Introduction
This West Coast Australia travel diary feels like a strange comedown after the chaos of Cairns. I went from constant noise, people, parties and emotional overload into the long roads of Western Australia where everything suddenly slowed down. Same country, completely different rhythm. Somewhere between Perth, Kalbarri, Monkey Mia and Exmouth, I started falling apart a little bit, rebuilding a little bit, and overthinking everything in silence. What I expected to be just another tour ended up becoming the week where I slowly realised my Australian adventure was coming to an end.
Main Story
Saturday – Leaving Cairns & landing in Perth
I barely slept before my flight. The last time I checked the clock it was around 3:30am, and I’m pretty sure I stayed awake for quite a while after that.
Packing felt automatic. Clothes on. Backpack packed. Airport mode activated.
My morning started with chaos, of course. The Uber I had booked the day before decided to cancel at the exact moment I needed him. Apparently he “had to wait”. The irony was that I was already outside five minutes early.
Luckily another Uber arrived quickly.
Halfway to the airport I suddenly realised I had left my shoes at the hostel.
Classic.
Fortunately Anna was also flying to Perth that day, so I messaged her in complete panic asking if she could bring them. Somehow she agreed to try.
When I landed in Perth, the weather immediately reminded me that I was no longer in tropical Queensland. It was grey, rainy and cold. After weeks of sunshine and humidity, it honestly felt like another country.
I couldn’t be bothered figuring out public transport, so I took an Uber straight to the hostel.
The rest of the day consisted of sleeping, waking up with an aggressive McDonald’s craving, ordering far too much food, calling my mom, and then going straight back to bed.
Not exactly a productive day.
But after Cairns, I think I needed it.
Sunday – Fremantle, sunsets & a laundry-induced breakdown
I woke up at 7am completely confused.
For a few minutes I couldn’t understand why my body had decided to wake me up so early until I remembered Perth is two hours behind Cairns.
Anna texted me asking if I wanted to join her in Fremantle. More importantly, she had my shoes.
Crisis avoided.
As a thank you, I bought her a crêpe while I grabbed a coffee for myself.
We spent the morning wandering around the Fremantle Markets before visiting Fremantle Prison. There was something strangely fascinating about walking through a place with so much history attached to it.
Afterwards we went back to the market for lunch. I ordered a curry that was genuinely one of the best meals I’d had in a while.
The rest of the afternoon was spent walking along the beach. At some point Anna changed jumpers because hers had holes in it and she was freezing. We eventually made our way to Cottesloe Beach for sunset.
And wow.
I’ve seen a lot of sunsets in Australia by now, but the West Coast really knows what it’s doing.
Later that evening we cooked pasta at Anna’s hostel before I headed back to mine.
That’s when everything fell apart.
I suddenly realised every single piece of clothing I owned was dirty.
No problem, I’ll just do laundry.
Except after waiting forty minutes for the washing machine and another forty-five for the dryer, absolutely nothing was dry.
For reasons I still don’t fully understand, this completely broke me.
I had three separate crying sessions in front of my roommate while staring at damp clothes and questioning all my life choices.
Eventually I hung everything around the room, accepted defeat, and went to bed.
Travel isn’t always glamorous.
Monday – Pinnacles, sandboarding & first impressions
At 7:30am I got picked up for my West Coast tour.
The first person I properly met was Eline, a Dutch girl who was also travelling solo and joining the tour.
When the bus arrived, I was slightly shocked.
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t that.
There were quite a few older travellers and my first thought was honestly that it didn’t look like the most exciting group.
I’m aware that sounds judgemental.
And in hindsight, it definitely was.
But luckily the scenery didn’t disappoint.
Our first stop was the Pinnacles Desert, where we went sandboarding.
The sandboarding itself was fun, but it was unbelievably cold. Nobody tells you how freezing Western Australia can be in winter.
After exploring the Pinnacles and driving through Nambung National Park, we eventually reached our accommodation for the night.
