I’ll start by saying that I am NOT a guided tour kind of person – I’m far too much of a control freak!  I value my independence and freedom far too much.  I like to dictate the pace and nature of my every move.  And although I can be very sociable and often the clown of the classroom, I am essentially a loner who is put off by the very concept of being stuck with a bunch of people for an extended period.  And whilst I love a good road-trip I couldn’t conceive of being on one where I wasn’t the main driver... But that was all BEFORE I went on an 8-day tour from Perth to Exmouth and back with Red Earth Safaris!  Here’s why:

• After a long period of having to make every decision for myself it was absolutely marvellous to just surrender for a while to the expertise of a company and a tour guide who really knew what they were doing, where they were going and the best things to do when we got there.
• Whilst I love driving, the distances in WA are absolutely immense, the roads are dangerously straight (sometimes for up to 100KM’s at a time with not a single bend) and there are constantly numerous animals trying to commit suicide against the front of your vehicle.
• The value-for-money in terms of transport, accommodation, meals and insider knowledge vs the cost of petrol and insurance for a hire-car.
• The great deals on optional extras like swimming with Manta Rays in Coral Bay and abseiling in Z-Bend Gorge in Kalbarri National Park that I was able to get only as part of a tour group.
• The fact that there were only 14 people in the group but they were from all corners of the globe, they were friendly, sociable, fun to hang out with and yet all of them understood the need to take time out from the group to do things on our own or in smaller groups.  I was shocked that so many of them even had the same taste in music as me, which made taking turns plugging in our MP3 players to the stereo on the bus a really joyous thing rather than a hazard!
• The beauty of getting to a prearranged hostel at the end of a full day of travelling and adventuring and not even having to sign my name before I could go for a run, have a dip in the pool or just fall into bed – knowing that a delicious dinner would be prepared and served to me without my having to lift a finger!!

So here’s how the tour went – in brief!

Day 1

Promptly at 715AM the bus picked me up from Britannia On William – just like they said they would.  The weather was cold and wet, I was tired from a long shift at work: I promptly fell asleep while Darren the tour-guide, driver and (as it turned out later) superb cook, skirted around Perth and Fremantle very efficiently picking up the rest of the gang for our trip.  We were a mixed bunch: I was the only Aussie (albeit born overseas), there were Dutch, English, Irish, Germans and a Maldivian!  Very nice.
The next thing I knew I was waking up as the bus pulled in to Yanchep National Park.  It was great to get up close and snap-happy with a family of about 15 sleepy koalas.  Then it was on to the enchanting and mysterious Crystal Caves.  Now there’s a place where your imagination can run wild.  The guide was informative and entertaining.  We found out all about how the beautiful formations come to be, how caves are formed and it was amazing to find out just how many of them there are in the area!
After lunch we made our way to the sleepy little town of Cervantes.  The award winning Cervantes Lodge we stayed at was cosy and comfortable.  We checked in and freshened up before heading to the Pinnacles at sunset.  Absolutely intriguing desert, with “rock” formations as far as the eye can see in every direction like armies of frozen ghostly warriors...  We were intrigued to learn that the local aboriginal people don’t visit the pinnacles because according to their folklore that is exactly what the pinnacles are – warriors frozen by the gods as punishment for making war!  We wandered around taking photos, larking about and trying to guess exactly how they were formed.  But finally Darren explained what the most widely accepted theory is – but I won’t tell you here... it’s better to know once you’ve actually experienced it.

