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October 18th 2009

Published: October 18th 2009

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Lckiwis

Natures Window

Kalbarri National Park

We left Shark Bay and continued our way south. We stopped for a night at a freepark at Nerren Nerren, and had planned to stay at another at the Murchison River, a pretty spot with lots of wild flowers. But the FLIES were so bad, after lunch inside the van, we decided to continue on to Kalbarri. We stopped on the way and did 2 short walks at Kalbarri National Park, to Hawkes Head lookout and Ross Graham Lookout. Our flynet hats came out, first time for a very long time - (the Kurong in South Australia we think was the last time!!), and we wore light long sleeved shirts and long trousers, to try to keep them off us. There were quite a variety of wild flowers around.
Kalbarri is a pretty coastal town with a narrow dangerous looking bar - we watched a launch come in, the wind was about 25 knots and the surf was big - interesting!! The next day we went back to a different part of the Kalbarri National Park and did some more walks, including Hawkes Head, Natures Window and Z Bend. It was very hot, over 30 degrees by 10am. At least the

our turn for the window

water was suitable to drink from the tap - not salty bore water like weve had since Exmouth. We emptied and refilled our water tanks there.
We continued down the coast road, visiting Port Gregory, another pretty spot on the coast, and Pink Lake nearby - a betacarotene mine here capitalises on the warm sunny days to produce a dietary supplement. Opposite this was a garnet mine.
The terraine changed to fertile valleys, and undulating countryside, more like NZ. We took a very good dirt road shortcut to Horricks, another pretty fishing village with another nice white sand beach. There were lots of neat shacks in rows there. After lunch there, we continued on to Coronation Beach, where we stayed the night. Lots of windsurfers and a kite surfer were having a blast in the windy conditions, but at least the flies weren so bad! From there we came on to Geraldton, where we will have 3 nights, and leave tomorrow.
Weve done the town sites of interest, including the museum, and the lighthouse at nearby Point Moore. Today we went on a tiki tour to The Principality of the Hutt River Province, met Prince Leonard (84) the sovereign, who

Kalbarri lookout

showed us around. It has been and independent state, seceded from Australia since 1970. It has 18,500 acres of farmland, and a post office, chapel and infomation centre amongst other buildings. We got a Visa Permit stamped. From there we did a scenic loop road back through the Chapman River Valley to Geraldton.
We are having drinks soon with 2 NZ couples weve met here, one lot from Gisbourne, and the others from Ohiwa near Opotiki.
We will continue slowly south having a good look around, and plan to be in Perth by the 30th October.
Thanks to those who have sent news this week.
Cheers Lynne and Chris

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