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| Red Bluff Early Morning |
Hello to everyone from a
very relaxed and lay-back Kalbarri. We
have decided to stay here in this, one of our favourite places in all of
Australia, until early December. We are
expecting to be rather full on once we hit Perth and so are both recuperating
from our journey and girding our loins for the onslaught – so to speak!
I am aware that many of you
are from WA and subsequently are familiar with this beautiful place, but for
the benefit of those who do not know Kalbarri, and for the edification of those
of you who do, over the next month I will post a series of blogs dedicated to a
pictorial feast of this area.
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| Waves Pounding The Coastal Gorges |
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| Colours of The Murchison River |
To be perfectly honest, we
haven’t taken a great many photos this time around (yet), probably because we
have taken so many in the past. It is
largely from that hoard that I have taken these photos. Some of them will not be quite as good as our
current stuff as they were taken with less sophisticated cameras, many in fact,
were taken on a good old ‘point and click’ type. Regardless of that, there are some stunning
photos amongst them, largely due to the abundant beauty available.
Next time I will tell you a
bit more about what we are doing, but this time I thought perhaps I should do
something I have never done in the past – give you some factual data about the
place. This information should help to
describe Kalbarri.
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| The Cliffs From The Sea |
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| Nature's Glory |
Kalbarri, part of Western
Australia’s Coral Coast, is situated some 590 ks north of Perth and some 150
north of Geraldton. The town is tucked
into the bay of the Murchison River as it meets the Indian Ocean. The river mouth is notoriously dangerous and
has seen multiple deaths due to boating accidents over its short history. One of the thrills of this place is to sit up
on the top of the hill overlooking the break, watching the brave and somewhat
foolhardy fishermen navigating that rock strewn and frothy maw. This time around we have not seen much in the
way of swell, but trust me, the seas here do get to be very large indeed –
there has been many a night here at the Caravan Park when we have gone to sleep
to the sound of the waves crashing on the not too distant shore. The noise often sounds like some demented
drummer pounding a huge kettle drum.
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| Amazing Colours |
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| A More Gentle Mood |
The large swell makes this
somewhat of a surfing Mecca and it is common to see the huge waves liberally
dotted with daring lads (and lassies) swooping down their glassy slopes. The other day when we did have a good swell
coming in, I spotted an anxious hound glued to a rocky outcrop, staring fixedly
out to sea where his boss diced with the delicious thrills of that surf. As the beaches here are laced with huge rocky
outcrops and treacherous reefs, the risk of losing life and or limb is
relatively strong.
There is history of a sort
here. It is reputed that the first white
men to make a permanent landing in Australia came ashore right here at
Wittecarra Creek. These unfortunates
were mutineers, Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgroom from the ill-fated Batavia which
was wrecked on this coast around 1692.
In 1712 another famous shipwreck, The Zuytdorp also came to grief just
north of Kalbarri. The very treacherous ocean
along this stretch of coast is littered with wrecks of early sailing ships. Theoretically there is a fortune to be found
off these shores, the Zuytdorp particularly was reputed to be carrying a
fortune.
Despite the early landing
of the mutineers (I think their descendants now run the hotels and restaurants here!)
the place was not really settled until around the early 1950s. As late as 1943 this was just a tiny fishing
colony comprised largely of crayfishermen.
Slowly people gravitated here to become involved in fishing and
mining. The advent of lead mines around
Geraldton drew a few folk to the region.
Until around that time this was simply called The Mouth of the
Murchison. The name Kalbarri is a fairly
recent acquisition. This would make a
good question for QI – NOBODY KNOWS ...where the name Kalbarri comes from. There are thoughts that it may have been a
seed, a woody pear or even the name of a prominent aboriginal – as I said,
nobody knows!!
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| Iconic 'Nature's Window' |
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| Murchison Snaking Thru' The Inland Gorges |
Aside from the outstanding
scenery here, the other big attraction is the weather. Kalbarri really doesn’t have a winter as we
know it. The winter temperatures run
between around 22 – 25 during the day and the rainfall is moderate. Mind you, when it rains, it really comes
down! Over the years, we have experienced
several full on storms - they come in quickly and disappear just as fast,
leaving you looking for the number plate of the truck! Summer time temps run around the low 30s and
most days a brisk sea breeze takes the sting out of the heat by the middle of
the day. Evenings are balmy and the
stars here are just amazing.
