Coral Coast Highway: Perth to Exmouth - Apollo

Thirteen nights and 3,055 kilometres in a loop from Perth in a campervan, up the Coral Coast to Ningaloo and back down the same road.

Cervantes comes first for the Pinnacles, then Kalbarri with a stay day, where the Murchison River has cut a gorge inland and the coastal cliffs drop straight into the Indian Ocean, with a skywalk out over the gorge.

Coral Bay and Exmouth follow at the top of the route, both with stay days, on the Ningaloo coast: the 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. Carnarvon comes next on the way south, then Monkey Mia in Shark Bay with another stay day, where the dolphins come into the shallows each morning and Shell Beach is made of nothing but tiny shells, metres deep, and Geraldton before Perth.

The camper and the day-by-day plan come from Apollo, 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. Fourteen days with six stay days makes this a snorkelling holiday rather than a drive, which is the right way to use Ningaloo. The swims 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 coast. The loop format avoids a one-way relocation fee, which matters since Exmouth is a long way from anywhere.