As beautiful as the last few days have been… Exmouth was unfortunately our last stop on our journey through Western Australia. Now it was time for us again: back to Perth! And here we wanted to visit the Yanchep National Park, where you can find a lot of koalas.
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1300 kilometres from Exmouth to Perth
1,300 long kilometers were in front of us… The sometimes endless stretch of the N W Coastal Hightway & Brand Highway is really realistically unspectacular.
You’re happy if you spot a horde of wild parrots on the side of the road for a change 🙂
Our Geraldton Hotel
We split the 1,300 kilometre route from Exmouth to Perth. On the first day we drove about 850 km from Exmouth to Geraldton and spent a night here at the Best Western Hospitality Inn. On the second day it was again about 450 km to the airport in Perth.
The Best Western Hospitality Inn is a bit motel-like, so you can park right outside your room door. In the middle of the roundel there is a small pool with loungers. The room was nice and spacious (with sofa and dining table). There is a fridge/minibar as well as facilities to make free tea/coffee. The bathroom was also good. The shower is a rain shower – here you could perhaps brush a little more, but otherwise everything was well equipped (hair dryer, shampoo, soap). The room is very quiet. You don’t hear any noises at night. Only in the morning could the housekeeping staff be a little quieter and not shout at halfway through the grounds… The wifi is free and fast. In the morning there is a free breakfast with toast, cereals, juices, cheese, sausage, fruit, yoghurt and a pancake station (which was unfortunately broken with us). Since it was free, it was ok. But we wouldn’t spend AUD 16 for this breakfast (that’s how much an external guest would have to pay).
Our room at the Best Western Hospitality Inn Geraldton
The Leaning Tree on the Brand Highway
On the Brand Highway between Geraldton and Greenough you pass the Leaning Tree. The trees in this region are bent very strongly by strong southerly winds and are partly formally lying on the ground. That looks funny 🙂
The koalas in Yanchep National Park
About 50 kilometres north of Perth we happened to see Yanchep National Park. We noticed a large advertising poster on the street advertising koalas. Somehow we missed it on the outward journey. Since we still had enough time until our departure to Bali and the park is almost right on the road, we didn’t want to miss it. Luckily we were able to use our Holiday Pass here as well, because we didn’t have much cash anymore.
The park is known for its caves, native vegetation and koala colony. Various hikes and walks of different lengths are possible in the park. A lake for rowing and various streams are part of this small national park. The main attraction of the national park, however, is a 240 m long boardwalk through a small forest full of eucalyptus trees. And it didn’t take long for us to discover the first koalas in the trees. Some have slept deep and firm, others have enjoyed their eucalyptus leaves. And some of them threw themselves into a pose for us and grinned sugar-sweet into the camera. What a great conclusion to our visit to Australia 🙂
Arrival in Perth
After visiting the Yanchep National Park we made a short detour to the Lakeside Joondalup Shopping Mall and then left our car at Europar at the airport in Perth just in time before our flight.
In total, we drove 3,500 kilometers from Perth to Exmouth and back in the 12 days, spending AUD 429 (approx. 280 €) on gasoline. Arriving at the airport, it felt a bit like the holiday was over now. But no, we’re just heading for the next goal. For a week we will stay in a resort between Komodo and Flores… dive, relax and just enjoy the time 🙂
All travelogues from Western Australia
We visited Australia for the first time during our world trip in 2015. Here we were mainly on the east coast (Sydney, Brisbane, Airlie Beach and Cairns), in the south (Adelaide, Great Ocean Road and Melbourne) and in the interior of the country (Ayers Rock). We liked Australia so much back then that we definitely wanted to see much more here. And what we completely missed was the west coast. Here we put together a great self-drive route for almost 2 weeks to get to know some of the highlights of the state of Western Australia.
» Perth – Tourist Attractions & Kangaroos on Heirisson Island (Australia)» Perth – The cute Quokkas on Rottnest Island (Australia)
» The sand dunes in Lancelin & the Pinnacles Desert (Australia)
» Hutt Lagoon & the Kalbarri National Park (Australia)
» Danham – World Heritage Drive & the Shark Bay (Australia)
» Monkey Mia – The wild Dolphins in the Shark Bay (Australia)
» Coral Bay – Diving & Snorkeling at the Ningaloo Reef (Australia)
» Exmouth – The Cape Range National Park (Australia)
» Exmouth – Swimming with whale sharks & mantas (Australia)
» Exmouth – Diving at the Muiron Islands on Ningaloo Reef (Australia)
» Perth – The Koalas in the Yanchep National Park (Australia)