Two girls, a campervan, and a dream!

Welcome back everyone, and a very special welcome to my new readers: the Gomez family! I am happy you are here, and thank you for raising the awesome Sara Gomez who is the reason this blog entry exists.

Those of you that have been following along with the blog, you know Sara as one of the members of the Vanderbilt trio who accepted me with open arms to explore Vietnam and Thailand back in February. She is epic and awesome and beautiful, and we love her here!

Anywho, enough praise for Sara, and it’s time to praise Western Australia because oh my it is beautiful. Sara and I decided to use our week long break from school to explore the side of Australia full of dessert and dessert and moreeee dessert. 

Our journey started off with a fun day exploring Perth and the nearby beaches. We stayed in a hotel this first night to get settled, and then the real journey began the next day with 6 hours in the THL warehouse as we waited for our campervan that needed new brakes🤤. It was hella annoying but our boy Taran hooked us up with some free swag (toilet chemicals – SCORE!) and a discount to make up for it. We accept.

After that, when we finally met at our home for the next week, we got on the road. Our first stop: taking Sara’s Subway virginity! Her review? She will be returning.

Then, it was time to really get going. We had to skip the two stops we had planned for our first day and drive 7 hours straight to our first camp site. This is where we plugged in for the first time and spent our first night in our very own tiny home. 

This is where things really got moving. The next day we drove to our first national park of the trip, with a stop at the pink hutt lagoon on the way. This was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. It's hard to express just how pink it was, and it definitely got us excited for the adventures to come. Upon arriving at Kalbarri National Park, the hike we wanted to do appeared to be closed after 7am due to heat, so we attempted another one. We did it, and we maintained positive spirits, but it was reallyyyyy hard due to the amount of flies that were attacking us. It was truly unbelievable. 

After our hike, we went straight to the ocean for our first swim of the week and oh my lord it felt good. The water was absolutely stunning and the perfect temperature. Then we did what campervans do best: sit with the back doors open, make some lunch, and soak up the views. We decided to camp by the water that night, and try to do our original hike first thing in the morning.

Unfortunately, the loop appeared to be closed again. While we think it was just due to heat and we could have handled it, we knew this was not the place to push our luck. We decided to do a short walk to take in some of the beautiful sunrise views, and then get driving. 

We were on our way up to Exmouth which appeared to be the next major area. We stopped a few times on the way with the most notable being at Coral Bay (remember this name for later). This stop truly felt like a simulation. We were driving for hours on end with no cars or civilization to be seen, when suddenly, this entire resort area came out of nowhere filled with families on vacation. It was so odd. So, we got out, went swimming in some of the nicest water I have ever seen, and silently questioned where all of the people spawned from. 

That night we made it all the way to Exmouth, but not without losing money to a campsite that was in a National Park further south. A little tip if you ever road trip through WA: there is ONE road. It goes up, and then it comes back down, and in order to get to anything south of Exmouth, you have to drive alllll the way up to the North peak to come back down. That messed us up quite a few times. 

Anywho, we made it to Exmouth, caught the worker right as she was leaving, and scored ourselves a spot at the campground. We still hadn’t scratched our itch to hike, so we got up early the next morning and went on a beautiful one. 

However, by the time we were nearing the end, 10 miles later, things were really heating up as the temperatures went over 100 degrees. Things got scary there for a second as our water supply ran out, but we made it with the help of some kind strangers… totally worth it. 

Us post-hike: sweaty but happy

The rest of the day we hopped in the ocean and then chilled out by the pool at our campsite – another tip if you’re in WA: always book campsites with pools otherwise you will die of heat stroke (i'm not really joking). That night, we also decided to book a snorkel tour for the next day not realizing it would be the best decision we’ve ever made.

We woke up bright and early to head back to Coral Bay where we joined a snorkel tour of the Ningaloo Reef. This was the best bang for my buck I’ve ever experienced. We got to do so much snorkeling with amazing guides and saw so many animals – including my first sharks ever AND A MANTA RAY!! It was the most unreal thing ever and I actually cannot get over it to this day. Sara cooked me a wonderful dinner that night, and we went to bed early as we decided to make the next day a big drive back down south.

We wanted to get all of our driving done at once, so we drove 12 hours the next day. Honestly, it sounds way worse than it was. We listened to some good tunes, told funny stories, and ate yummy car snacks. We also had a VERY important stop: the Tropic of Capricorn sign. As a capricorn herself, Sara was not going to let us skip this. Things started to get pretty rough when it came time to find a campsite. Yet, despite all odds, and the kangaroos trying to get in our way, we made it to one. I can’t say it was the smoothest process, and Sara refused to leave the van all night because she was convinced she would be walking out to her death. So, I put on the pants that evening and set us up for the night.  

The next day, we tackled the stops that were originally planned for our first day – the most notably being the sand dunes. We rented some sand boards and prepared to absolutely shred the gnar. However, the dunes had other plans. The wind implanted sand so deep into our skin I still find pieces to this day, and it took the life of Sara’s camera that had been documenting our trip. We pushed on and each decided to show the sand dune who’s boss… 

After losing any dignity we had left, we went back to Perth and set up camp there before heading into the town for the evening to shop and walk around. The next morning, we went to a beach near Perth where we watched a surf competition, and did some well-deserved laying out. We read our books, splashed in the pretty blue water, and relaxed for our last day. Once again, we went into Perth for the evening to enjoy a food festival that was going on and just vibe for our last night.

The next morning, we dropped off our van, got our deposit back (THANK GOD), and trekked to the airport for our flight home. Those of you who have known me for a while would know that living in a campervan has always been a dream of mine. I cannot express how much I loved this experience, and I am so happy Sara was there to live it with me. This is not the end of me and campervans! Sara made a cute video from the footage on her camera captured before its passing… enjoy!