From Perth to Broome: The West Coast Road Trip Behind Van Life with Benefits

Sarah Harris
Feb 18
4 min read

If you’re not from Australia, here’s something important to know:

Western Australia is enormous.

Like, drive-for-hours-and-the-scenery-still-keeps-going enormous.

The stretch from Perth to Broome alone is over 2,000 kilometres, following the Indian Ocean along the country’s wild, less-populated west coast. It’s red earth, turquoise water, and skies so wide they make your thoughts feel smaller and somehow clearer.

There’s something wildly optimistic about pointing your car north out of Perth. You tell yourself it’s just a road trip. A break. A reset.

And then suddenly you’re merging onto the highway with snacks you didn’t need, a playlist you’re already arguing about, and the deeply questionable confidence that sharing a campervan with another human will be “fine.”

That, more or less, is how Van Life with Benefits began.

Not with a dramatic thunderclap. Just with the simple idea of driving north and seeing what might unravel along the way.

So I’d love to share with you the stretch of Western Australia that inspired it. The beaches, gorges and tiny coastal towns that quietly worked their way into the story.

Perth: City Edges & Big Decisions

Perth is one of the most isolated capital cities in the world. The nearest major Australian city is closer to another country than it is to us.

Which means when you leave Perth, you feel it.

The suburbs thin out. The freeway stretches. The Indian Ocean glints beside you. There’s a particular moment when you realise there’s nothing ahead but road and possibility.

In the book, that moment mirrors the emotional leap, stepping away from routine, from burnout, from the version of yourself that feels stuck.

Yanchep: Where the Coast Opens Up

Just north of Perth, Yanchep marks the beginning of that shift from city life to open coastline.

Limestone formations, pale beaches, and ocean that looks almost too blue to be real.

This part of the coast sits on lands that have been home to First Nations peoples for tens of thousands of years. Across Western Australia, Country isn’t just scenery, it’s living history, story, and connection. You feel that when you stand quietly long enough.

It’s also where you discover that campervans are both romantic and slightly impractical.

Storage negotiations begin. Personal space becomes theoretical.

Fun times.

Lancelin to Cervantes: Sand Dunes & Otherworldly Landscapes

Driving further north along Indian Ocean Drive, the scenery becomes bigger and stranger in the best possible way.

Lancelin’s towering sand dunes roll like a desert meeting the sea. Cervantes sits near the Pinnacles Desert, limestone pillars rising out of golden sand like something from another planet.

It’s cinematic. Surreal. Slightly humbling.

Perfect for characters who think they have everything under control.

Geraldton: Wind, History & The Waiting Woman

Geraldton is a proper coastal town, working port, restless sea, wind that does not believe in subtlety.

Overlooking the ocean stands a sculpture known as The Waiting Woman, commemorating those who waited for loved ones lost at sea. It’s simple and striking, and somehow quietly powerful.

Road trips aren’t just about scenery. They’re about what you carry with you — and what you might be ready to let go of.

(Also, your hair will not survive the wind. Just accept it.)

Kalbarri: Ancient Cliffs & Big Feelings

Kalbarri National Park is where Western Australia decides to show off.

Dramatic coastal cliffs. Red river gorges carved over millions of years. Nature’s Window framing a view that makes you stop mid-sentence.

These landscapes are ancient, shaped long before highways and campervans and romantic miscommunication.

It’s very hard to stay wrapped up in small arguments when you’re staring at something that vast.

Very hard. But not impossible.

Monkey Mia & Coral Bay: Turquoise Therapy

Further north, the coastline shifts again.

Monkey Mia is known for its wild dolphins that swim into shore each morning. Coral Bay sits alongside Ningaloo Reef, one of the world’s largest fringing coral reefs. It is vibrant, alive, impossibly clear.

You wade into water so turquoise it looks filtered. Salt dries in your hair. Time loosens.

This stretch of coast has been home to Aboriginal communities for millennia, with deep cultural stories tied to sea and land. There’s something grounding about knowing the landscape holds far older narratives than your own temporary chaos.

It puts things in perspective.

Even if your travel companion still insists they packed “efficiently.”

Karijini: Red Earth & Perspective

Karijini National Park sits inland, in the Pilbara region, red rock, deep gorges, waterfalls hidden like secrets.

The earth here is iron-rich and fiercely coloured. The rock formations are billions of years old. Standing inside those gorges, you feel small in a way that’s oddly comforting.

Karijini is humbling.

It strips away the noise. The ego. The petty.

Or at least it tries to.

Broome: Where the Sky Turns Gold

By the time you reach Broome, near the top of Western Australia, the air feels softer.

Cable Beach stretches for kilometres. At sunset, the sky turns molten gold and camels walk along the shoreline like something from a dream.

Broome sits on Yawuru Country, with deep cultural history and connection to land and sea. It’s a place layered with stories, pearling, migration, ancient heritage.

And after driving all that way, you feel layered too.

Sunburnt. Slightly over-salted. A little changed.

That’s the real heart of Van Life with Benefits.

Not just the forced proximity or the banter. But what happens when you keep driving long enough to become someone braver than the person who first left Perth.

Western Australia has a way of stretching things out, the road, the horizon, even your perspective.

This book is my love letter to that stretch of coast. To the optimism of heading north. And to the possibility that sometimes, the most unexpected travel companion is exactly who you needed.

Are you a meticulous road-trip planner… or a “let’s just see what happens” type?

Tell me your favourite road trip memory, I’d love to hear from you!

Warm regards