Perth to Esperance Roadtrip

Western Australia is often over looked when people plan their trips to Australia, but it should be way up there near the top on your bucket list. On my first visit to Western Australia, myself and two friends did a road trip down the south coast from Perth to Esperance. A beautiful, scenic road trip which isn't too long. We didn't want anything where we wouldn't see any towns, cars, or people for hours on end. We hired a car from Wicked Campers, picked it up in Perth and set off on our trip.

The Route

Day 1- Collected the car from Wicked Campers, drove to Fremantle for the day. Headed down to Herron Point Camping Ground for the night. Which was a beautiful, simple campsite on the side of a lake with bathrooms but no showers or clean water (it was all salty!) however it was super cheap (although we didn't end up paying because we arrived after the ranger had been round) and a very peaceful place to stay.

Day 2- We set off super early, after naturally waking up as the sun rose and headed straight down to Margaret River to watch the Surfing Pros Women's final. We stayed at Wharncliffe Mill campsite, which was located in the middle of a forrest, with hot showers, a covered eating area and kitchens all a short walk from the centre of Margaret River.

Day 3- Headed back down to Surfers Point for the Mens finals, and then took some time to look round Margaret River. Margaret River is full of wineries, however we decided to head to Colonial Brewing Co for a cider, and to relax in the sun before a quick drive to Hamelin Bay Camping Park.

Day 4- Drove to Denmark, where we didn't stay for long and continued on to Albany, where we attempted to have a beach day but it was so windy we decided it would be better to continue our drive  and get a bit closer to Esperance. We settled on going to Hopetoun, which was half way between Albany and Esperance. We came across a lot of closed roads on this route, so be warned- including one which meant we couldn't get to our desired campsite. We stayed in Riverview Campsite, after having to jumpstart the car in their carpark!

Day 5- Headed straight down to Esperance, driving past the pink lake which unfortuently wasn't pink when we were there. We spent the day laying on the beautiful, empty beaches. Before heading to a campsite, which I can't remember the name of but there are loads in Esperance.

Day 6- Despite intending to spend the day sunbathing on a beach, it was cloudy and cold so we did the ocean drive around the coast of Esperance before deciding on making a start on our return journey to Perth. We drove to Pingelly, which is almost the entire way back to Perth. We stayed in a campsite right in the centre of the town, which had showers, fresh water and a undercover cooking area.

Day 7- Finished our road trip by heading back into Perth, and returning the car! Before staying the night in Billabong Backpackers Hostel.

The perfect 7 day road trip, we saw all the highlights of the South Coast and had plenty of time to explore places, as well as fitting all the driving in during the day as none of us were particularly keen on driving in the dark.

Have you done any road trips? Or visited Western Australia?

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