#4 Our first road trip

The weather in Perth was unfortunately very cold and it rained for two days. Therefore, we decided to drive north. Our destination was Shark Bay.

There are three ways to get there:

1. By plane

2. Organized bus tours including accommodation

3. Self-drive

Flying was too expensive for us and the cheapest bus trip also cost $700 per person. So we decided to rent a camper van. With this, we could travel at our own pace and always had our accommodation with us.

Our camper van was named Karl, we had rented it from "Hippiecars". Karl had a bed for two people, TV, refrigerator including freezer and a table with camping chairs.

Driving on the left side was initially very unfamiliar, but it worked quite well. Motivated, we drove in the direction of Geraldton on Wednesday noon. What surprised us was that after about 1 hour of driving, we no longer had radio or mobile phone reception. We were completely on our own faster than expected. Every few minutes a car came towards us, otherwise there was only Karl, Meykel, and me. Nevertheless, the drive never got boring. The landscape is just so impressive and you can't get enough of it.

Approximately every 200 km, there is a petrol station, but they are anything but trustworthy. It's more like what you imagine in a bad horror movie. No soul in sight, just a scary (but still nice) gas station attendant.

On Wednesday evening, we reached Geraldton in stormy rain and drove to the first campsite we found. We were glad to have found a place for the night and went to sleep directly. Wild camping is by the way prohibited in Australia.

How does it sleep in a camper van? Not as good as hoped! It was f***ing cold and uncomfortable. At night, it cools down to below 10 degrees at this time of year and there was a draft coming through all the cracks and openings in Karl. But we survived :-D

The next morning, we continued directly to Monkey Mia. This is an area near Shark Bay where dolphins come up to the shallow water by the beach.

In the evening, we sat comfortably on the beach with a glass of wine and let our gaze wander over the water. And suddenly, without us expecting it, four dolphins appeared. It was truly overwhelming to see these gentle creatures so close in the water. We can therefore only recommend the trip to Monkey Mia to everyone.

Unfortunately, you don't see any sharks at Shark Bay, but you see wild parrots and huge pelicans.