Go way west to Dirk Hartog Island

Western Australia’s largest island is also the first place where permanent evidence of European contact with Australia was left, more than 400 years ago. To this day, Dirk Hartog Island is difficult to get to. A 4x4 is not-negotiable…all the temptation we needed to head west in a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk.

We joke about SUVs when we see them lining up to pick-up the youngsters after school, or side-by-side in the shopping centre car park. But, a true SUV with true 4x4 capability can truly take you places in Australia and help to deliver experiences ordinary cars truly can’t.

Dirk Hartog Island is one of those experiences.

This 80km-long island is the largest in Western Australia and Australia’s most westerly point. It’s also the place where the Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog landed on October 25, 1616 and left the first evidence of European presence in Australia.

Since then, the island has evolved through various forms. More explorers landed, including Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn, who claimed Western Australia for King Louis XV and France in 1772. Nice plan.

Subsequently there’s been guano mining, pearling, sheep grazing and nowadays Dirk Hartog Island is a world-heritage listed part of the Shark Bay Marine Park and predominantly a national park with strictly limited tourist access.

Getting to the island these days doesn’t compare with the privations Hartog and his crew suffered on the Eendracht during their voyage from Holland to Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies, but it’s still a challenge. You’re going to need a 4x4 to get there and, once on the island, you will appreciate its capabilities.

Which is why we headed to Dirk Hartog Island with the latest and most off-road capable Jeep Grand Cherokee of them all, the Trailhawk.

Powered by a VM Motori 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine driving through an eight-speed ZF automatic, the Trailhawk runs Jeep’s Quadra-Drive II 4x4 system with rear Electronic Limited Slip Differential, a unique version of the Quadra-Lift air suspension providing increased articulation and total suspension travel, the Selec-Terrain system which adjusts dynamics through ‘Auto’, ‘Sand’, ‘Snow’, ‘Rock’ and ‘Mud’ modes, Selec-Speed Control with hill ascent and descent control, four underbody skid plates and Goodyear Adventure off-road tyres with Kevlar reinforcement.

In terms of production 4x4 technology, it’s difficult to think of anything Jeep has left on the shelf.

Inside the five-seater there’s a unique black hue with leather and suede performance seats, red accent stitching and piano black and gun-metal finishes. There are new off-road pages on the 8.4-inch Uconnect touch screen which displays wheel articulation, suspension height and 4x4 and Selec-Terrain modes.

The Trailhawk’s capabilities aren’t challenged on the bitumen haul up the coast from Perth to the Gascoyne Region. This is cruise controlled touring, which any reasonable car would have no drama with. There are a reasonable number of overtaking lanes on the highway, to deal with the caravans and trucks, and overtaking punch is a specialty of the V6 turbo-diesel engine.

And the road stays pretty benign when you turn off the North West Coastal Highway at the Overlander Roadhouse, 700km north of Perth. From here there’s another 185km to travel to DHI. This is also the turn-off to Monkey Mia and the small tourist town of Denham.

In fact the adventure truly begins when you join the Useless Loop Road. There is now more than 100km of formed gravel road and then 30km of sandy track through the Edel Land conservation area before you reach Steep Point, the spectacular most westerly point of mainland Australia. It’s from near here, at Blackie’s Beach, where a barge collects vehicles for the 15 minute ride to Dirk Hartog Island.

And, as the barge departs around 9am, you really need to be there the night before. If you want to camp, you’ll have to book through WA Parks and Wildlife and well in advance because sites are limited.

On the way into Steep Point, the road quickly deteriorates in quality. It’s sandy, rutty, dusty and, in places, blind over crests and narrow. Translation: Lots of fun.

By the time you enter Edel Land it’s time to lower tyre pressures to around 20psi in order to cope with the sandy climbs.

There’s nothing here requiring locked diffs or low range, but it’s good to know the Trailhawk can power through the soft sand which builds up in the tight corners.

Camping at Blackie’s Beach is literally on the water’s edge. There’s no power or water, so you have to be self-sufficient. But at least you don’t have to take ‘Doug’ the shovel for a walk in the dunes as there are well-maintained drop toilets.

The next challenge for you and your 4x4 is actually making it up the ramp and on board the Dirk Hartog barge. This is what the term ‘ramp-over angle’ was invented for. With its height adjustable air springs jacked up, the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk manages the challenge easily … and just as comfortably rolls off the barge at the other end and onto the island, after the dolphin-escorted trip across the channel.

Captaining the barge is Kieran Wardle, a person intrinsic to Dirk Hartog Island’s emergence as an eco-tourism hot-spot.

Wardle is the third-generation resident of the island from that family. His grandfather Sir Thomas, a former Lord Mayor of Perth and supermarket magnate, purchased the leasehold in the late 1960s when the island was still a sheep farm. Kieran, who had been visiting from Perth since he was a child, was called up to work here for a week 24 years ago and has never left.

Kieran’s headquarters is a 57-hectare plot of land on the more protected eastern side of the island. This is where his eco-tourism resort and campground is beautifully located. The stone lodge was originally shearers quarters, but these days has been tastefully updated. It overlooks Shark Bay and its lawn is a great place for a quiet drink as the sun sets. That’s followed by a few more drinks and a hearty meal served up by Kieran and his permanent staff Lindsay and Kez.

