The drive to Kalbarri was a feast for the eyes with wildflowers in full bloom along the way. We are late in the flowering time but the colours are still brilliant and flowers plentiful. One of the most amazing was the Plumed Grevillea which carries the flower heads high above the foliage. The edges of the road were lined with their impressive yellow/white flowers.
We went into the Kalbarri NP and walked to the Ross Graham lookout which has views down into the gorge. The lookout was named after the first headmaster of the Kalbarri Primary School, who was deeply committed to preservation of the environment. Sadly, he died at age 31. We then went down into the gorge for a quick, refreshing dip in the Murchison River. It was very hot. I went in with my sunglasses on and discovered a bit later that I didn't have them. We did a search of the bottom and eventually Glenn found them. Lucky!
We are now in Murchison C'van park in Kalbarri with fresh drinking water, shade, showers, power and mobile service. How good is that?
Since we've been here we have driven along the cliff tops to check out the surf breaks and found a huge wave working at Jaques Point ..... a perfect break with a long ride into the beach. Glenn took pictures to send to son-in-law Adam to drool over! We also went out for lunch and swam at the beach over the road from the c'van park. Nothing too strenuous today.
A fellow camper - Stumpy Blue Tongue Lizard.
....... And another
I also spent hours online trying to fill in the house-exchange gaps for our trip to Europe next year. Hope there are some replies.
We went back to the NP today to photograph some more wild flowers and can only imagine how stunning they must look at the height of the season. We will come back again at the right time for another look.
While we were there we walked The Loop Walk to Nature's Window, a natural rock arch which superbly frames an upstream view of the Murchison Gorge and its switchback course. The walk leads steeply down to the river and follows its path through the gorge for a long way and then rises up to return along the cliff tops. There is another lookout at the start of the Z Bend Trail which gives spectacular views of the river and the surrounding plateau as well.
On our last day in Kalbarri we went to the Rainbow Jungle, a breeding centre for parrots and spent almost three hours there marvelling at the astonishing number of beautifully coloured parrots. Most of them were Australian with a few exotics thrown into the mix. The centre has a wonderful success record for breeding parrots, with the exception of a pair which cost $8,000! No wonder the black market trade in birds is so lucrative. We came away with a greater appreciation of the damage done by people who release birds into the wild, in areas which are not their usual habitat. There were several scathing comments made about 'greenies' who release caged birds and who hug trees and own a cat!!! The Eastern Rainbow Lorikeet is creating havoc in WA where it has grown to plague proportions, threatening many local species. So too is the Galah.
Macaws
Gang gang cockatoos .... Love their top nots!
We lost our broom when .....GLENN!. .JENNI! ..... depends who you talk too....... left it hanging outside the van when we left Monkey Mia. We haven't replaced it yet. Do you know how difficult it is to buy a small Asian hand broom when you are away from the big smoke??? We have tried everywhere with no success. If Geraldton hasn't got one we will be distraught, as nothing else will do the job. The broom we want, known as an Amah's broom, has long, soft, feathery 'bristles' which get the sand out of all the caravan crevices. Surely Geraldton will have an Asian shop of some description!
And, yes, I hear you say, "is that all they have to worry about? "
We finished our day with a good read on the beach in the late afternoon sunshine and then opened a bottle of red to calm our nerves. To your good health!
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