Road Trip: Adelaide to Perth

Considering we’ve been planning this trip for months and were about to embark on my longest road trip yet around Australia, our preparation was little to none. I convinced Becs to wait longer in the Grampians, convinced we would find a ride to Adelaide and the perfect relocation deal. I was right on the deal, wrong on the ride. Not only did we not get a ride, we did not buy bus tickets ahead of time and almost didn’t get a seat due to a full bus at the end of school holidays. Luckily, the bus driver rearranged a few things and managed to find two seats for us to Adelaide. Phew, otherwise we’d be stuck in small town Victoria and I think Becs may have killed me.

We were treated like YHA princesses in Adelaide with a private family room - and proceeded to eat and drink our way around the city. We loved the National Wine Centre and started our brewery journey that would define the next month.

The beauty of a campervan is we could have end goals for each day, but we had the flexibility to continue driving as long as we felt to get to the next spot. Our wheels were our home. We agreed we wanted to drive as much as possible the first 2-3 days in order to have more time in the south west. This turned out to be key since driving through the Nullarbor, there’s pretty much nothing but open roads and occasionally a road house. I kept telling Becs the next “town” would be bigger...but it never was. 

Due to our lack of preparation, we had no music, limited podcasts, and a couple audiobooks we didn’t like. That means lots of talking and lots of time to think. There’s nothing like the open road to contemplate the future.

Once we reached Esperance, we had amazing stops each day. Along the coast, we travelled from beautiful beaches to breweries to real hot food that didn’t come from a can (although our tuna wraps were surprisingly fresh and delicious). 

Lucky Bay did not disappoint in its views but did not have any kangaroos or the warm weather we were hoping for a beach day. Our camping neighbors happened to be the aunt and uncle of an Australian Bachelor star, which we learned as we browsed through the family’s newly published cookbook (and proceeded to take pictures of all the recipes...did I mention our love of good food?)

We wandered the small downtown of Albany and had an amazing breakfast at a farmer’s market. Unfortunately, the Natural Bridge and Gap were closed due to an incident - so we made our way to Denmark earlier than expected. We fell in love with the clear water and finally warm, sunny weather at the beach before an afternoon spent on the Scotsdale Scenic Tourist Drive where we tried wine, ate cheese, and tasted scrumpy cider. 

Due to our limited time frame with a relocation deal, we had to cut adventuring short and head off to Perth! Did we pack  our belongings in the empty campsite we spent our last night? No, that would make too much sense. Instead we scrambled to organize ourselves in the summer heat of a gas station two blocks from the rental return place. 

All in all, not our best planned trip but still amazing and brought us to beautiful Western Australia.