Perth to Exmouth along the Coral Coast - maui

Nine nights from Perth to Exmouth in a campervan, up the Coral Coast to Ningaloo, with three of the days set aside for exploring rather than driving.

The Pinnacles at Cervantes come first, a field of limestone columns standing out of yellow sand, formed from ancient seashell deposits and numbering in the thousands, then Geraldton, and Kalbarri, where the Murchison River has cut a gorge inland and the coastal cliffs drop straight into the Indian Ocean.

Shark Bay follows, a world heritage area for three separate reasons: the seagrass meadows are the largest on earth, the stromatolites at Hamelin Pool are living structures of a kind that dominated life for two billion years, and Shell Beach is made of nothing but tiny shells, metres deep. Monkey Mia nearby is where wild dolphins come into the shallows each morning. Carnarvon and Coral Bay come next, then Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef, which runs 260 kilometres and can be swum to from the beach.

The camper and the day-by-day plan come from maui, 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. Ten days for this route is a comfortable pace, with the rest days at Shark Bay, Ningaloo and Exmouth doing the work. Whale sharks are at Ningaloo between March and July and manta rays for most of the year, with the swims licensed and booked ahead, though no sighting can be promised. Winter and spring are the best months, and spring brings the wildflowers out along the whole coast. This is a one-way hire, so a relocation fee is worth checking at booking.