Stephanie's Words: POSTSCRIPT TO KALBARRI

Well, our visit to Kalbarri has only confirmed my belief that it has to be my favourite place. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I am very much at home and at peace here. Needless to say, there are a couple of items in the Kalbarri blog which I need to re-address – serves me right for writing the blog too soon – oh well!

Firstly, there is only one IGA here. The second grocery shop is simply the Kalbarri Supermarket. Whilst it is much smaller than the IGA, the fresh produce is excellent and the service there is friendly – more than I can say for the opposition. I also forgot to mention there is a very good bakery here –if you are like me, this is probably information you would be better without!
The winds, since the first couple of days, have been mild – in fact the early mornings have been crystal clear and breathtakingly still – absolutely perfect for the early morning cuppas overlooking the river.
The booming waves crashing against the rocks – well, they have simply vanished – we have not seen a decent wave since we arrived some 13 days ago – I am told however, they were enormous the week prior to our arrival.
Special events? On one of our early morning drives out along the coastal gorges we were treated to a heart-warming display by a mother hump-back and her calf. It appeared mum was teaching the youngster how to ‘breach’. As we gazed in awe, she would lift her huge body from the water joyously crashing back down with an almighty splash – as soon as mum had shown the little one how it was done, sure enough, the baby would throw himself skywards – at first, not quite as successfully as mum, but after a little while and a bit of practice, he was in sync with mum and performing perfect little leaps. After a while, mum tired of the activity, but in true childlike manner the baby continued leaping and splashing until we finally also tired off the activity and went in search of a cuppa and morning paper. Yesterday as we were perusing the deep blue of the ocean for perhaps another sighting, we were treated to the spectacle of a pod of around 30 bottle-nose dolphins cavorting and hunting in the waters below Eagle Gorge – there seemed to be a meeting of two distinctly different groups and then an animated celebration of the reunion – once again a real treat.
We have also had a veritable feast of birds this time around. I have been re-united with my beautiful friends the magpies. We hadn’t seen a maggie since Alice – it seems they don’t like the Territory or the North West. A family has adopted the park here however and in true magpie style have been hanging around looking for a hand-out. In a small paper-bark right next to the van, we have a resident Tawny Frogmouth. Initially there were two of these nightbirds, but since the first day we have only had the one – each evening he leaves his perch in the old tree to hunt returning early each morning to daze away the day from his grey perch. The only time I have seen him remotely animated was when a ‘Ta Ta lizard’ came to drink at our water-bowl – the normally invisible eyes became giant amber orbs as he contemplated this desirable morsel. Fortunately for the Ta Ta our movement startled him and motivated his rapid escape to beneath the neighbours van. Aside from the magies and the Frogmouth there have been an abundance of birds of all sizes – we are woken every morning by the cheerful chatter (perhaps shrieking) of a largish flock of galahs that resides in the area – fortunately for us, they are not roosting immediately above our van and car. The antics of our neighbours who do have that dubious honour are hilarious. They (the neighbours) are bird lovers, but the bloke is also one of those men who are fanatical about his car and van. Since our arrival he has detailed the car twice and the van once. Yesterday afternoon he was out there with ‘rocket balloons’ trying to convince the galahs and their offspring to roost elsewhere. Needless to say, all he succeeded in doing was scaring the proverbial out of them (out of them and onto the van) whilst they flew noisily into the air and then back down again to the same tree.
We have extended our stay here until Saturday (the rate includes one free day if you book for a week) – I really don’t want to leave my little paradise but life calls!

Until next time – use your time wisely but leave time to dream – Steph.