Lap Around Australia: Kalbarri

Kalbarri

On our first afternoon staying at Wagoe Beach we went into town to have a look around and pick up some groceries. What a beautiful town it is! No wonder we had no chance of getting a caravan site in town itself.(We rang three parks...no go) It's a perfect destination for both families and tourists. The town is set on a lovely inlet of the Murchison River. The approach by boat through the mouth of the river looks rather treacherous but once inside the water is tranquil and a lovely place for gentle water sports such as kayaking and sailing and swimming. There's also a good beach for children to play and there's pelican feeding every morning right opposite the caravan park.

Being a Sunday, the Information Centre closed early so we had to ask a local for directions to the shops and then also fuelled up while we were in town.
We'd noticed on the 30 kilometre drive into town a number of roads leading to various viewing spots along the coastline, so we thought we'd explore some of those on our way back to the campsite.
Just out of town on the south side is Chinaman's beach. It seemed to be quite popular with the locals and some people were even trying to surf here.

Further along, down Blue Holes Road we came upon a very pretty spot with lots of deep and shallow rock pools and calm safe water ideal for young children. You can also snorkel on the reef from here, but it was a little cold and blowy for our liking. That didn't seem to deter plenty of families who were taking advantage of the spot.

The next road we turned down led to Red Bluff lookout. Red Bluff has the highest elevation in the area with its soaring 100 metre cliff face. There is a cement pathway navigable by wheelchairs and prams all the way to the lookout but with the wind blowing so strongly and sheer dropps on both sides of the pathway it was a real test of Barb's fear of edges. The amazing views were well worth it. We could even see whales breaching not too far offshore. Wonderful!

 

 

 

We noticed that at each sight we visited there were also a lot of Chinese tourists doing the same thing. We even started to recognise some of them by their outfits (floaty chiffon dresses again). The coastline around Natural Bridge reminded us of our great Ocean Road trip. The cliffs have banded colours of sandstone layers and there are some amazing rock formations with a foaming sea crashing onto the rocks at the base of the cliffs. We were completely blown away by the views...and almost in the literal sense too. It's windy in WA!

The next day we drove out with Ian and Kathy on the Loop Z-Bend road to walk to the iconic viewing point called Nature's Window. Every tourist brochure of Kalbarri contains this one particular shot of the Murchison River viewed through a window in the rock from the top of the gorge. So every tourist, including the six of us traipsed out there in the heat to walk to this viewing point and get the obligatory photo. I have to tell you...it's not an easy walk. Especially if you have dodgy arthritic knees as Karen and Barb do. Both of us struggled with the climb on steep rocks and the sheer drops should you slip were an added fear factor. I'm proud to say we all did it! We have the photos to prove it too. John and Barb even ran into some fellow campers we'd met some weeks ago at Broome's Gateway campground. They've apparently dined out on Barb's snake-in-the-laundry-tub incident and told tales around campfires. They remembered us.

After the climb back up to the picnic shelter at the top we stopped for a well-earned cuppa and bikkie. Then we drove around to another to see the Z-Bend lookout. John, Steve, Ian and Kathy went for hike to the lookout. Karen and Barb decided to sit this one out and let them get the photos of the view. It was a pretty hot day and we were still recovering from the previous hike.

That night we once again sought the shelter of the camp kitchen to have dinner together and shared the space with other campers. It's always a great camaraderie when this happens. Talking to our fellow campers is something we all enjoy and it's also a way to get useful tips for places to stay and things to see told by people who've just come from the direction we're headed.