Right - this is the story of the West Coast, going from Perth up to Darwin!Andrew Pearson, John Campey and Tom Heapy on tour!My mate John bought a car and we set off on the journey with nothing, so as we attempted to leave Perth we stopped off at K-Mart and bought a tent, a map and a few other things and set off stocked up and started the long drive. First place we got to was 'The Pinnacles' and drove round it. I discovered here that I had no camera battery (I had only just picked it up again after it broke on the wine tour - well after the tour actually, when I was hammered!), so afraid no photos, but they are pretty cool! Then we headed up to Kalbarri National Park, which has the 'Natures Window' feature and where we went on a long trek. They said it would take 2-3 hrs, but it took us longer - stopping for a swim in the gorge (didn't check for crocs, but still alive so that's ok. We only took 1 bottle of water between us, which was a bit silly. Driving up, we headed for Shark Bay. Camping along the way, I managed to charge my camera at various places that we stopped at along the way.Monkey Mia was cool, with dolphins that come right up to shore and at arms reach - cold water but very pretty stuff along there, so we spent a few days around that sort of area - Shark Bay, Monkey Mia and Coral Bay.Me and John bought snorkels and masks and went off snorkelling quite a bit. Our next stop was Exmouth, which I think was the best part of the coast, home to the Ningaloo Reef.It had Turquoise Bay, which was beautiful and we camped in the Cape Range National Park for a few days.A few 'roos' killed on the way - they're dumb as anything at dusk - they just stand at the side of the road and jump out! Anyway, stayed around for a while and did some great snorkelling - saw a turtle and a shark - a black nose one - all very close.After being there for a while, we headed inland to Karijini National Park. This place was amazing and had some great sights. Didn't get to see all the places, as some of the sights are off-road travel only, but then again we only had enough food for about 3 days anyway. Circular Pool was very cold and obviously I was the only one to dive in, but there were gorge walks that had pools along the way and they were as clear as anything. At Fortesque Falls there was a waterfall, which was more of a trickle as it was the dry season, but we still got in there. At all these places, we'd just set up our tent and use the park's BBQ facilities to cook and have a few cheeky beers each night - very chilled place the West Coast. Finally we left and moved on toward Broome. Not much on the way - a lot of nothing - but made it up there and had a few days in Broome, but I must admit I was a little disappointed with Broome - it was made out to be quality but was just average to me. Funds were running low, so we headed up to a place called Kunanarra (where the film Australia was filmed) - just on the border of WA and the NT. We looked for fruit picking jobs, but thankfully did not have to go down that route again and all got jobs in a hotel! After a week of sleeping on a camp site and working, we blagged some staff accommodation and shared a room, which was great after all that time on the floor. It was 1 room with a double and a single so we played cards for the single which I won!! The hotel was rubbish and we had nothing to do, but got paid for it and hardly any rent. We worked a school disco, which I got 3 numbers from (shame it was an under 16 event!) After 3 weeks, Tom left for Darwin, having met up with his girlfriend. John and I stayed on for another week or so, which meant we had a leaving do and all free drinks. It was a good night but did not leave us in the best of states for the drive up to Darwin and we needed a new battery! We just decided to drive for fun and made it in 2 days, which included a very hot, sweaty uncomfortable night's sleep in the car. We had arrived in Darwin!!! Darwin was crazy and behind the rest of Australia, with smoking in pubs and so on, but was a great few days there. We met up with a few people from Perth and had some mad nights out including one in a gay club called 'Throb' which had a cabaret show of 'Batman and Throbbin' and had its own mini me! The whole hostel went and apparently the gays were not happy that it was filled with straight guys!

We had done Darwin - a very hot place which has a great night market, including a 'road-kill' café, selling all the meats - croc, emu, kangaroo, buffalo - not sure if they had koala though and some amazing sunsets! It was time to leave and start the ridiculously long journey down the middle and back to Melbourne!!!