Start of the road trip! Perth to Kalbarri (589 km)

We woke up about 8 this morning to get ready for our road trip. We had breakfast then headed back up to the room to pick up our stuff and check out of the hotel. We jumped in our taxi and headed to Britz to pick up our campervan. After watching the 15 minute DVD on the campervan and doing the routine checks, we were on our way.

Ross drove and we headed out through Midland and onto Highway 1 for our trip north. Today we had to get to Kalbarri for our first night. It didn’t take long to leave the city behind and soon we were on the open road watching the scenery change as we headed further north. Our first stop was at Eneabba (about 200km north) where we filled up and had a quick break for lunch before switching drivers and heading on.

We had the iPod cranked and continued driving up the inland road until we started to move to the coast at Geraldton. We headed through Geraldton without stopping and continued up the coast to Northampton before heading west on the scenic route to Kalbarri. We swapped drivers again and Ross drove the rest of the way. By this time it was about 4 and so we had managed to get to Kalbarri in daylight. Before heading to the caravan park, we stopped off at Red Bluff for a look at the red cliffs that surround Kalbarri (see photo). It was nice to get out of the campervan and stretch our legs!

We found the Anchorage Caravan Park by the river and checked into our spot. We plugged in the power and were happy to still have a bit of daylight left to get things organized. For dinner we walked next door to the local fish and chip shop and ordered up some grilled coral trout. The place was super busy with school holiday tourists. We picked up a six pack and headed back to our campervan for dinner.

We set up out table and chairs outside and enjoyed our dinner before it got too cold. We packed everything up and headed inside to try and figure out the bedding situation. Once we figured out that this inside table was used as a base for the bed, it was pretty easy to set it up. The downstairs bed was huge! The size of a king bed. Ross and I played some rounds of “shithead” – a card game our friend Dee taught us and Ross set up his tranni radio to listen to the ashes. We kicked back and relaxed until about 10 before turning in for the night. A great first day on the road!!