There is an awful lot going for Esperance as a holiday destination. Some of the best beaches in Australia, great waves, picturesque waterfront, plenty of cafes, and great bushwalks - if only it wasn't so darn far from everywhere! It lays claim to fame of housing much of Skylab's remains which crashed in 1979 between Esperance and Belladonia. The beautiful Recherche Archipelago is home to countless birds, seals, and fishing prospects around the 100 or so islands. ...

Our four and a bit hour drive east from Perth to Wave Rock near the small town of Hyden was really pleasant. The road passed for 150km through the beautiful forests and orchards of the Avon Valley, and then through a couple of interesting towns as the "wheatbelt" started in. Fuelling up in Corrigan, they had signs everywhere referring to their world record for the most number of dogs in utes gathered together at one time - 1500! Unlike Uluru, the people around W...

We checked into the functional, but characterless Fremantle Village Caravan Park early afternoon on Thursday 27th June, and headed into the heart of Fremantle to collect our new credit cards and see the town. There were some great bakeries, cafes and stores to tempt us, so we filled our tummies with homemade sausage rolls, delicious coffees, and added to our winter wardrobes from the Kathmandu sale.Afterwards we checked out the free exhibits at the Maritime Museu...

We thought we might do an overnighter in the large town of Geraldton, but decided instead to detour towards the coast through the Kalbarri National Park and camp in Kalbarri itself. We were a few months shy of wildflower season, and much of the vegetation on the way in had been burnt in summer fires, but I could well imagine this drive must be sensational in spring time if you love Australian natives like I do. Kalbarri is a really picturesque little town too, ri...

Having stayed in Exmouth an extra day meant we had only one night to spare before meeting friends in Denham in Shark Bay, around 750km away. We'd hoped to spend a night at Coral Bay - about 2 hours south of Exmouth, and then another night on one of the isolated stations on the coast north of Carnavon like Quobba or Gnaraloo, but needed to rethink our plans.Heading south, we arrived in beautiful Coral Bay just before lunch on the first wind free day for a while. T...