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Distance traveled 577km/4300km(13%) 4 nights stayed Another short(just less than 200km’s)putter up the coast from Dongara took us away from the coastal road and into the farming areas of this region of Western Australia.Both Sue and I cannot get over just how dry the countryside is….not at all surprising considering that it hasn’t rained since October and summertime temperatures are 40degC and above daily.The Aussies don’t have a weather fixation because there is nothing to fixate about when they know it will be sunny and hot for at least 6-7 months before the brief respite of winter rain.One of the photo’s in this blog illustrates the point being made.We stumbled across a charming little town by name of Northhampton(no street or town renaming yet although with all the “sorries” going on to appease the Abo’s who knows?).What made this town so interesting was the fact that just about every building is the original settler structure and it boasts one of Australia’s oldest original trading stores which had that unmistakable smell of old haberdashery.Looks like a popular retirement spot as most of the town’s 813 inhabitants look to be octogenarian’s.We saw some “dinkum fella’s” who were the first spotted since Freo.The road
then tilts coastward and about 10km’s from Kalbarri we entered the Kalbarri National Park with signs(yup…lots of them!)warning of wildlife and kangaroo’s.Chief ‘roo spotter,Susan,failed to find one but there was evidence of some being flattened into the road along with other little creatures.The coastline changes markedly at Kalbarri and on the southern side are spectacular cliffs with a surging,deep blue sea below.The view as one enters the town is superb and we decided unanimously that this would have to be a 3-4 night stay.A relatively small hamlet is tucked along the sandy banks of the Murchison River which has a navigable entry to the sea.Our camping site is no more than 75 meters from the sandy banks of a beautiful estuary.Being the end of our first week we decided to test the local cuisine at the Black Rock Café.Delightful evening looking across the road to the calm waters of the Murchison.We had been warned that eating out in Oz is expensive and to put this in perspective our meal consisting of a main course and a bottle of WA wine cost R518.00 which I guess puts them about 70% above our equivalent pricing.I had better start catching those fish I
have been promising Sue.Cycling is popular in Oz and we hired bikes to do a 10km round trip cycle along a path just above the cliffs.Spectacular views along the route looking down into the sea below.Kalbarri also has the country’s largest bird park for parrots and the colours of the 50 odd species kept there was something to see.Interesting fact is that one of the indigenous parrots,a grey and pink bird known as a Galah,is taking on “pest status”.It has a nasty little habit of raiding and then commandeering other birds nests leading to an explosion in their numbers and a reduction in the species who have lost their nesting sites.Another feature of the WA coastline are the magnificent sunsets.On each of the evenings we watched the setting sun turn the sky to brilliant reds and pinks accentuated by the odd bit of high cloud cover.Fact file on Australia……..is Australia the land of flies and other creepy crawlies?This seemed to be the view of many back in SA including a German campervan couple(had done WA) Sue and I met in JHB a few weeks before we set off.Sue is never one to take any chances and impressively stocked up on
all the lethal concoctions to chase the buggers away and then if they did break through,the stuff to make the itches go away.Well…myth or urban legend?We have seen the odd fly but at this early point of our journey nothing like the plague imagery.This may change.Fishing update……well,the 9-5’ers,are probably hoping that the fish remain elusive.Good news for you as I can’t irritate you with stories of great catches.The Murchison River is pristine and with a wide opening to the sea it just looked like an estuary where fish should be caught.There is plenty of bait fish along the banks but the bigger guys aren’t calling.I caught a few very small tailor(shad)on drop shot but the really interesting catch was an Indian Mirror fish(on drop shot)caught by Sue!She is now into drop shotting and maybe will catch the dinner that so far has eluded us……other than $10.00 paid for a red snapper here and there.Whilst fishing at the mouth early one morning I got chatting to a guy,quickly realized he was from SA and then discovered that he was none other than Charlie Wilkins(Andy’s son)and Mike’s nephew.How is that for a small World?He has been in Oz for about 3 years
living in Perth.He wasn’t having much success which he ascribed to the fact that Mike taught him as a youngster.The fishing will improve further north.
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Jiff Robert
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Stunning
Stunning cyclist and view - should read the caption