There it was finally, the day that I’ve been waiting for. Monday the 9th of November, the start of my 10 day tour up to Broome!
Some insight already: the tour is 10 days, 9 nights. 4 nights in shared dorms, 5 nights of camping! You and your group will most probably form one big happy family. You guys will do team-banding while preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not to mention the banding during the hikes, seeing dolphins, snorkelling, sitting in the bus for hours or sitting around the camp fire with a sky full of stars.
Yes, this tour was awesome. Definitely do this tour if you’re looking for some adventure and meeting great people. The 1st day started off good: getting to know everyone while wondering around at the Pinnacles desert and later on have fun with sand boarding at the beach of Jurien Bay. We finished a fun first day in Kalbarri where we had an overnight stay in a local backpacker hostel.
Day 2, off to take a look in Kalbarri National Park. We’ve seen the beautiful gorges including Natures Window. Plus, there is also a possibility to abseil, on your own expense but not expensive at all and definitely worth a try! After seeing these amazing gorges and having lunch, we went up to Shell Beach. This is one of only two beaches in the world made entirely of shells and it is stunning! After our little ‘chill’ session at Shell Beach, we drove up to Denham to spend the night situated right in front of the beach… Did I mention this tour was awesome? 😉
Note: if you are doing this tour in Spring or Summer, be aware of high temperatures. Put loads of sunscreen on and wear light clothes.
Day 3, off to Monkey Mia to see some dolphins! These dolphins usually come up shore 3 times, although it varies because they are wild. We got lucky and were able to see them get fed 3 times. If you are really lucky, you get chosen from the public to feed the dolphins as well! After seeing the dolphins we went up to Shark Bay and Hamelin Pool, again beautiful places to take beautiful pictures. And then, off to Coral Bay!
Arriving in Coral Bay just before dinner on day 3, sticky from sitting in the bus, it was awesome to take a jump in the pool of the hostel. ‘Fresh’ and ready to eat burgers for dinner. After a nice night with the group, day 4 was there. Day 4 was a nice day to relax in Coral Bay; you could either go on one of the tours offered or just fill in your own day. Some did their own thing and did some snorkelling at the beach, while me and a view other people took the eco tour to swim with the Manta Rays. This is for your own expense but I really recommend it to everyone. You go out there on a boat and I just couldn’t believe my eyes – the colours of the sea… Wow! They take you out to different places on sea to do snorkelling and of course to see and swim with the Manta Rays. Late afternoon it was time to take a short drive up to Exmouth, to spend the night at the private campsite Yardi Creek Station – our first night sleeping in tents! I personally LOVED it here; we sat around the campfire, had pasta for dinner and had drinks together. Not to mention the amazing sky full of stars. I have never seen so many stars!
Day 5, another day of relaxation. We did some snorkelling and had the perfect day at Turquoise Bay, lying at the beach and in the water. Full of energy again, we had dinner at the campsite – tacos! And again, a good night with marshmallows at the campfire, loads of falling stars and good company. Everybody went to bed early, as we had to wake up the next morning at 5am. We had a long drive up to Karijini and thus, needed enough time for the drive. No worries though, we got sunrise in return ;).
Day 6, off to Karijini National Park! We arrived late afternoon at a new camping site! The Karijini Eco Retreat was awesome! We slept in tents again, this time with swags in there so you could decide if you wanted to sleep outside or in the tent. A good night again, full of laughter and a delicious meal for dinner; fish and chips! Next up: day 7 and 8! Two full days in Karijini, hiking through the gorges! It’s definitely a highlight, seeing waterfalls and different beautiful pools to cool off. You can make your friends and family members pretty jealous I reckon with the pictures you can take here ;).
After our last night in Karijini, (stew for dinner, lots of drinks, music and laughter combined with rain and thunder! How awesome do you want it to be!?) we said goodbye to the national park on day 9 and drove up to Port Hedland to have lunch. After lunch we continued our journey, on to the Pilbara region to spend our last night together! We just did some chilling in the pool, had good conversations and had a great BBQ. A lovely last night of the tour!
Day 10! I can’t believe how fast these 10 days went by! We started this day at Eighty Mile Beach where we just wandered around for a bit (and of course, took some great pics). And then it was time to drop everyone off at their accommodation in Broome! And although the tour was over, we did have dinner at Divers Tavern with almost the whole group. A great ending of a great 10 day tour!
So, to sum up this amazing tour:
You’ll see AMAZING things. You can take GREAT pics. Make LOVELY new friends….
Oh well, let’s just say it will be the best experience you’ve had in a long time 😉 For me it definitely was!