Indian Ocean Drive - Britz

Four nights and 1,200 kilometres in a loop from Perth in a campervan, north up the Indian Ocean Drive and back.

Cervantes comes first for the Pinnacles Desert, where several thousand limestone pillars stand out of yellow sand, some of them several metres high, formed from the roots and shells of an ancient coastal dune system. Jurien Bay follows, with sea lions on the islands offshore.

Dongara, Greenough and Geraldton come next, the last a working port with the memorial to HMAS Sydney, lost with all hands in 1941 and not found until 2008, standing on the hill above the town. Kalbarri closes the route, where the Murchison River has cut gorges several hundred metres into red sandstone a short way inland, with Nature’s Window framing the river bend, and the coastal cliffs south of the town running for miles.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, 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. Five days for 1,200 kilometres is comfortable, with the Pinnacles and Kalbarri the two stops that justify the trip, and both are better early in the morning before the wind and the heat arrive. Wildflower season from July to October turns the sandplain along this coast into one of the best displays in the country. Kalbarri is the turning point and the one stop worth two nights, since the gorges are inland and the cliffs are south of town, and they do not fit comfortably into the same day.