Day 2

An early breakfast and we were on the bus and away by 7AM.  First stop Greenough Wildlife Park run by a lovely family who clearly love and respect Australia’s unique, marvellous fauna and have devoted their whole lives to conserving, nurturing and sharing an experience of these animals with everybody that comes their way.  As well as many opportunities to get up close and personal with everything from kangaroos and wallabies to dingoes we were given food pellets to feed a multitude of birds and other cute little critters.  A highlight was being able to handle a couple of snakes which have been raised by the family as pets for just a gold coin donation.  Some of the gang on the trip really overcame some deep rooted fears and we all had a good laugh getting photos of each other wearing a “snakelace”.  Check out wild life and bird park
Then it was on to Hutt River Province to meet one of the most unique characters you will ever meet – Prince Leonard and his lovely wife Princess Shirley.  Our guide Darren explained the history of Hutt River and how it is that this beautiful 16 000 acre wheat farm on rolling plains was set up as an independent principality where you can even get your passport stamped!
From there it was on to the breathtaking cliffs of Kalbarri where we were amazed and delighted to watch whales in the distance and the biggest group of dolphins I have ever seen at a beautiful spot called Natural Bridge.  The dolphins were having a great time herding schools of fish into the waves crashing below us.
The Pelican Lodge hostel in the little seaside town of Kalbarri was superb.  Pool, barbecue area, the works.  And Darren cooked us a delicious barbecue including deliciously marinaded kangaroo!

Day 3

The early start didn’t bother anyone because we were all so excited that we were going to get into Kalbarri National Park even though it was closed to the public because of heavy rain a few days before making the roads inside the park difficult to use.  This was thanks to Joe from Kalbarri Abseil who had special permission to take small groups in to abseil the 460 million year old Z-Bend Gorge.  The park was magnificent.  The morning light was golden as we clambered down into the gorge and came to the scary part: a 30 metre sheer cliff inside the spectacular gorge.  The breathtaking beauty of the rocks all shades of red, pink and orange, the spectacular blue skies, and the gorgeous greens of the native flora didn’t stop my heart coming up into my throat when it was my turn to trust in Joe’s expertise and the safety of the equipment and lower myself onto the ledge from which we abseiled down the sheer cliff face!  What a rush!  Two trips down each and the only thing I can say at the end was that the moment passes too soon but it is a thrill that lingers.  That was $30 well spent!  Darren was a wonderful “brake” man at the bottom.  Check out abseil australia
Then we wandered through the gorge, took loads of pictures and headed for the natural wonder that is the Stromatalites at Hamelin Pool.  What an astounding phenomenon.  The diversity of the formations these ancient microscopic organisms make is amazing.  It’s a trip back in time to when life as we know it was just starting up on this planet.
And what a great place to have lunch – and meet some amazing travellers.  We were inspired and delighted by Candelaria & Herman Zapp and their beautiful kids who are travelling all through Australasia in their 1928 Graham-Paige car.  Oh I would have liked to spend a week with them but alas I will have to settle for reading the book about their trip from Argentina to Alaska – in the same car!  Check out spark your dream and dive into the adventure that is Spark Your Dream the book.
But this was to be a day of more delights: on we went to the World Heritage area of Shark Bay and the totally unique Shell Beach which is a 40KM beach entirely made of tiny little white shells – apparently in places they are 8 meters deep!  The world is truly a spectacularly amazing place.  The day’s end was marked by a superb sunset and a dip in the pool at the charming Nanga Bay Resort.

Day 4

We were all bounding out of bed at the crack of dawn because nobody wanted to miss the dolphins.  It was about a half-hour drive to Monkey Mia and we were all anxious about how many people were going to be crowding the shores hoping to be picked to handfeed the wild dolphins.  There must have been at least a 150 people on the shore and about 10 dolphins showed up that morning.  The marine biologists and their assistants who manage the feeding were truly inspiring with their knowledge and their obvious delight in their jobs – and they picked me to feed the dolphins so no complaints at all!  Now there’s a moment I will remember with joy even if I live to be a 100!  The dolphin I fed was called Shock and she was a character... but my favourites were Flute and her baby Piccolo.
I was on such a high after that the visit to Eagle Bluff and the spectacular coastline in that area was a bit of a blur.  The photos remind me that it was a truly spectacular spot.  But we weren’t lucky enough to see any sharks from the bluff as sometimes happens.
Then it was on the long straight road (100KMs without a bend!) and on to a very authentically outback experience at Cooralya – a 16 000 acre sheep station.  You couldn’t ask for more rustic or real!  It was rough but it was fun.  Darren kept us entertained with some whacky games, forcing us to perform in groups for each other – for the privilege of not having to do the dishes after dinner the next day!  It was glorious, laughter-filled mayhem.  And the canopy of lights in the sky made this truly a “million-star resort”!  There’s nothing like global yarns around a campfire to make you feel like you are really on holiday.

