A West Coast Adventure, 1999-2000
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We left Perth, travelled north up the along the Western Australian coast into the Northern Territory, and finished in Darwin - our new home.
Day 1
Clare and I departed Perth on Boxing Day, 1999.
Rob had already shifted all his gear to Darwin, but Clare had to pack up her life to live in another city. It didn't take as long as we thought to pack up the car (Clare's Telstar) - we packed all the gear into every nook and cranny. We were on our way to Geraldton by 10.30am. After an hour of driving we made a last minute detour to visit New Norcia for lunch. After a
hot day's drive we arrived in in Geralton at 6pm. 
Day 2
On our second day we drove 870km to Exmouth, via Carnarvon and Coral Bay.
We had a short but excellent snorkel at Coral Bay. At Exmouth we stayed
with a couple of our friends, Sheri and Scott.
Day 3
Sheri and Scott took us for a tour of the beaches around the cape,
including another snorkel on the Ningaloo Coral Reef at Turquoise Bay. The water was so clear and you could walk out to the reef to see the colourful fish. 
Day 4
After a short rest yeasterday, day four of our journey was another long hot drive to Port Hedland, via Karratha. We saw some amazing dust storms and bushfires along the way. We camped at a camping ground jsut outside of town, and our tent was almost blown away by one of the dust storms!
Days 5-7
Day 5 was a drive to Broome, where we stayed
in semi-luxury at beautiful Cable Beach. We encountered here our first
big tropical storm. We stayed three nights in Broome, including the big
one, New Year's Eve. We celebrated the end of the 999th year of the millennium
sitting on the grassed area above the beach listening to some local bands,
and watching a superb fireworks display at midnight from the beach. It
was a very enjoyable night. 
Day 8
The 8th day of our journey saw us drive from Broome to Halls Creek. We
had planned to stay at Fitzroy Crossing, but like a lot of the towns around
here at this time of year it was practically closed down. 
Day 9
Day 9 saw us journey from Halls Creek to Kununurra via Wyndham. We stayed
at an excellent budget cabin on the shore of Lake Kununurra, where we
went for a canoe and swam with the saltwater crocodiles. 
Day 10
On day ten we finally crossed the border into the Northern Territory as we drove to the 'action town' of Timber Creek and stayed at our friend Katrina's house. From there it was only a small 600km drive to Darwin and home!