Western Australia Road Trip – Day Two

Introduction

We are currently spending 3.5 weeks traveling the west coast of Australia in a campervan (not a 4×4) – July 2026. I am doing a day-by-day account of where we stopped, stayed, what we spent and any recommendations along the way. I hope this helps anyone else planning a similar trip.

You can also see my blog page which summarises our itinerary, how much we’ve spent and need to knows before you plan your own road trip in Western Australia.

Day 2

Sandy Cape – Kalbarri via Geraldton

We woke up this morning excited for our first full day in the campervan. We started off with a run along Sandy cape beach. We ran up the sand dunes (I didn’t actually run that part) and onto a board walk around the peninsula. The views were stunning!

Stop One – Dynamite Bay

Instead of having breakfast here we drove 27km north to the lovely Green Head. We parked at Dynamite Bay where we cooked ourselves up some eggs for breakfast. The bay was stunning and we even spotted a sea lion in the water as well as two ospreys swooping over the peninsula.

There is a great walk along the coast called the three bays walk. Dynamite bay is smack bang in the middle, so we only completed part of the walk. It was so peaceful here, we didn’t meet anyone along the walk. We sat for a good while on a bench overlooking the sea trying to spot more sea lions, until realising we needed to get moving. I would say this is a little lesser known spot along the West Coast.

Stop Two – Geraldton

The town of Geraldton. This was a nice town that I wish we could have stayed longer in.

We had time to visit the war memorial for the HMAS Sydney. A beautiful memorial to remember the 645 Australia soldiers and officers lost when the ship sank in 1941, following a battle with a German raider. The memorial sits on Mount Scott and therefore offers an elevated position overlooking the bay.

Next stop in town was the museum of Geraldton. Again, I wish we could have stayed longer here as there were many well curated exhibitions on offer. As we arrived with only 45 minutes before they closed, we just focussed on the local exhibitions to learn about the local land and people. As it’s free, I really recommend spending longer here if you have it.

When planning our trip, we were a bit worried about fitting too much in. These first few days have shown that we could have easily spent longer in each place. Ideally, I would have liked to have spent the night in Geraldton, this would have allowed us to relax more on the three cliffs walk and see more of what Geraldton had to offer.

After lunch in the van, we walked the promenade to spot some of the resident sea lions which are known to bask in the sun on the rocks opposite.  

The sea lions found in the waters near Jurien Bay are rare Australian sea lions and we spotted one sleeping on the rocks just off the shore.

Top Tip – although you can see the sea lions with the naked eye, we had a much better view with the binoculars. We haven’t brought ours on our world trip but after only a few days into our road trip they have already been worthwhile. We rented ours from Equipment location in Perth for 133 dollars for 3.5 weeks. These were much cheaper than other places in Perth that we got quotes from.

Things we didn’t have time for but would have liked to have done:

• Spent the night in Geraldton
• You could rent bikes in Geraldton, and they had a well-maintained cycle path along the coast
• Swimming with the resident sea lions. This can be booked via Get Your Guide. You must book in advance as it can fill up quick in peak season. We didn’t do this because July is not the best time for visibility or interactions and therefore couldn’t justify spending the money on it.

If you were to add swimming with the sealions into your itinerary you would need another night in Geraldton area.

Where We Stayed – Kalbarri

We spent our second night at Big River Ranch, Kalbarri. This cost us $50 for the night for a powered site. We arrived late and left before sunrise the next morning so didn’t explore the site much, but the showers were nice enough.

We stayed here as it was slightly closer to Kalbarri National Park than staying in Kalbarri town, allowing us to get a head start for sunrise the next day.

In hindsight I don’t think it would of made much difference to have just stayed in town at Tudor Holiday Park, which was five dollars cheaper. I talk about this more in tomorrow’s blog but the toilets were bigger and there was a heated pool here.

One place we did drive by that I had not heard of before coming was Murchison House Station. I have just checked out their website and they provide unpowered camping closer to the Kalbarri National Park. It looks a pretty cool place to stay as well so check it out.

How Much We Spent

Groceries – $33.45

Campsite – $50