, not because of the cave but also in our walk to the cave. As the way to the cave was off-road and only 4WD can enter, so we decided to park our vans and walk to the cave. The walk was definitely a workout for us because of the sand. Some of us played games along the way, which made the walk less hard. We were super nervous and a bit scared when we reached the cave as the sun was already setting, so there was literally no light in the cave. We all stuck together and walked through the cave safely. Honestly, I wish I could go back again and actually enjoy and look at the details of the cave. The majority of us mainly focus on sticking with one another.
Day 6 – Back to Perth
We didn’t do much that day, as we had to drive back to Perth and hand over the vans back.
What We’ve Learnt
1.Have a better estimation of the food you need to buy for the trip
There were a lot of leftovers from our trip; we should’ve bought less. We overestimated how much everyone could eat; not everyone eats the same amount.
2. Not everything will go according to plan
This is so true, especially when you’re going with 11 other people. You need to understand that everyone is different; some might want to explore as many places as possible. Some might just want to chill.
3. Campervans can’t go everywhere
Several times, it took us longer to get to our destination because of the limitations of the van. We should do more research on the destinations we’re going to so we can be prepared. To know more about this, see our article on Things You Should Know Before Renting A Campervan.
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