Some of the group watched a movie together in the evening, but it looked terrible, so I mostly sat on my phone before going to bed.
Tuesday – Kalbarri, wine sunsets & awkward flirting
Another early start.
We stopped in Geraldton before continuing towards Ank Lake, which looked almost unreal. The colours reflected perfectly in the water and everything felt incredibly still.
From there we headed towards Kalbarri National Park.
The landscape immediately reminded me of the Great Ocean Road, one of my favourite places on Australia’s East Coast, except this version felt rougher, emptier and somehow even more remote.
Huge cliffs, endless views and that feeling of being completely insignificant compared to the landscape around you.
Absolutely stunning.
Later we continued towards Chinaman’s Beach where we were staying in a YHA hostel.
Before sunset I bought some water and a bottle of wine and headed down to the beach.
The sunset was incredible.
Again.
Honestly, at this point I was starting to believe West Coast sunsets are simply built differently.
While we were sitting there, one of the guys from the group started holding my hand.
It was one of those situations where I immediately felt uncomfortable but also didn’t really know how to react.
Eventually I used the excuse that I was cold and heading back.
Which, to be fair, was actually true.
Back at the hostel I spent some time writing in my diary while he played guitar nearby.
When the rest of the group returned they put on a movie, but I barely watched any of it because I was still writing.
Wednesday – Kalbarri hikes, dolphins & turtle sightings
This was the only day of the entire tour where we actually needed proper shoes.
We visited a different part of Kalbarri National Park, stopping at two lookouts before doing a hike of roughly three kilometres.
It was hot.
Very hot.
But completely worth it.
The views were incredible and made every sweaty step worth the effort.
Afterwards we drove towards Denham and Monkey Mia, with a quick stop at Shell Beach along the way.
That evening delivered yet another spectacular sunset.
While watching it, we spotted dolphins swimming close to shore.
Around our accommodation there were emus casually wandering around, and near the beach I spotted one of the biggest sea turtles I’ve ever seen in the wild.
Some of the younger people from the group went stargazing later that night.
I stayed behind.
I wasn’t feeling particularly social and honestly just wanted a quiet evening.
Thursday – Monkey Mia dolphins, a farm stay & Tim being Tim
We started the morning at Monkey Mia, watching the famous dolphins.
At first it looked like we had missed them.
We stayed there from around 7am until nearly 9am and still hadn’t seen much.
At 8:55am a few of us gave up and started walking back towards the bus because we were supposed to leave at 9.
Then suddenly we heard an announcement over the speakers:
“A second group is arriving.”
The four of us immediately sprinted back.
And thankfully we did.
A female dolphin appeared right next to shore with two of her calves and her sister. They were playing less than a metre from the beach.
Definitely one of the highlights of the week.
After that we drove for hours towards a farm stay.
By this point, Tim, the same guy who had been holding my hand, had clearly realised I wasn’t interested and had moved on to flirting with another girl in the group.
Which honestly made my life easier.
At the farm we played cards before being driven to the beach in the farmer’s jeep.
Halfway there the tyre blew out.
For a brief moment I genuinely thought we were going to roll over.
The farmer seemed completely unbothered by the situation and was casually drinking a beer throughout the whole ordeal.
Australian farm energy is something else.
We watched another beautiful sunset, drank some wine, and headed back.
Later that evening Evie told me Tim had apparently tried kissing her too.
Player behaviour confirmed.
Friday – Exmouth, goon & mediocre nightlife
We left the farm early and headed straight to the beach.
Some people had booked a boat tour, but I couldn’t justify spending the money, so I spent the day relaxing by the water instead.
Around 3pm we left for Exmouth.
The first thing we did after arriving?
Buy goon.
Priorities.
We had Mexican food, started drinking and played games with the group.
Eventually we went to a local pub.
There were actually quite a lot of people there and the atmosphere wasn’t bad, but the music was disappointing and a group of very questionable men kept trying to flirt with us.
After about an hour I had enough.
I went back to the hostel and went to bed.
