Perth to Darwin via the Coral Coast and the Kimberley - Apollo

Fifteen nights and 4,848 kilometres from Perth to Darwin in a campervan, up the full length of the west coast and across the Kimberley.

Cervantes comes first for the Pinnacles, a field of limestone columns standing out of yellow sand, then Geraldton, and Monkey Mia in Shark Bay with a stay day, where wild dolphins have come into the shallows to be fed under supervision for decades.

Carnarvon and Exmouth follow, the second the base for Ningaloo, a fringing reef running 260 kilometres that sits close enough to shore to be swum to off the beach. Karratha and Port Hedland come next through the Pilbara iron country, then Broome with a stay day, a pearling town on a twenty-two kilometre beach. Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and Kununurra cross the Kimberley, the last with a stay day, then Katherine and Darwin.

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. Sixteen days for 4,848 kilometres is a hard schedule with three stay days in it, and the driving is most of the holiday. The dry season from May to October is the window, since the wet closes roads across the north. Whale sharks visit Ningaloo between March and July, which is the one date worth planning around. Fuel stops are far apart through the Pilbara and the Kimberley. This is a one-way hire of some length, so a relocation fee is worth confirming at booking.