Monday 10 September – Well after a bit of a sleep in we were up at about 7.30.  Dot and Ross came to say tata soon after, and we were ready to go out exploring by about 9.30.  First though was to see if we could get a replacement plug for our sink.  We went to the Post Office to post some mail and it turned out to be a real general store with a lot of camping stuff, so Grant found a plug straight away, and two doors away was a homewares shop where we bought the new jug, so we are fully equipped again!

After a quick ‘drop in’ at our caravan (I had forgotten to take meat out of the freezer and Grant had forgotten to take his morning drugs) we finally got on the sightseeing trail by about 10.30.  But we weren’t travelling far today – probably only ten or twelve km down the road, but lots of stop offs to see the sights.  You see we went down the coast road which is beautifully picturesque, with the roadsides edged with wildflowers which are now starting to come into flower – lots of yellow ones seem to be the early bloomers.  So our plan was to go to the furthest lookout and work our way back.

We were not two kilometres out of town when I felt a bump (I was looking at the map) and Grant gave a groan.  He had just run over a shingleback lizard – or as it is known here – a bobtail.  It was on the road, but Grant didn’t notice it till the last second and it was too late to avoid it, so that was a bit sad.

Our furthest stop was a bit off the main road where we went to see the Natural Bridge.  As its name implies, it is a weathered rock in the sea which has formed a bit of an arch (or bridge).

Natural Bridge at Kalbarri.

Next we saw Island Rock, a sandstone rock stack that had eroded over the centuries of wind, water and sand activity and become separated from the cliffs, thereby forming an island – not very big mind you, but definitely an island.

Island Rock.

Over the next four or so hours we called in to Shellhouse Grandstand, Eagle Gorge, Pot Alley, Rainbow Valley, Mushroom Rock and finally Red Bluff with a perfect view back over the township of Kalbarri and the sandstone cliffs to the south. These cliffs have the orangey-reddish colours because of the iron content.  Interestingly, just north of Kalbarri, are the Zuytdorp Cliffs which apparently mark the western edge of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area – and the continent!  The cliffs are up to 200 m high and stretch more than 200 km, and they are made of limestone.

We were lucky enough to have some wild life encounters again today, watching a good sized pod of dolphins close in to shore, several whales a fair way out, a live snake crossing the road as we drove past it, with its head up in the air, another shingleback lizard (alive) and another little lizard on the path we were walking along which sat there for a while, then took off like the clappers, almost running over my foot to the other side of the path where it had some sort of interaction with another lizard ???!!!! until the other lizard suddenly ran off and this one just sat there looking stunned.

At Red Bluff Grant could see more whales well out in the ocean, and couldn’t accept the fact that I couldn’t see them.  He kept saying: ‘See, right out there, you must be able to see them, they are right out to buggery’, at which stage I told him that I had no hope as I can only see half way to buggery.  He let up on me then!

The views were really lovely from every vantage point, and the photo count is now getting ridiculous – over 2500 to date, so who’s on for a movie night?  There will need to be some serious culling I’m thinking.

Looking towards Kalbarri from Red Bluff.

Tomorrow morning we pack up and move on again, and in two days we’ll be in Perth, which is very hard to believe. I’m starting to practice putting some gunk in my hair to make it presentable for Saturday, as until now I’ve just washed it, towel dried it and gone with the white gollywog look.  Hopefully on Saturday it will be the gollywog look with style!