Epic WA roadtrip - Britz

Eight nights and 2,500 kilometres in a loop from Perth in a 4WD camper, up the Western Australian coast to Ningaloo and back, with nights on station beach camps.

Geraldton comes first, then the Pink Lake at Port Gregory, which is a genuine candy pink from the algae in the water and sits a few hundred metres from the ocean.

Coral Bay and Exmouth follow on Ningaloo Reef, where the coral starts a short swim from the beach, and Turquoise Bay in Cape Range National Park has a drift snorkel that carries swimmers along the reef edge. Ningaloo and Waroora stations come next, pastoral leases that allow camping on their own beaches, with no power, no water and no neighbours, which is the part of this trip people remember. The route then runs back south through Geraldton to Perth.

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. The station camps are why this one needs a 4WD rather than a standard camper, and they want booking direct with the stations. Nine days for 2,500 kilometres means two long driving days in each direction, so the time on the reef is shorter than it first appears. Whale sharks pass Ningaloo between roughly March and July, which is the window worth aiming for. The Pink Lake is also worth more than the photograph: the colour changes with the light and the salt, and the beach on the far side of the dune is usually empty.