Saturday – Exmouth sunsets & the final night
Even though we were technically allowed to sleep in, I had become so used to early mornings that I kept waking up anyway.
We spent most of the day at the beach.
The tide was so high there was barely any room to sit, but we made it work.
Afterwards we visited the lighthouse at North West Cape and another viewpoint before heading back.
That evening we had dinner at the hostel pub.
It was our last night together as a group and ended up being surprisingly cosy.
We sat talking for hours until staff eventually came over to tell us they wanted to close.
A very fitting end to the week.
Sunday – Ten hours on a bus
Breakfast was at 6:30am.
Then came ten hours of driving.
Honestly, it went faster than expected.
I slept for a large part of it, played some games with the girls and watched the landscape pass by.
By evening we were back in Geraldton.
I called my parents, we had a pizza night, and there were ambitious plans to finish the remaining goon.
Nobody had the energy.
We managed half a movie before slowly falling asleep.
I also discovered that Eline is a sailor and might actually come visit our boat in Veere one day, which would honestly be really fun.
Monday – The beginning of goodbye
The drive back to Perth gave me way too much time to think.
That’s when it finally hit me.
Australia is almost over.
Not completely, Bali was still ahead, but this chapter was ending.
I spent hours staring out the bus window thinking about everything that had happened over the past months.
The people.
The places.
The version of myself that somehow existed here.
And somewhere during that bus ride I wrote this:
What if life is meant to be crazy, to reach the unreachable and to do the things you never thought you would,
what if it’s meant to be unexpected, to see and do more than you thought you should?
What if it was meant for falling in love with places and strangers that change your perspective for the good,
what if you will find comfort in the unknown, and it would be way more than you thought it ever could.
Later that day I had lunch with Mitchu, Sofia, Eline and Evi before everyone slowly went their separate ways.
Back at the hostel I mostly relaxed and scrolled through my phone.
I had posted the poem on Instagram earlier that day.
Zac liked it.
But he still wasn’t replying.
And for some reason that hurt more than I wanted to admit.
After all the things he had said in Airlie Beach about visiting England, staying in touch and all the rest, it was becoming pretty obvious that he didn’t care nearly as much as I thought he did.
I hate that.
Not because I wanted some huge relationship, but because I hate when someone makes me feel something and then disappears as if none of it mattered.
I guess that’s travel romance for you.
One thing I did realise though: keeping a diary has genuinely helped me process everything this year.
It’s probably one of the habits I’ll take home with me.
Tuesday – Leaving Australia
My final morning in Australia felt strange from the moment I woke up.
Nothing special happened.
I grabbed a coffee, watched some series, packed my things and waited for it to be time to head to the airport.
But internally, it didn’t feel like a normal day at all.
I felt stressed.
A little nauseous.
And strangely emotional.
This was my last day in Australia.
A sentence that had felt impossibly far away for months was suddenly real.
For nearly a year this country had been my home.
It gave me friendships I never expected, adventures I never planned for, and memories that will probably stay with me forever.
Part of me missed home.
Part of me wasn’t ready to leave.
And another part of me already knew that once I’m back in Belgium, I’ll probably spend half my time wanting to come back.
Eventually I stopped trying to analyse it.
I grabbed my backpack, headed to the airport and just went.
Reflection
This week wasn’t loud like Cairns.
It didn’t revolve around parties, reef tours or spontaneous kisses.
Instead, it gave me space to think.
Space to slow down.
Space to realise that endings are often quieter than beginnings.
And while Australia isn’t fully over yet, it finally started to feel real that I’m getting close.
A month in Bali still waits ahead.
But Australia will always be the place that taught me that some of the best things in life happen when you stop trying to control every outcome.
And maybe that’s exactly what this year was about.
Wherever I am next, I’m learning that even chaos can feel like a beginning.
Next story
This is the end of my Australia Travel Diaries. Thank you so much for following along and reading my stories.
My next diary will take you along on my next adventure: Indonesia!
OR start from the beginning: Australia Travel Diary part 1.
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