Sunday 27 October 2013
Continuing south on the North West Coastal Highway we passed east of Kalbarri National Park and just before 28deg south, took a right to go northwest through the park for 65km, to hit the coast at Kalbarri. This is a "popular holiday destination" according to the notes on the map, which conjures-up images of hoards of people all crammed into a seafront strip.
Well this Western Australia and things don't work like that. The photographs say it all really...
This is the mouth of the Murchison River, the first we've seen with any visible water. The Indian Ocean is to the left of the left picture and the town is on the south side (to the right) and the river mouth is a lovely place to enjoy the water. There's a great beach, water craft to hire and the pub is just across the road. Pelicans come onto the verge at the edge of the beach for an extra feed each morning.
Intrepid explorers once walked from here to Perth, about 500 km away, after being shipwrecked just off the coast.
We hired a motorboat and went up-river, only to hit a sandbank. As that brought back fairly recent memories of Grasmere and submerged logs, the skipper decided enough was enough and we turned back.
Just inland, a reasonably serious bit of unsealed road, takes you 25km or so into the Murchison river gorges. There are two particular look-outs which are quite dramatic and presumably spectacular after rain in the catchment area. The geology of the area is all about sandstone fractures and intersections, but I'm afraid that our memories are more of the flies, which for the first time in three weeks became unbearable. Thank goodness that we actually had our nets with us, rather than in the car; instant relief.
It's scary in places like this. The temperature was nearly 10 deg higher than at the coast and it's even hotter in the gorges themselves. Not a place to go walking during the main part of the day. It would have been over 40 degrees down there and that doesn't mix well with flies either, so it as back to the hustle and bustle of Kalbarri town.
Continuing south on the North West Coastal Highway we passed east of Kalbarri National Park and just before 28deg south, took a right to go northwest through the park for 65km, to hit the coast at Kalbarri. This is a "popular holiday destination" according to the notes on the map, which conjures-up images of hoards of people all crammed into a seafront strip.
Well this Western Australia and things don't work like that. The photographs say it all really...
This is the mouth of the Murchison River, the first we've seen with any visible water. The Indian Ocean is to the left of the left picture and the town is on the south side (to the right) and the river mouth is a lovely place to enjoy the water. There's a great beach, water craft to hire and the pub is just across the road. Pelicans come onto the verge at the edge of the beach for an extra feed each morning.
Intrepid explorers once walked from here to Perth, about 500 km away, after being shipwrecked just off the coast.
We hired a motorboat and went up-river, only to hit a sandbank. As that brought back fairly recent memories of Grasmere and submerged logs, the skipper decided enough was enough and we turned back.
Just inland, a reasonably serious bit of unsealed road, takes you 25km or so into the Murchison river gorges. There are two particular look-outs which are quite dramatic and presumably spectacular after rain in the catchment area. The geology of the area is all about sandstone fractures and intersections, but I'm afraid that our memories are more of the flies, which for the first time in three weeks became unbearable. Thank goodness that we actually had our nets with us, rather than in the car; instant relief.
It's scary in places like this. The temperature was nearly 10 deg higher than at the coast and it's even hotter in the gorges themselves. Not a place to go walking during the main part of the day. It would have been over 40 degrees down there and that doesn't mix well with flies either, so it as back to the hustle and bustle of Kalbarri town.
Comments
Enjoying reading about your adventures and seeing your photos.