Farewell Western Australia, It's Been Amazing

After nine glorious months it is finally time to say farewell to Western Australia. We arrived in WA at the tail end of the cooler weather in October, basked in the southern sunshine of a western australian summer and in the last few months enjoyed the tropical weather as those back home shivered though the east coast winter. We have been lucky enough to be visited by old friends and family, meet new friends and come across some folk like no others. We were blessed with amazing hospitality from some, enjoyed kicking back in tune with the WA lifestyle and saw landscapes which could only be imagined in dreams.

But we are ready for the next stage of our adventure and can't wait to see what the Northern Territory has to offer. Here's a quick wrap up of the best and the worst of our experience in WA. The best experiences easily outweigh the not so great.

Top 5 Best Ever:

1. Exploring the untamed outback of The Kimberley

2. Becoming a local in Margaret River (including kicking back at the sunday sessions at the tav, swimming in the less known beaches, tasting amazing wines and hanging out at the markets on saturday mornings).

3. The beaches of Esperence

4. Snorkelling and Fishing in the Ningaloo Reef

5. The colours of the PIlbara

Because it's almost impossible to limit the list to 5, it's worth mentioning some of the other highlights, which included: Drinking a beer at Kalbarri Hotel as the sun set, shopping, eating and walking around Freemantle, Searching out quokkas on Rottnest Island, camping right on the beach and playing with the dolphins at Shark Bay, watching an outdoor movie in Broome, relishing the cool depths of the southern forests and hanging out in Perth and Albany with old friends and family we hadn't seen in years.

Least Favourite

1. Camp Hosts!! Almost every campsite in every national park in WA is now managed by live-in grey nomads who get to stay for free in return for collecting money and cleaning the toilets. This sounds ok, except the treat the campsites like their own little kingdom, and those who dare step out of line… watch out.

2. Port Hedland. Need we say more.

3. The boring and incredibly long driving distance between everything on the west coast.

4. The lack of shade everywhere between Perth and Broome.

5. Fuel for $3.70/L at Kalumberu.