C and R travelblog: Kalbarri

October 1 - 2, 2012

The day we left Wooleen to go to Kalbarri was forecast to be 37⁰ so we left at about 7am. Rob spotted a Major Mitchell Cockatoo flying past – the only one he saw.

Back on the highway we went through some cropping country – the first we had seen since we were down near Esperance!

The road to Kalbarri had some fantastic wildflowers,
A yellow and pink Hakea

Woolly bush

but it was 39⁰ and the flies were in the eyes, up the nose, in the ear and sticking, and there was a strong north wind…so it was very unpleasant!

We drove into the Kalbarri N.P. and there were some beautiful flowers,
An Isopogon

...there are so many flowers that are completely new

but it was so unpleasant we just had a look at Hawks Head Gorge, and then left.

As we approached the coast, the temperature started to drop and by the time we were in Kalbarri it was a balmy 24⁰! Being school holidays, it was jam-packed with kids, which we enjoyed, but our caravan site was soooo close to our neighbours in tents, that it was not ideal!

However we loved Kalbarri….the beach at the Murchison River mouth is lovely, and we could buy fresh fish off the boat

and the scenery of the coastal cliffs is absolutely spectacular!

with great lookouts and walkways

These are the type of cliffs we imagine the early Dutch traders were blown into en route to Batavia (Indonesia). After coming around the Cape of Good Hope on the roaring forties they had to turn north and if they turned too late,.....ship wreck!

At Wittecarra Creek there is an information board and a cairn to mark the beach where two of the crew of the wrecked Dutch East Indies trading vessel 'Batavia' were castaway by Commander Pelsaert in 1629..the first white people to live permanently on Australian soil...a fascinating tale.