Kalbarri, Monkey Mia and Stromatolites

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Oh dear, we are getting a little behind with our blogs! It is now well over a week since we left Carnarvon and by the time we finish putting this one to bed it will be more like 2! It’s not a problem we hear you say….well yes it is, I (Steve) find it difficult to remember what I did the day before, let alone 2 weeks! The only thing I can be certain of is a cold beer and plenty of red wine…good job Deb is writing a daily diary anyway here goes, lets see what happened!

Our first 2 days after leaving Carnarvon were spent at Hamelin Pool, which is famous for stromatolites (see pic). Very interesting theory but not much to look at. Had more fun watching paint dry. From here we had an early start so as to get the 110klms to Monkey Mia for dolphin feeding time.

Little side story…on our way, a father emu with four young decided to cross the road just ahead of us. What he didn’t know or see was the car coming the other way and oops, one poor young chick ran right into the side of it! (Ahhhhh) The guy turns round and heads back seeing that the bird is still alive, but also heading back is one pissed off Dad (having told Mum he would take good care of them). Our last view in the rear view mirror was of a car in the middle of the road being attacked by Dad.

Back to Monkey Mia. We watched the dolphins being fed and decide to take a 2 ½ hour cruise on a catamaran to see Dugongs, turtles etc. Steve got roped in to help hoist the sail After almost 1 ¾ hours with nothing we were finally rewarded with a large leatherhead turtle and several dugongs. Note: the dugongs in WA are gingery brown in colour, not the pale grey of Moreton Bay Eastern Aus.

We spent one night free camping before reaching Kalbarri and our camp site right on the river (see pic from outside the caravan). Kalbarri is a great spot having the Indian Ocean, the Murchison River and the National Park, with yes, you’ve guessed it, more gorges! It still being a little windy we decide to visit the National Park (another $11 off the excursion budget). Our first stop is Nature’s Window followed by an 8km walk starting along the ridge before dropping down onto the river bed, and finally back up to the top. It was a great walk only marred by the 100s of pesky flies, thank god for the $5 BCF insect nets! The rest of the stay was taken up with: Debby getting scalped by the local hairdresser; a drive along the ocean road visiting secluded beaches; whale spotting from cliff tops (spent 20 minutes watching 3 go by). Parts of this coastline are very similar to The Great Ocean Rd in Victoria.

To fill a bit of time we also visited ‘Rainbow Jungle’, a home for just about every parrot found in Australia, and were we impressed?. Yes a lot of time and effort has been put into this place, and the free flying enclosure was brilliant, Debby getting to feed a Princess Parrot.

Our last day was spent canoeing down the river with 30 others on a safari, with a great brekkie thrown in. In all 5 great days even accounting for the flies!

Our next port of call (sing this to the tune “Galveston”) - “Geraldton oh Geraldton, I still hear your seawinds blowing”. Read the next blog for the rest………

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Comments

[Dave]

watcha cobbers
i must say the fly net over your fizogs makes me wonder whether I want to go there. What is it that attracts the flies, steve

[Dave]

watcha cobbers
You won't believe this but I mentioned to les Boyingtons daughters fiancee who is australian that we have some friends currently touring australia and they are some way north of perth in a place beginning with K. He said that must be Kalbarri!!! Is it the only place north of Perth? He came over a couple of months ago and says he prefers it in england as there's nothing to do in perth where the women are outnumbered 4:1 by men. He's a great bloke to talk to and is part of the group inc the Teals trying to re establish Table in Mansfield.

[Wendy]

Good to see you two are still alive and well and obviously enjoying most of your trip, apart from the flies. Love the photo of the king parrot (we used to have them visiting our house in victoria)!