10th October

Once we had seen the Gorge the next must see, was the Coast to the South of the town. There are Cliffs and rock formations spreading down the Coast with viewing platforms on most of them giving spectacular views. As the Sun was low in the sky it gave them a nice mellow colour.

                        The Natural Bridge was the first to see which was the furthest South.

                    Very nice and there were more that were Arches, but had collapsed.

The Cliffs were changing as the Sun was going down making them glow a nice Honey colour.

A rough Surf all along the Coast.

                                          Looking back towards Kalbarri in the distance.

                                                          Nice Surf with the Sun behind it.

 We stopped at the South end of main beach to check on the Fishermen and see if anything was being caught. Nothing was hauled up the Beach while we were there, but the light was amazing and begged for a few photos.

So with the Sun sinking in the West we spent the last night in Kalbarri,after a feed of Fish and Chips (the best we have had on the whole trip and only $10.00) and the next day headed for Geraldton.
Cheers
Dave and Helen

8th October

The trip from Denham was long enough, that we decided on a free camp stop along the way, to get away from the winds that pick up in the afternoon and because a nice spot happened to be on the route. Though it was around lunch time, we stopped and had a lazy afternoon in the van and went for a walk later on in the afternoon and fought with the flies. Man there was millions of the little Suckers and they get in your ears,up your nose and get in behind your glasses. They are very persistent and hard to keep out. As the school holidays were still on we had booked into Kalbarri just to make sure of a site. We were put onto the new undeveloped site with no grass or shade but hey,any Port in a storm, we were just glad to get something there.
On the way to Kalbarri the scenery along the main road started to improve with a bit of green appearing with larger trees and bushes and the Wild flowers. The road in was a mass of Flowers so a stop every now and then to take photos was in order.

    Our overnight free camp stop on the side of the Road between Denham and Kalbarri
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A few shots of the wild Flowers along the road side going into Kalbarri.
Kalbarri was one of those places that appealed as soon as we got there. A nice clean,tidy place that was immediately welcoming. The Caravan park was OK but as they said no shade but power and water so that's all you need really.
As there was so much to see around the place we sat down and drew up a plan of attack!
We decided on doing the Kalbarri Gorge on the Murchison river first. This was another dirt road but this time well maintained though still with a lot of ruts.

 There was a lot of these bushes around the area and with the Sun shining on them looked spectacular.

                           This was our first glimpse of the gorge from the first lookout.

            We carried on to the start of the track that led to the Natures window or "The Arch"

                        The view from the top looking down into the Gorge in Panorama.

From here it was down the track to the site of the Arch and past this view which is in a lot of Tourist info.
You had to sidle around the rocks on a ledge high above the gorge to get to the Arch but its worth the effort.

Of course you have to do the photo in the hole trick. We were lucky another couple wanted their photo taken so a reciprocal agreement was reached,we took theirs, they took ours.

                You can see behind us how high above the Gorge we were,very spectacular.

                                                 Another view of the Gorge from on high.
                        From here we drove to another part of the Gorge called the Z bend.

                                  Once again the views were spectacular,and so were the flies!!

 There is only one way to keep them at bay and it ain't that glamorous, but it works. Sorry Helen!!

                                             A very spectacular place and well worth a visit.
 Just to keep a Balance in the Blog, I cant show Helen in her funny hat without one of me as well.

                    Not pretty,but hey it keeps the flies from getting up your nose and in your eyes.
That's it for this installment, next, more of Kilbarri.
Cheers Dave and Helen

5th October

We finally made it to our campsite and got it all set up. The site was on top of a rise with a fantastic view out over the bay but with a view you also get the wind.

We had to drop the awning at night so we could get some sleep as it flapped around a lot and was pretty noisy.

This is the view from the van in Panorama mode.

Anyhow we did the trip to Monkey Mia to look at the Dolphins and had to pay $6.00 each for the privilege of standing ankle deep in the Sea waiting for them to arrive. Being wild they don't run to a time table. They had to limit the amount of Fish being fed and the times it was done as in the past the Dolphins would hang around all day and not hunt for food naturally. The Baby's would also starve as the Mothers would hang around in the shallow water and the babies couldn't get to the nipples to suckle.
Now they come in 3 times a day but only get fed once. This has decreased the Mortality rate quite significantly according to research done over a period of time. Also germs passed across when people used to touch and play with them has reduced the mortality rate.

It doesn't stop the people coming though as there was about 300 for the first feeding at 8.00 am

Five Dolphins turned up and put on a reasonable show.

                   They picked people from the crowd to give the Dolphin one small fish. On the second appearance there was only about 50 people there so it was a lot better though only 2 Dolphins arrived.

Apart from the Dolphins it was a nice place to visit and have a cup of Coffee and take in the view.

A couple of extra photos to look at to give you an idea about the type of show the Dolphins put on.












On the way back from Monkey Mia we found Little Lagoon and put out the rug and had lunch. It was a nice quiet place out of the wind and in the Sun, very relaxing.

From Denham we packed up and headed for Kalbarri,but that will have to wait for the next post.
See Ya! Helen and Dave

4th October

From our Hill top overnight stop, we headed for the Shark Bay World Heritage area and Monkey Mia.

It was a 128km trip in from the main road so you would hope it was worth the 250km round trip.
On the way in you have the Stromatolites  and the shell quarries to have a look at.

The Stromatolites are an ancient form of life and only found in a few places around the world and this is one of them.

                                A bit hard to read but click on the photo and it makes it bigger.

               Funny looking things but they were the reason we have Oxygen in the atmosphere.

                                       An interesting place to visit and well worth a stop.

                         This is the Board walk used to get out to where the little critters are.

From here we headed towards Denham and stopped off at Shell Beach, which as the name implies is a beach of Shells,as far as the eye can see.

                                    Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can read the script.
These are the shell in question that make up the beach and are spread over most car parks in the area.

 Just down the beach there is a quarry where they are allowed to take the Shells for industrial purposes,such as surfaces for car parks etc and just in view in this photo, is the Pest fence they have stretched across the peninsula to keep the Feral pests out so the local Native Animals and plants can regenerate.

We carried on towards Denham but as the Day was drawing to a close, decided to stop the night at a lookout point about 30km short of Denham, as we were a day ahead of ourselves and were not booked in to the Van park until the next day.

We had a commanding view over the Sea and another Beach of shells. We walked down the Beach for miles and enjoyed the exercise.

This gives you an idea of the size of the shells on the Beaches around the area.

We had Tea and watched the Sun set in the Sea and one of the locals made an appearance.

  All was going well we thought. We had checked for no camping signs, but found none so thought we were OK. That was until the Ranger came along and quite rudely told us, "you cant camp here,its a Heritage area", you will have to go into Denham,Bugger! So a trip in the Dark to Denham, conscious of all the wildlife just waiting to rush out in front of us. The people at the Park put us in the overflow area until morning which was a relief as with the school Holidays in full swing we weren't sure of getting a spot.
Thats all for now. Next Denham and Monkey Mia
Cheers Dave and Helen