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Published: March 21st 2013
Natures window
It was a short walk down to this view point, but on the way back Sadie almost thought her time had comeWe continued north along the coast, and saw there was a place on the map where camping was permitted for free which seemed to be right on the beach. We had to check it out. 9 times out of 10 it will just be a little pocket next to the road, where everyone can see everything, which, when there is no toilet, does make for complicated situations. We drove down a dirt road and it ended, well, in a pocket next to a dumpster, where there was a caravan parked and we could see straight into the nice older couple having dinner. Embarrassed, we thought if we just drove onto a patch of sand, we could at least have our backs to them. Well, that quickly turned into us getting stuck, or “bogged”, as one says down under, which felt even worse. But then, inspired by Øyvind's eternal faith in our car, we got out, switched on the diff lock, let some air out of the tyres, put on the 4WD in L4, got unbogged and discovered that this little pocket was not all there was. Indeed, we could drive up along the water to our very own, shaded(!), secluded camp
Breakfast's ready
Its not to bad to camp in Australia when you have a beach to your self, the sun is just warm enough and coffee is served and can be enjoyed all in the nude spot, where we promptly proceeded to do all cooking and repacking in the nude, just because we could. It was breezy and lovely and free (and had we known how expensive things would get up the coast, and how hard it was to find places to camp in the bush without having our own chemical toilet, we would have stayed longer...) and we enjoyed every minute. By this time, we were getting in the groove of things, managing to do all our reorganizing and bed-making and dinner-cooking while we watched the sunset, and waking just in time to see the beautiful sunrise... The next morning we drove out, pulled out our newly purchased air compressor, re-inflated our tyres, and off we were!
Our next destination was Kalbarri National Park, and on the way we stopped at Oakabella Homestead for lunch, where they (amazingly!) had a little roadhouse with... wifi! So of course we had to hang out there for a while and do silly things like update our Instagram and download new episodes of series we sometimes watch at night...
Some people had recommended Coronation Beach, however, considering how nice our previous night had been, we drove straight
The loop
We could have done a few kilometers of treck to get a closer look at the loop in Kalbarri National Park, but as the temperature was 50 degrees and rising, we opted for a view from a distance on to Kalbarri town, and stayed at Anchorage Caravan Park (yes, it was a bit of a let-down after the romantic night before, but the camping laws are what they are...)
When we woke, Kalbarri National Park awaited. After a quick detour to see Bluff Point and the jagged red edge over the coast, we drove down the dirt road to check in at the Ranger's Station, where they urged us to have enough water with us (the girl said 3 litres, but we had about 70, so we figured we were fine...) and warned us that as it was getting above 40° outside the park, it was bound to be at least 10° hotter inside. The road quickly turned very corrugated (which is what happens to dirt roads when they are driven on at higher speeds, the dirt creates little wave-like ripples), so much so that we were rattling, shaking and bumping along, continuously trying to maintain the right speed as to notice the bumps the least possible, and driving all over the road trying to find the best parts. We continued like this, the burning air blowing through the car, the rattling so loud we couldn't talk
Warming up the ocean
Thesun sets and we get a brake from the heat to each other, and the car shaking so much I thought it was going to fall apart, or I was going to loose a filling, or both. And we have a very sturdy car. We can't imagine how people do it in regular vehicles...
We got to the end of The Loop, from where we could see Nature's Window, which was the reason for enduring the road. And it really was worth it. The sharp red rock, the curious formation, and the view from up top were breathtaking, literally. It was midday, and well over 50°. It was only a short hike down and up again, but on the way back up to the car my body just shut down from the heat. It was literally only 200 metres up, but my brain was saying “nope, you're done... sorry mate, this is as far as you get”. Yep, that's what my childhood in Spain is good for. I've never been good at extreme heat. Luckily, Øyvind the Norwegian who handles the heat quite well, got me back to the car, allowed us to turn on the AC, and gave me enough cold water to supply a small village through
Strange colours
On our way we passed a lake with a strange purple colour, we're not sure why, but it seems like its some kind of micro organisms being harvested a drought. And then everything got much, much better. We drove out again, rattling and shaking everything around, me still clinging to the cold beverages like a life-raft, and looking out the window into the arid, blistering heat. Not a tree for miles, not a breeze, the sun burning down through the (very noticeable) hole in the ozone onto the red sand... It is an unforgiving land. If you're not well-prepared, you could die pretty quickly out there (in my case, and left to my own devices, obviously a lot quicker). Not that this was news to us (all the gear we carry around did not magically find its way onto our roof rack), but it just became a lot more real. The desert, or the outback for that matter, is not a place to mess around. Period.
- Cliff Head North is 51 km north of Leeman on Indian Ocean Drive. Still one of the best places we've stayed (did we mention it's free???)
- A bit about food: we eat mostly canned food. We have the fridge in the car, which allows for insulin storage, cold water (obviously a lifeline), butter and
Bluff Point
Another great view in Australia. This time at Bluff Point, Kalbarri Øyvind's eggs and bacon for breakfast. I have nuts and fruit for breakfast, and we have some kind of canned chicken/fish with veggies for lunch (a recent idea is putting in the fridge, then we can pretend it's fresh salad!), and we have some sort of soupy/meaty/veggies dish consisting of a two-can combo for dinner (read: a can of steak and onions and a can of mushrooms, for example), with a chopped-up onion thrown in for texture. We try to buy as different-tasting dishes as possible (a lot of canned food tastes surprisingly the same, mmmm lamb stew, tastes kind of like the chicken soup we had yesterday!) and always add in spices . However boring this may sound (especially if you know how much we love food), it means we spend an average of 10 minutes cooking each meal, cleanup is a cinch, and planning even easier (not to mention each meal costs us about 5 dollars max). We have joked about adopting the same practices back home. Also, we've both lost all the carb weight we put on in Asia. Take that, sticky rice!
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Adventures of Philnsonja
Philnsonja
Awesome Blogs and Photos!
Hi Sadie and Oyvind, It is wonderful to see blogs and photos from our own country through eyes from overseas travellers. We have yet to travel to WA but are getting ready soon in our 4WD motohome. Your photos are amazing and I am enjoying reading your blogs and looking forward to more. Well done guys and happy travels. Sonja and Phil