No quokkas, just cockroaches: our grand finale

Hutt Lagoon - Pink Lake - WA

Our last leg was supposed to be all sunsets, seals, and Rottnest selfies. Instead, Mother Nature looked at our plans, laughed, and said: “Nah, I’ve got something wetter in mind.”

After the drama of last week (do we stop? do we keep going? do we sell the van and move into a cave?), we decided to push through and finish the road trip on a high. But apparently “high” meant high water levels inside the tent.

Before heading fully down the coast, we made one last stop in Coral Bay. It started with a sharp reminder that the ocean is still in charge; I got stung by a bluebottle jellyfish. Yep, apparently I was on the VIP guest list for Painful Ocean Experiences, and let’s just say it delivered.

But not everything was doom and gloom. With our new 4WD (farewell, old van!) we went on a wild off-road adventure through the dunes. Sand everywhere, laughter everywhere (Except with Andrew whose heart rate was as high as a skyscraper), and a couple of questionable driving decisions later, we made it out in one piece. The highlight? Snorkeling on Ningaloo Reef. We were treated to gorgeous coral, curious octopuses, playful turtles, and all the colorful fish you can imagine. The ocean’s sting had been forgiven… mostly.

Our inland adventures weren’t bad either. We stopped to see the pink lake, Hutt Lagoon, and it did not disappoint; insanely pink, like a flamingo had thrown up in a giant bowl of water. We camped with llamas (yes, llamas, apparently they make excellent camp neighbors), and made a pitstop at Kalbarri National Park, soaking in the cliffs, gorges, and all the natural drama it had to offer.

What we thought would be a good week ahead quickly did a 180. Grey skies rolled in, and it turned out our tent was about as waterproof as a pasta strainer. By 3 a.m., we were waking up to raindrops on our faces and Deborah’s belongings either sinking or doing laps around the tent. With four more days of rain in the forecast, camping was officially cancelled.

Enter: Airbnb.

Or as we now call it, “Nothing beats a Jet 2 holiday” - kinda vibe. The first place we rented was cockroach Disneyland with a side of moldy chique. We lasted about six minutes before bailing. The second place, thankfully, was actually lovely; clean, dry, and no six-legged roommates. Finally, we could breathe, dry out, and laugh at the absurdity of it all.

But the hits kept coming. Our big Jurien Bay seal tour? A bust. No seals, just 45 minutes of us shivering in cold water, wondering if we’d just paid to simulate hypothermia. We’d even skipped other things to make time for this tour, which made it sting a little extra.

And then, as if the weather wanted one last word, Rottnest Island didn’t happen either. No quokkas. No cheeky grins. Just us, waving goodbye to the idea.

Still, in between the setbacks, there were these pockets of calm: movie nights with my sister (like the old days), slow mornings where we didn’t have to pack the van, and a bittersweet sense of wrapping up a huge chapter together.

Saying goodbye to my sister as she flew back to Belgium was tough. Suddenly it was just Andrew and me again; staring down the question of what next? Instead of driving in circles, we decided to get serious: applied for jobs, looked for a place to stay, and braced ourselves for the next chapter of life after the road.

Our road trip didn’t end the way we pictured it. It wasn’t the postcard ending we’d been chasing. But maybe that’s the thing about adventures: you don’t always get the story you wanted, but you always get a story worth telling.

Rain, cockroaches, jellyfish stings; and yet, the ocean still managed to steal the show. Andrew put together a video capturing its colors, calm, and pure magic. Consider it our “sorry-not-sorry” apology from Mother Nature for everything else that went wrong.