WESTERN AUSTRALIA - The Real Wild West

Meet Owen...

(l) Owen prepping for omelets, (r) just some of the random flora WA has to offer

So remember Owen, that guy I met in Queenstown where we couldn’t stop talking and having fun together?  Well, I went to meet him in Perth!  He promised to show me around Western Australia and I thought it’d be great to hang out with him some more and see a bit more of Australia that many tourists don’t make the trip out to see.  Now, he kept some of our travel plans a surprise so I really had no idea where we were going and how but I did know that camping of some sort would be involved – my favorite form of travel!

Upon arrival, he tells me we’re going to caravan up north the following day to Kalbarri.  I had never heard of it, but he assured me that it was a pretty spectacular place and with it being spring, it’d be a good time for wildflowers to be blooming along the way, plus the temperatures ideal (i.e., not hot as hell).  The following day after we loaded the caravan (!!) with food, supplies, and our stuff, and we hit the road!  Now this was my first official road-trip (the other stuff doesn’t count as it was public transportation, I couldn’t exactly stop and smell the roses along the way) since leaving America.  Road trips are the BEST way to see a country, stopping along the way at mom and pop shops, buy some fruit at stands on the side of the road, stop and look at the scenery, and also, just to take my time and move at my own pace.  So imagine my surprise when Owen told me that we were caravanning around!

Western  Australia was everything I thought Australia would be!!  The east coast seemed a lot like many parts of America (with the exception of Whitsundays). all every city-like Americanized, and developed.  But Western Australia, these were the visions I had of Australia – untouched land beyond what the eye could see, desert-like settings, big ocean roads, endless miles of beach, the wild outback, kangaroos, completely foreign flora, and an endless supply of Aussie humor and hospitality.  With my own personal tour guide we stopped along the way at various beaches, bakeries, shops, wandered through national parks, and really did stop to look at all the wildflowers.  And this was just the beginning of our adventures through WA!