Kalbarri and Geraldton

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Day 55 – Thursday 23^rd August – Kalbarri to Cliff Head (100kms south of Geraldton)

Even though we don’t like staying in caravan parks because everyone is on top of each other and they are usually so crowded, we must admit it is convenient to have a camp kitchen with mod cons such as kettles, toasters, sinks and running hot water! We had gallons of tea and piles of toast for breakfast and a takeaway coffee from the café round the corner. I forgot to mention the excellent shower we had last night in the brand new shower block at the campsite. We have definitely established that having a shower every day is a luxury and not a necessity but it is nice to feel squeaky clean every now and again and have freshly washed hair. We had been thinking about doing some washing for days now but didn’t want to waste precious travelling time in Laundromats so we took the opportunity of doing two loads of washing at the caravan park and leaving it on the line to dry while we explore the Kalbarri National Park.

We packed up the trailer and left the caravan park at around 9.30. The National Park is about 25kms back along the road out of town. At the park entrance the very friendly Ranger told us that that towing vehicles are asked to park their caravan or trailer just past the entrance to the park. This is to preserve the sandy tracks around the park and prevent large corrugations forming. Mark unhitched the trailer while the ranger showed me two orchid style wildflowers that he was particularly fond of that were tucked away near his hut. The pink fairy orchid (I think) and the Kalbarri cowslip orchid were both small and unremarkable, and we would certainly have walked straight past them on a track without noticing them. Whilst I have been enjoying the flashes of colour provided by the wildflowers on the drive south from Exmouth, I have no ambition to learn the names of them – a photo is good enough for me!

We only had a couple of hours to spend in the park as we needed to be in Geraldton by 2.30pm for the car to get checked over. The “Z-bend” and “Loop” are two of the most picturesque places in the park so we decided to check these out. At the Z-Bend there is a lookout over a spectacular gorge and a short walk down to the water at the base of the gorge. Did the walk real quick, took photos then hurried on to the Loop a few kms away. The Loop offers another spectacular lookout and also the famous “Nature’s window” – a rock formation of a hole in the top of a ridge which acts as a sort of frame for the views behind it. Took more photos, admired the views and our outing to the beautiful Kalbarri National Park was over!

We managed not to forget our washing at the caravan park and it was nicely dry by the time we collected it from the line at around lunchtime. From Kalbarri it was an easy 2 hour drive to Geraldton, where we dropped the car off at the Toyota dealer for the warning light to get checked out. The garage was situated right on the sea front and we had a nice walk along the promenade. Geraldton was our first proper taste of a decent sized town (city?) since Broome and it was strange to see traffic lights again! Mining money had been wisely used and the sea front area had been beautifully developed to include green lawns, a couple of playgrounds, a bike and walking path and a water park.

The western coast of Australia has a rich history of European explorers getting shipwrecked since the 1600’s. The most famous wreck is the Batavia, a Dutch sailing boat that ran aground on islands in 1629. The story of what happened to the survivors (one of the ship’s crew established a brutal regime of terror on their little island and committed mass murder) is told in the excellent Geraldton museum. The other exhibit we had time to see was about the HMAS Sydney, the warship that sunk in a battle with the German boat the Komorant in 1941. We had seen the memorial cairn on the coast near Quobba (close to the spot where a couple of lifeboats from the Kormorant came ashore) but didn’t realise that the wreck of the Sydney was only discovered in 2008, after a massive fundraising campaign by the descendants of the crew. The museum is well worth a visit if you ever have a few hours to spare in this neat little city.

We are aiming to arrive in Perth on Saturday to see Luke’s old school friend from Beaumaris who moved away, so we decided to drive another 100kms south of Geraldton that afternoon, past Dongara and Port Denison (cray fishing towns) to a very picturesque free camping spot at Cliff Head. We arrived just as the sun was setting over the sea and popped up the tent before it got dark. Around the campfire, after cold roast chicken and salad for dinner, we decided to use the Telstra signal and check out the lyrics to the song “I’m fair dinkum, bloody oath I am”. It was written by Aussie bush crooner John Williamson and there are some great live versions on YouTube! As dodgy as this song sounded drifting across the campground at Karijini we have become a little bit obsessed with it and it has almost become the song of the trip….

“I’m fair dinkum, bloody oath I am.
I’ve loved the smell of gum leaves since I was in a pram.
There may be places greener, but I don’t give a damn,
Cos I’m fair dinkum, bloody oath I am.”

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