First stop, Kalbarri

Kicked off a little too eager this morning, left the cabin and then proceeded to fall down the veranda stairs. No panic though nothing broken bar the lunch box that I was carrying at the time. As the saying goes though life could be worse.

Finally on the road we swoop into Geraldton and came across Geraldton's WA museum. It mainly focused on shipwreck history especially that of HMAS Sydney that sunk just off Champions Bay.  On signing the
visitors book a guy spoke up and said 'G'day mate how long you been out?'  I replied '5 days'.  With a parting smile he returned comment that he left Portsmouth 42 years ago and has never gone back. With that he was gone as quick as he arrived.  Prior to leaving we headed up to the HMAS Sydney memorial that was only installed in 2008  as the ship's exact whereabouts was unknown. 

Heading onto Kalbarri we came across Port Gregory.  A small coastal town with a strange purple/pinky coloured lagoon.  This was due to a bacteria called Dunaliella salina, nice.  It becomes trapped within the salt granules. This provides a rich source of beta carotene which is harvested. It all looked very odd though going on the surrounding red earth scrubby landscape.



On arrival at Kalbarri we booked into a cabin overlooking the Murchison river.  Once unpacked we headed for Kalbarri National Park to walk down the rugged gorge to 'Natures Window', a hole that's been blown through a large overhanging section of sandstone rock. There is a real fly problem in Oz at the moment so it was advisable to keep mouths shut. I counted 30 flies on my rucksack at one point! Great views to be had from this point looking  down to the Murchison River below. You are meant to be able to paddle up this section but it seemed pretty dry, WA has had an exceptionally dry winter.

From Natures Window we headed from the loop track down to the 'Z bend'. A section of the gorge that shapes the river way like a sharp knife. It looked pretty 'grand canyon' like as the sun started to set over the coloured rocks. It was time to head for home as to leave any later the ranger states it will be roo bashing all the way home.

On the return from any walk it's always advisable to stop for a cheeky one to wet the whistle. We stopped at what looked like a lively joint for Monday night.  Well it would do wouldn't it as this place had everything that drinkers dream of.   Pool tables, live ozzie rules on loop, a fully operational mini bookies and a restaurant on the side.  Bookies (plus ATM) and beer = a dangerous combination. You get caught in this place in the wrong sort of mood and you'd never leave! 

At Kalbarri beach the pelicans are fed every day at 8am. Joyce, the local volunteer feeder was very funny. It's one of Kalbarri's main attractions as like the local say, because it's free.  There is only one type of pelican species in Oz and up to approximately 60 return to Kalbarri each year after travelling the world.