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| Murchison Mellow In The Early Morning Light |
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| Serenity |
Since we arrived two whole
weeks ago we have probably averaged around 28 during the day and the nights have
been blissful. We have had a few cloudy
days and the wind is moving into a strong summer pattern, but the wind keeps
the flies away, so all is good. Yes, the
flies can be a problem if you are spending much time outdoors, but generally,
here so close to the coast, they are not too bad. If you venture inland to the gorges you will
definitely need the full mesh covers over your face, otherwise you will be
eating the little devils.
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| A Different Mood |
I have no idea what the
population is here (surly!?) volume wise, but it is a small place with most of
the population gathered into a fairly tight knot right at the mouth of the
river. I am probably being a little
unfair here – not everyone who lives here is unfriendly, but it does seem that
they are not over-enamoured of tourists.
They love to take our money, but smiles are sometimes a little hard to
find. It is just as well the place is
good enough to overlook this rather sad indictment on the locals.
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| Sparkling Waves In The Early Morning Sunlight |
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| Ancient Rock Face Meets The Ocean |
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| Sun Basking |
The ‘town’ boasts two
hotels, a couple of cafe/restaurants, chemist, two small supermarkets, butcher,
health spa, gift shops and a novelty restaurant. There are numerous motels, rental units,
holiday houses and 3 caravan parks. We
always stay at the old Anchorage CP – right on the bank of the Murchison. J row is our spot, this elevated site
overlooks much of the CP and our gaze just naturally gravitates to the picturesque
Murchison River.
I am enthralled by the
Murchison. I start my day sipping my morning cup of tea whilst dreamily joining
with the river as it travels from the rugged and dry inland gorges, through the
spectacular vivid and sculptured rock faces, over cream coloured sand-bars,
brushing pretty gums and scrubby bushland as it slides silkily past. Roos gossip at the edge of the old river
which has sustained them and their ancestors seemingly forever. Goannas bask on
sun-baked rocks and in the spring
wild-flowers of every hue fringe the banks.
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| Like A Blue Ribbon Thru' The Bush |
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| Sandy Little Beaches Along The Way |
The old river rolls thru’
the harsh landscape like blue satin ribbon, reflecting the azure sky
above. Closer to the ocean she garbs
herself in light frothy turquoise, flirting with the pelicans and gulls as she
drifts on past us on her way to greet her lover, the sea.
The mating of the old girl
and the ancient ocean is often tumultuous, and the echos of their rapture
reverberates thru’ the small colony. Other days they enjoy a lazy coupling, frothy
ripples providing the only evidence of their muted passion.
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| Some Sort of Magic |
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| Ancient Beauty |
As the day starts, so it
ends, with sundowners sipped slowly as the air cools and river dons her darker
gown for the evening. The past couple of
evenings we have been soothed to the strains of a classical Spanish guitar
played beautifully by a fellow traveller, and before that another clever fellow
eased gentle and soothing strains from a saxophone. The choral efforts of the local bird-life melded
with the music creating a wild yet soothing rhapsody.
If you are the active type,
there is plenty to do here. Surfing,
canoeing, bush-walking, ocean gorges, land gorges, quad-biking, scenic flights over
the gorges and or the Abrolhos Islands – it’s all available if you are keen. There is even a visit to the Rainbow Jungle, a
marvellous parrot breeding facility if you are a birdy person. For those of us who come here regularly tho’
there is one overwhelmingly precious activity here – quality relaxation. We come there to relax – there is no better
place to do pretty much nothing. This is
a place to seriously un-wind. We see
people rush in and rush out – what a shame!
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| Sparkling |
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| Still Sparkling |
Well, I hope you have
enjoyed your brief visit to Kalbarri – I will publish a few more photos over
the next few weeks for those who might be interested. Until then, take some time out, just for
you! Stephanie
PS These pics really do benefit from being enlarged a little, do click on the first one to bring them up in good format! S
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| Feed Me!! |
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| From The Rainbow Jungle Down The Road |
