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Published: April 5th 2010
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Day 2
Leg 2: Kalbarri - Monkey Mia Our accommodation in Kalbarri was quite nice, with enough room to swing a cat and everything. No cooker but we had our own. We've decided to cook all our meals ourselves rather than spend our money on overpriced restaurants....we have to save that for fuel. The price seems to be creeping up the further we head north. No sense in grumbling though as without it we wouldn't go anywhere! It's comforting to know we've got 40L in the tray...just in case. Since we didn't have a chance to really see much of Kalbarri the night before, nothing more than a nice cliffside and a sunset, we drove up to Kalbarri National Park to see some interesting natural rock formations and assuage our need to DO something. There's no point in driving all this way just to hang about in a guestroom!
In the Kalbarri guidebook and the accommodation brochure, a couple of places were mentioned, each 500m from the carpark! Which carpark was not mentioned exactly, and we spent the waning sunlight looking for signs to them before heading back to the room in defeat. A good night's sleep seemed
to help us out and the thought came to us in the morning that perhaps they meant 500m from the carpark NEAR THE ROCK FORMATIONS and not some communal Kalbarri carpark everyone but us knows about. Forcing down our pride, we got directions when checking out and headed to the Natonal Park entrance, a gate at the beginning of a 26km gravel road. Australia changes colour the longer you drive around. The road went from red to orange to yellow and back again, always edged by scrubland. Nature thrives out here, which is no surprise given the minimal amount of development.
We went to Nature's Window first, a 1km return hike that led us to a loop of rock, serving as a viewing point for the almost empty river below. Looking out at the landscape, we were struck by an intense feeling of isolation (aside from the other tourists clambering around with us). For miles in most directions, there was just land. Cliffs. Rocks. Rivers. Not a homestead or power line in sight. Just nature (so long as you didn't turn around and look back at the carpark with all the 4WDs and brave sedans). We took the obligatory
couple shots, a few off the wall (or on the wall really) cliffhanger shots then set off for the Z-bend where the river curved around the cliffside sharply and Danilo (from know on referred to as OutbackDan) did his best impression of Spiderman while trying to give me a heart attack. I chucked a sad, he ignored it and it turned out that everything was 'going to be all right' but how many people (guys?) have said that before suffering from extreme injuries...?
On the road once more, we had 400km to go to get to Monkey Mia. While Thursday's weather had been clear and sunny, Good Friday dawned overcast and was cooler than expected. Luckily, we were heading north out of the clouds and it lightened up considerably, turning into a kind of Super Mario landscape, with fluffy clouds. I kept expecting one of those mushroom guys to hop across the road, but ion our case it would have been a roo...something i'm keen to avoid. We've seen a few of them lying on the side of the road, somewhat fresh which is sad, but par for the course in these areas. What more to say about the
drive? Australia is an alien country here. Instead of the residential sprawl i'm used to, or even the lush greenery of the south with its tall trees towering on either side of the road, it's short scrubland, sudden hills then open road in a straight line as far as the eye can see. We've developed a decent rapport on this trip...with nothing else to do and no one else to talk to it would be a tedious drive if we didn't. We just seem to relax the further we get from the cities, and just enjoy one another's company. It's always a bit of a relief to find a town, yes, but we do alright on our own as well.
Arriving in Monkey Mia was a bit of a shock. After all that nothing, we were suddenly in a queue of cars, then hunting for parking space near our own lodge. Campers, Caravans and holiday makers filled the Monkey Mia Dolphin resort, a shock after our quiet stay in kalbarri and lonesome drive. Perhaps that alrady had me on edge or something, but i didn't particularly like the woman at reception either. They wanted a credit card but our
broker kindly told us to get rid of them during application for a home loan. When I told her this, and offered my debit card she looked at me like I was crazy and said 'Well, we can't exactly charge you if you leave' before pointing out (the obvious) that we'd have to pay for everything as we went. Do I look like a vagabond? I mean really. Sigh. I then forgot to get the key and she came out to the car and laughed in my face. Work on your service skills honey!
The room was somewhat disappointing, located at the furthest point possible from our parking place which came in handy for lugging the eskys from the car. (NOT!) Our smoke detector beeped once every five minutes (possibly our fault as we disconnected it for cooking purposes), and the rumoured wireless internet didn't reach our room. Positives, so this post becomes less of a whinge: Ocean views, beautiful sunset, we could create a nice draught from front door to sliding door for cooking, the Astro Boy movie was on when we arrived (nerds!), and we were walking distance from the dolphin viewing area. I know i'm a
tourist, but it's a bit too commercialised for my liking. Dolphin Bar, Dolphin Cafe, Dolphin Restaurant, Dolphin resort. We get it! There are dolphins here! Danilo and I had a jinx moment when we both stated at the same time that it should be called Dolphin Mia. Where did the 'monkey' come from?
Wildlife sightings so far:
8 Foxes (roadkill)
7 Rabbits (roadkill)
4 Goats (alive - 3 babies!)
25 Kangaroos (roadkill)
1 Cow (alive)
0 Monkeys
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