West Coast of Oz/Uluru itinerary question!

Smiley Lassie!

Hi everyone,

Myself and my boyfriend are heading to Oz at the end of the year and we have 3 weeks to fill. We have east coast, Melbourne etc planned already as we have friends there etc. We will be arriving in Perth around the 1st Nov and want to be in Cairns by the 21st Nov.

We were thinking 3-4 days in Perth, then do a 4-5 day tour on the west coast returning to Perth (we don't know whether to do the north or south of Perth, the north looks brilliant but a lot of driving), then on to Alice Springs to do Uluru for 3 nights, then on to Darwin for 8 nights (including a tour to Kakadu national park) before flying from Darwin to Cairns.

Our biggest question really is around the West Coast, we know 5 days isn't enough but would like to see it. Have always wanted to see Uluru so don't really want to cut that out regardless of cost etc. Should we just enjoy Perth and maybe to a day or two tour to Margaret river or would it be better to go up north for 4-5 days bearing in mind we have to return to Perth in that time?

We have done a lot of research on Oz but this is our biggest dilemma...

Thanks!

Xavi6

First off, four or five days north really isn't a massive amount but you could see a bit. You wouldn't realistically get much any further than Shark Bay.

I'd recommend going Perth ---> Geraldton (4 hours) ---> Monkey Mia (a further 6ish) on the way up then Shark Bay (half hour from Monkey Mia) ---> Kalbarri ---> Perth (6/7 hours from Kalbarri).

That's quite realistic as long as you don't mind driving. Shark Bay/Monkey Mia is about 900kms north of Perth and it's very very cool. Go see the dolphins, snorkel etc. Kalbarri has some amazing gorges to explore (I did a kayak through them) while Geraldton is nice enough to see a stopping point.

Alternatively just catch a flight from Perth to Exmouth or Broome and rent a car.

I've done south as well and the likes of Margaret River, Busselton and Dunsborough are awesome too if you like your wines, cheeses and breweries. The weather isn't as amazing, though it should've picked up by then.

Margaret River is about three hours drive from Perth so you'd get there fairly quickly down the Bunbury Highway.

Really up to you after that (though I do prefer north myself).

nettie1

I'd prefer North too - do the Pinnacles and Coral Bay too if you can. I'd suggest driving north and taking a flight from Broome to Uluru if your flight from Perth isn't already booked, or look into getting it changed. It's about 1700 km but you're not backtracking, which is a positive. For the sake of a couple of hundred euro it'd be worth it.
Enjoy! It'll be a brilliant trip regardless. Don't stress too much about seeing everything just enjoy what you do see.

Smiley Lassie!

Thanks for your replies Xavi and nettie. We won't actually be driving ourselves, we were looking at the tours on Western Xposure (particular on page 6 of this doc http://www.adventuretours.com.au/assets/pdf-downloads/westernexposure-10-11.pdf) but they seem to fit an awful lot into the four days so we weren't sure if it would be worth it? What do you think?

I don't think going to Exmouth and flying to Uluru is an option as it would take too long on the tours and neither of us want to drive on the West Coast.

I'd love to do Margaret River but boyfriend not into wine at all unfortunately

Have ye been to Uluru and Darwin/Kakadu etc? Would we be better leaving some of these out and doing more of the West Coast or are they equally as good?

Sorry for all the questions, so many decisions to make!

Thanks!

niceoneted

can you do Uluru/ ALice Springs before you head to Perth as in go from Melbourne to there get that in. Then on to Perth, spend your few days there and drive up the coast to Darwin. You should try not to have to double back on yourselves when you have so much traveling to do and that is what you will do if you travel the coast from Perth and have to return.
If you have flights booked perhaps you can change them.

Smiley Lassie!

Hi niceoneted.

We were thinking of doing that but then the tour from Perth to Darwin is 21 days long and VERY expensive so we don't really have time (or money) to do the whole West Coast unfortunately. We don't really want to drive up to Darwin ourselves, would prefer to do a tour if we were doing it. We don't have any internal flights booked yet in Oz so we're going to trailfinders this evening to price flights to and from Alice Springs. They seem v expensive on the internet for flights to Alice Springs. If we even had a week or two extra that would definitely be an option!

mossysheehan

Hey,

Ya, I'd go North aswel , same places as xavi's sending you, i live in Geraldton, agreed on that to, nice place but not a holiday spot really... I'd say your time would be much better spent with a rental car tho. The distances are so big you'd be lost without one really cause there's lots of other little places on the way to, and in, shark bay which are probably not on these tour routes. Have you the internal flights booked already? You can get rental cars in one town and drop them off in another if thats an option?

Scrap what i just said... You've just answered most of it...

Smiley Lassie!

I'd love to do it all but we are very short on time, went to trailfinders, can't put any more flights on our tickets so now we're thinking of cutting out the west coast altogether and maybe doing a tour from adelaide to darwin including ayers rock instead. What do ye think of this? there looks to be some good tours on therocktour.com.au. Does anyone have any experience of these?

Thanks!

Xavi6

You'd be missing out on so much by ditching the west coast tbh.