Perth to Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef - Mighty

Six nights and 3,045 kilometres out of Perth in a campervan, up the Coral Coast to Ningaloo and back in a single long day.

Kalbarri comes first, where the Murchison River has cut a gorge inland and the coastal cliffs drop straight into the Indian Ocean, then Shark Bay, a world heritage area for its seagrass meadows, its living stromatolites at Hamelin Pool and a beach made of nothing but tiny shells.

Coral Bay and Ningaloo Reef follow, where the fringing reef runs 260 kilometres and sits close enough to shore to be swum to off the beach, with whale sharks between March and July and manta rays most of the year. Exmouth sits at the top of the route, with Cape Range National Park on the far side of the peninsula, where gorges come down to the water and the snorkelling at Turquoise Bay is as good as any on the coast.

The camper and the day-by-day plan come from Mighty, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Seven days for three thousand kilometres is a hard schedule, and the run back to Perth is a single long day, which is the price of a week rather than a fortnight on this coast. The swims at Ningaloo are licensed and booked ahead, with no sighting promised. Winter and spring are the best months, and spring brings the wildflowers out along the whole route. Anyone with ten days should take them, since the driving here is the least interesting part.