Kalbarri-Hamelin-Coral Bay


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Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Coral Bay
July 31st 2016
Published: July 31st 2016
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Hello folks sorry about the gap but not much signal in the last few days!
Before we left Kalbarri we visited Rainbow Jungle, a parrot park. We only planned a quick visit but there was so much to see we were still there at lunchtime and had coffee and a jaffle. The parrots were mostly natives and very happy and well cared for. There was also lots of information on habitat loss and the impact of nutters releasing birds from aviaries to cause ecological havoc.
We then had a great drive through the Kalbarri national park , the whole area is bathed in wild flowers and the trees and bushes were flowering in every colour. My photos do not do it justice.
We arrived at our campsite at Hamelin which was a farm stay or Station as they are called here. We decided to go with tent rather than swags and watched Mr Grumpy across in pitch number 2 as he wandered about scowling at children and moaning to a bloke about his generator.
Now I'm not keen on gennies either, I don't get why people go into the wilderness and then want every conceivable electrical luxury including satellite TV and a microwave. However most people are considerate and switch off by 8 or 9 pm.
So in the morning we left early to drive to Monkey Mia. The reserve is basically one resort and is famous for wild dolphins visiting. We made it for the last feed of the morning and 2 dolphins turned up. The Rangers who led the dolphin experience were very knowledgable and they control how often and how much fish is fed to ensure this is more like a McDonald's drive through snack and the Dolphins still need to catch the rest of their food and behave naturally. It was lovely to see wild animals up close on their own terms. We also saw a turtle there but left after a coffee as Monkey Mia is a bit touristy and not really our kind of place.
We then went up to the Francois Peron national park and had a look around the old heritage homestead and former sheep station. It was very interesting and the old shearing shed in particular was great with lots of information. It seems the shearing had to move there because the previous location was too close to the pub and they would start the morning with 11 shearers and gradually lose them during smoke breaks or lunch until there were none left by mid afternoon as they would all be in the pub. There was also an artesian bore hot tub which I could not resist so jumped in for a while.
On our way back we stopped at a few viewpoints and then went to Hamelin Pool to see the Stromatolites. These are similar structures in that they are formed by microbial mats of slime but no information was provided to explain the shapes.
After another hot night in the tent we moved on the next day to our next Station campground at Bullara.
This one was like a mini festival with lots of campers, a 5pm dampers and live music at the camp kitchen and a separate area for swags and tents which is good.
It was now bloody hot at around 30-32 degrees and at some point on the way we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. I hoped for a road sign to get a selfie at but none were spotted.
So we camped the first night in swags and had the canvas down to enjoy the stars- lovely!
The next day we drove to Coral Bay and I snorkelled while Brian paddled. I could see some great corals and fish while keeping close to the beach and Brian for safety reasons as I was alone. Brian saw all the big fish and they were bloody big!
After a lovely time we had coffee and a bite to eat and then tried to set off for the campsite. Bruce the Ford Territory then decided after over 7000km that he would play up so we are now in a Coral Bay backpackers waiting to get the car problem solved and then we have to retrieve our swags and hopefully get going again. Not to worry, the hostel has a pool, a laundry and a cheap bar and we have phone signal so we are very lucky really.


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