Day 5

A quick breakfast in the chilly dawn and we were on the road to Coral Bay!  What a tremendously beautiful place.  The sun was shining down with vigour and the little tourist village that is Coral Bay was bustling with activity.  No sooner we got there than most of us booked ourselves on the boat for a Manta Ray Tour on the reef with Coral Bay Eco Tours.  Visit coralbayecotours .  They also do quad-bike tours and a whole heap of other fun stuff for ages and levels of fitness.
Soon we were in the trusty hands of the wonderful crew of the Kurni-Ku and out on the magnificent reef for 5 delightful hours of swimming and snorkelling in the spectacularly beautiful Ningaloo Reef.  No description could ever do justice to the myriad of tropical fish swimming all around us.  It was more amazing than anything I could have dreamed up.  And then my heart was in my throat as we were swimming just above sharks, that to me, looked absolutely enormous!  What a buzz!!  The crew on the boat get updates from a spotter plane as to where the Manta Rays are and this ensures that the punters get to swim with these enormous magnificent gentle giants of the deep almost every time.  And this we did.  A meandering pregnant Manta, 3.8 meters across was a major highlight.  Because she was slow and peaceful we were able to snorkel with her for a long and mesmerising while.  In between swims the crew kept us well fed and warm.  Between the various spots on the reef where we spotted turtles and even whales off in the distance we lounged around the sundeck on the boat and sipped hot drinks to keep our energy up.  Just the adrenalin would have kept me going though... and the fact that the water temperature was 24 degrees Celsius, made the whole day just a delight.  We finished off with a fabulous swim in an area of the reef known as “the maze” and I was truly amazed.  An old green turtle and I were travelling buddies for a good while and I felt a childlike joy that I think everybody should experience at least once in their lives.  The tour price included all the snacks, lunch, wetsuits for those who wanted them, snorkels, fins and the priceless expertise of a warm and friendly crew who are obviously passionate about the gorgeous Ningaloo and sharing it responsibly with the world.  Truly inspiring.
It was hard to leave Coral Bay but we knew we had the relative luxury of Potshots Resort in Exmouth to look forward to... a pool bar and restaurant, the pub is part of the resort... so we gladly went and had a fabulous night of merriment, laughter and even a bit of dancing.

Day 6

It’s fair to say that most of us were nursing thumping hangovers!  So we were very glad of the late start.  And it was even more of a pleasure to get to Turquoise Bay on the western side of the Exmouth peninsula and discover that the splendid beauty of the perfect bay was made even more precious by the fact that the reef was just 30 meters from the beach!  Having hired snorkels and fins in Exmouth we couldn’t but hurl ourselves into the marine paradise again.  There were shoals of so many different kinds of fish, so close to the beach that it filled my heart with pride to call Australia home.  The responsibility to maintain these absolutely invaluable natural resources was something that kept surfacing in my mind as I snorkelled among the gorgeous corals.
A delicious lunch of sandwiches was a good feed after a morning in the water.  This we had at the fabulous Milyering Visitor Centre which was a treasure trove of information on the Cape Range National Park which it is situated in the heart of.  The whole area is so spectacular that I am sure I could easily spend a month camping in the various bays in the area.  But alas this trip was nearly at an end.  On the way to a relaxing afternoon and evening poolside at the resort we stopped at a couple of great lookouts for photos.  Charles Knife Canyon was awe inspiring.

Day 7

Some of the crew who were going on to Broome and beyond left the group left us and we hit the southbound road.  The endless masses of termite mounds stretching off into the distance almost rivalled the Pinnacles for sheer strangeness of beauty.  We stopped many times through the day for photos, snacks and to stretch our legs but made great time on the road.
The quaint old convent we stayed at in Northampton was a great place to put our feet up, watch a hilarious DVD, guzzle down hot fish and chips and express our delight at what a fabulous week we had all had.

Day 8

Darren made amazing time on the road to Perth whilst always taking the time to point out places of interest and unique features of the landscape.  Just on lunchtime we were back in the hustle and bustle of Perth.