Kalbarri Rainbow Jungle & Giants of the deep

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What an exciting and rewarding day we have had! Not as cold as yesterday, in fact getting to a top of 24C this afternoon.

After all the normal household chores we headed out to Rainbow Jungle on the southern outskirts of Kalbarri. Along the way we picked up bread and vanilla slice from the local bakery for lunch.

We had heard good reports of Rainbow Jungle, so decided to spend an hour in their aviaries. Well, the hour actually went on to be 2 hours. If you enjoy bird photography, this is a good place to see a variety of parrots (big and small), many in a free flying aviary.

There are some exceptions. The macaws, well they are accessible but not free to fly when the public are there. There was a pair of juvenile macaws having a tug of war over a piece of orange skin. The fight ended as a draw with both getting half each.

There are about 10 parrot species in free flight, but the large parrots are in their separate large closed aviaries. Most obliged for a picture, but Marg and I both found it difficult to get good pictures through the mesh. However, the free flight birds gave us plenty of entertainment in trying to capture them in a natural pose. If you can accept a food bowl as natural, it became easier to get good shots.

It was time for lunch, so we made a coffee in the MH and fed the worms before heading off to Natural Bridge, a further 5 or 6ks further south, and out to the coast. We had only just turned off the highway when I spotted something on the road. It turned out to be an echidna crossing right by the traffic counter tubes across the road. Once he/she was across natures disguise took over as he/she avoided any further invasion of their privacy.

The rocky coast line here always brings new photo opportunities, but the big thrill was watching several pods of hump back whales travelling north up the coast. Marg got the photo of the day with the whale tooting its whistle and arching its back out of the water.

There are several lookouts along the coastal cliffs. One caught our attention being called Shellhouse. Now, we thought that there must be an old structure here built of shells. If it exists, we didn't see it. The little gorge there is known as Shellhouse Gorge. No shells that we could see. The afternoon sun did play tricks on us though making one rock look as if it had been embedded with sparkling diamonds. Sadly close up photos exposed the truth of the matter.

Tomorrow we say farewell to Kalbarri and start the trip northwards to Denham. Kalbarri, though a little off the main highway north, is well worth spending a few days or even weeks with its safe lagoon and great walks in the national parks.

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Photos

Welcome to Rainbow Jungle
Juvenile macaw

Humpback off Kalbarri
Probably 500 meters or more from the shore.

Cockatiel
Cockatiels come in a variety of colour, but this is the natural tones of these friendly little (noisy) birds.

Sparkling Rock
Looked like diamonds until we zoomed in.

Echidna crossing the road
The first time we have seen an echidna in the wild.

Prickly bush?
No, the echidna tucked into a hollow log.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Birds and Whales
We love to see animals in our travels. You've captured some great shots!

[Mum & Dad]

Great bird shots
Very enjoyable blog some great bird photos. You had a great time with them.

[Home and Away]

Great bird pictures...
and spotting an echidna is pretty rare.