The desolate beauty of Australia’s west coast is now even easier to explore, thanks to a new pricing structure for self-drive travellers flying into Perth. Until now, one-way car hire from Perth up to Exmouth, or from Exmouth down to Perth included a substantial ‘relocation’ free of AU$1000 on top of your car hire. Now car hire company, Avis, is offering a much cheaper deal with relocation costs for the car between AU$150 and AU$250. The multi-day drive back along the coast would cost you more, when you add fuel, accommodation and food.
Ningaloo Marine Park. Image by ©Alexander Buese/Alamy Stock Photo
Coral Coast road trippers can expect turquoise waters, wildflower carpets, pristine private islands and cinematic outback landscapes.
Pink Lake, Esperance, Western Australia. Image by ©melnais/Stockimo/Alamy Stock Photo
The 1200km (800 miles) Coral Coast Highway from Perth to Exmouth is one of Australia’s great drives, taking you through amazing attractions and experiences found nowhere else. The drive includes the stunning gorges of Kalbarri National Park, the mysterious bubble gum-coloured Pink Lake, Shark Bay World Heritage Area – including wild dolphins at Monkey Mia – and then the incredible Ningaloo Reef, where you can swim with the world’s largest fish, the whale shark (March to August) or humpback whales (August to November).
Karijini National Park. Image by ©ronnybas/Alamy Stock Photo
If Western Australia has been on your radar, with single-hop flights from London to Perth making it closer to Europe than ever before, cheaper car hire has just added more reasons to get exploring the Coral Coast. Qantas have 12 flights per week to Exmouth from Perth, or vice versa, which takes just under two hours.
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