Darwin to Perth via the Kimberley and Karijini - Mighty

Thirteen nights and 3,901 kilometres from Darwin to Perth in a campervan, down the whole west of the continent.

Katherine comes first, where Nitmiluk is a series of thirteen sandstone gorges cut by the river, then Kununurra and Halls Creek through the Kimberley, and Derby on the mudflats, where the tidal range is among the largest in the world.

Broome follows, a pearling town on a twenty-two kilometre beach, then Eighty Mile Beach and Port Hedland. Karijini turns the route inland, a national park in the Hamersley Range where gorges cut narrow and deep into banded iron rock two billion years old and the pools at the bottom hold water year round. Exmouth and Coral Bay come next on the Ningaloo coast, then Monkey Mia in Shark Bay, Kalbarri, and Cervantes for the Pinnacles before Perth.

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. Fourteen days for 3,901 kilometres is a hard schedule with long days at the wheel and very little standing still. The dry season from May to October is the window, since the wet closes roads across the north. The inner gorges at Karijini need unsealed access and some involve scrambling, which is worth checking against the hire terms. Whale sharks visit Ningaloo between March and July. This is a one-way hire the length of a coast, so a relocation fee is worth confirming at booking.