“It’s a really unique situation where we have tourism accommodation in the middle of a national park on a world heritage island,” Mr Wardle explains. “We are trying to leverage eco-tourism to show people what this amazing place is about.”

Our first objective is to drive to Cape Inscription, the most northerly point, where Hartog made his 1616 landing. It’s a minimum two and a half hours each way on bumpy, narrow, sandy, corrugated and at time rocky tracks. We’re following the east coast on the way up and then plan to loop back around to the west, followed by a drive through the centre on the way back.

It’s advisable to keep tyre pressures low and to pick your line slowly over the rocky bits, but for the most part it’s relatively straight forward and fun 4x4 driving.

“There is a lot of people out there with four-wheel drives and they want adventure with their families,” Mr Wardle said. “Bringing their four-wheel drives to an island where they have got so many places to discover is a great adventure.”

The fun starts within a few minutes of leaving the Eco Lodge as we engage low range and ‘Sand’ mode via the dial on the Trailhawk’s centre console and clamber onto the dunes which dominate the island’s centre. Following poles stuck into the firmly packed sand, here we could be in the Dubai desert. As we climb, the island’s eastern shoreline unravels panoramically below us, the Indian Ocean sparkling in the late-winter sun. Beyond that are Monkey Mia and Denham. It’s 25 degrees ambient here whereas back home in Melbourne, it’s nine.

Further north, the scrub is reclaiming acreage from the dunes which rear like tsunamis from the plains. The island has been revegetating and recovering for the last few years as the sheep have been removed and ferals cats and goats eradicated. It’s all part of a Parks and Wildlife project called ‘Return to 1616’.

“The island is becoming an ark for endangered animals,” Mr Wardle explained. “These little endangered animals in this area are being introduced to Dirk Hartog Island and being bred to repopulate the mainland if anything ever goes wrong. It’s an awesome project.”

Next, the trail trundles past a series of beautiful outlooks; Quoin Bluff, Herald Bay Louisa Bay, Sandy Point, Withnell Point and Cape Levillain. We take the turn-off into a small parking area overlooking Turtle Bay and look out the window of the Trailhawk. Out there are two humpback whales, rolling to and fro and generally looking pretty relaxed. It’s an incredible sight, but only a starting point.

We head around to Cape Inscription to find the display of replicas of the pewter plates left by Hartog and his colleague, Willem de Vlamingh, who visited here in 1697. But our historical exploration is soon overwhelmed by the amazing spectacle out at sea. There are literally hundreds of humpbacks swimming about.

They are flapping their tails, breaching and swimming about alone, in pairs and in threesomes. They are close in shore and all the way out to the horizon. No more than 30 seconds goes by before another spout, fin, tail, breach or huge splash of water is spotted. This show goes on every year as part of the whale migration from July to October.

But it’s only part of the maritime wonderland which is Dirk Hartog Island.

“The marine life is just incredible,” enthused Mr Wardle. “It’s not only whales, you’ve got sharks, dugongs, turtles. It’s amazing.”

You can get out amongst it all paddling, snorkelling or on a boat tour. Understandably, the fishing in this area is legendary.

You can even walk with the sharks. Yep, at Surf Point in the island’s south, hundreds of small reef sharks glide around in calm, protected and clear knee-deep water. Unlike their larger brethren who live further out to sea, these fellas are pretty shy and inclined to head in the opposite direction from anyone splashing about nearby.

The island’s scenery is its other great charm. Sure, there’s plenty of scrubby bush, but the further to the west we drive, the wilder and rougher the coastline gets. At The Block, huge granite boulders have been torn from the ocean bedrock by two ancient tsunamis and flung far up the shore.

We follow a rocky trail down right next to the ocean for a few kilometres, the Trailhawk idling over the bumps and lumps. Almost within touching distance, humpbacks are cruising just off-shore. We stop and watch again as one goes into a paroxysm of tail slapping. It’s powerful, joyous and entrancing to watch.

From there, it’s time to turn back inland and follow the trail across the middle of the island. We head out over another set of dunes, grateful for the poles to follow as strong winds have wiped out any evidence of tyre tracks. The Trailhawk powers and slices through the soft stuff, throwing showers of sand spectacularly skywards.

Then we plunge into the brush, following the track as it winds up and over one dune after another. The scrub presses in on both sides, screeching and scraping along the paintwork. We know from past experience most of these ‘pinstripes’ will buff out, but be aware it is an issue here. If those scrapes concern you, do some research on how to minimise the damage because there are solutions out there such as magnetic panel protectors.

There’s more closed in brush further south on the way into the Blowholes, but it’s worth it for yet another change in the island’s character. Here, sheer cliffs drop hundreds of metres into a frothing sea. It’s windier and wilder than anywhere else we have been on the island and truly epic in its scale. I’m not tempted to go too close to the edge.

Across the waters we can see the cliffs of Steep Point. It’s incredible to think we are only 15 minutes away by boat, yet feel in a different and truly beautiful world.

Tomorrow it’s back to the mainland, back to texts and emails. Back to the school run and the shopping centre. For now though, we’ll enjoy where we are and that we’ve truly used our Trailhawk as a good 4x4 should be.

“Islands and remoteness, less people; those are the sorts of destinations people are after today,” Mr Wardle reflected. “Going to a destination where your phone doesn’t ring and the kids can play safely. It’ awesome.”

Video and Images: Cristian Brunelli