Western Australia without a car

Hi guys,

2 years ago I had the time of my life traveling the east coast and the south-east of Australia on an amazing solo trip. I used greyhound buses to travel from one place to the other.
Now I am thinking about traveling to west (and north - Perth to Darwin) Australia this year, but I am wondering if it will be possible to travel by bus at this side of the country. Greyhound doesn't seem to be as widespread here as on the east coast.

So, is there anyone out there who has traveled the west coast without hiring a car or camper van or who knows how it could be done?

Thanks!

I'd probably say not easily. Most of the things worth seeing in WA especially in the north are not near towns. Its very sparse there, no really big towns, Broome is the major town and its population is ~15,000. There would be plenty of tour operators though in Broome for example. Same for Exmouth and other places along the coast.

I believe Greyhound also only does Broome to Darwin. TransWADoes the SW area though, so you could do that part, then fly to other parts of WA. There is also Integrity Coachlines, which has a bigger regional WA network.

I don't know what the schedules are like, in some cases the buses could be weekly or twice a week.

In Perth you can find other travellers who have opted to by a car, check out the cafe & hostel notice boards, you just pay the cost of fuel ( and a few drinks.. ).
Its the best way to do the West Coast, I manged to do the West Coast upto Darwin and down to Ayres rock with the same guy/car for a couple of hundred dollars in fuel over about 8 weeks.

Good luck

as above - even if you can travel from perth to darwin by public bus - the places you want to see in western australia (and the northern territories) are not the cities (with the exception of perth which is a great city), but the nature - the nationalparks, the beaches, the outback, the waterfalls etc. and you dont get there by public bus.

if you are interested in visiting the southwestern area of western australia, i think you can do that by public bus. but for the perth to darwin part, if you dont want to self-drive, i would either join a tour or try to find other travellers like mentionned by #2.

If you enjoyed the east coast, the west will blow you away.
But you need a private car (a hire car will not be allowed to go to most places you need to go) and a 4WD is necessary for quite a few places that you should really visit.
Also be aware that the places, the distances and the road conditions necessitate months, not weeks.
Travel between May and September.

Cheers,
Peter

Hi if your going to be in Broome on the 20 or 21/04/2016 and you want a once in a lifetime adventure check out my post "4 adventurers wanted" or talk via (removed)

admittedly years ago but I went to perth via greyhound from Darwin, and had 2 stop overs. one was monky mia to see the dolphins, then broome ( in broome, the tidal rise in mango swamp was quite something to witness.) then I observed the stairway to the moon time. pure happenstance as I had no idea of these before i arrived.

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.