Saturday October 6

Working in the past, as usual, I will update our travel stories with an account of our four days in Kalbarri, an extremely pleasant little town which has been a popular holiday destination for over 150 years.  Apparently Cornish miners, who had leases in the bed of the Murchison River, would come to the coast when their mines were periodically flooded and wait for them to dry out – what a great excuse for a holiday by the sea!

This would have well before the spectacular Kalbarri National Park had been established, so visitors are now families enjoying the range of marine and river environments and activities on offer and travellers (I have stopped calling us tourists – it doesn’t fit!) like us, who have come to see the park.

And what a park it is, going from rugged and breath-taking sea cliffs through vast sandplains to dramatic river gorges.  More tourist brochure talk, I know, but it is a beautiful park and the fact that it came with some pretty impressive wildflowers made it even more special, but back to the beginning .

These grevilleas lined the road as we travelled down to Kalbarri on Saturday, October 3 and our presumption is that the gorgeous flowers on the first plant turn pink as they age.  An update from our time at the Western Flora Caravan Park - it is nothing to do with the age of the plant, it is all to do with pollination.  As soon as the flower is pollinated, it changes colour and is no longer attractive to the pollinator, be it bird or insect.  As with our fish photos, if I know the name of the plant I will label it and the rest will have to wait for identification until I get home to Scott!

Flame Grevillea.

These 'Old Socks' grevilleas, with their flowers on tall stalks above the plant, line the roads into Kalbarri and throughout the park.

On the way into town, we stopped off at the most easterly of the national park’s lookouts as they were quite close to the main road, so it wasn’t a problem going in with the van.  The views from Hawks Head provided quite an introduction to the Murchison River and the gorges of the park.

 

We arrived in the caravan park just in time for Murray to get the TV working so we could watch the Grand Final.  We then went and tracked down Rex and Maureen, who were in one of the other caravan parks and set in motion what would become evening ‘gatherings’ for the next three nights.

The scenery of Kalbarri National Park is, of course, the result of many millions of years of geological magic.  400 million years ago deep, horizontal bands of multi-coloured sands were deposited in layers and the resulting sedimentary rock is Tumblagooda Sandstone.  Where the Murchison River carved its way to the sea, the magnificent red and white-banded gorges which meander some 80 kilometres through the 186,000 hectares of the park, were cut.  In the river and the gorges, sandstones reveal fossil tracks of prehistoric invertebrates.  The parallel markings on this rock are the tracks of an ancient arthropod called ‘eurypterid’.

Along the coast, wind and wave erosion has created unbelievable rock formations and ledges and exposed the layers of  the huge cliffs that rise more than 100 metres above the ocean and, once again, the colourful juxtaposition of red sandstone and white limestone provides stunning seascapes.

As Sunday dawned fine and relatively free of wind, we decided it would be a perfect day to explore the coastal area of the park, so we headed south to visit and walk around and sometimes between, the eight viewing points.  Clambering across and around the rocks as we went, once again elicited the feelings of awe and wonder that we have experienced so often during this trip, but rather than go on any more, I will let the photos do the talking! 

North towards Kalbarri from Red Bluff

Mushroom Rock looking south.

 

Mushroom Rock.

 

These lumps of sandstone at Mushroom Rock are incredible - both the sizes and the colours!

There were lots of these superbly camoflaged crabs hiding under the rocks and this one was totally unperturbed about Murray poking the camera in its 'face'.

Looking north on the walk from Mushroom Rock to Rainbow Valley.

These beautiful patterns on the rocks looked like some sort of Aboriginal art.

 

Looking south on the walk to Rainbow Valley.  Here the rock was all layered and broken and it felt like being in a quarry with the rock rubble all around.

 

I know that Pig-face is an extremely hardy plant well used to coastal environments, but how it manages to grow here is beyond me!

These round boulders of grey sandstone are much younger than the Tumblagooda Sandstone cliffs and were deposited as layers of sand at the base of sea cliffs.  More magic!

 

A great example of the red and white banded cliffs in Rainbow Valley

 

This 'pipe rock' in Rainbow Valley is fossilised burrows of ancient worm-like creatures known as Skolithos, which lived in a shallow, sandy marine environment.  Learning all this stuff is fascinating!

 

 

The constant pounding of the Indian Ocean has claimed massive chunks of this soft limestone, leaving these cliff formations

 

Island Rock now stands as as a solitary 'sea stack'

 

 

Island Rock from the north.  The colour of the water never fails to astound us!

 

 

Natural Bridge, where the fracturing of the cliffs has created interesting features such as this.

 

These plants were growing throughout the coastal area and the flowers provide stunning splashes of colour:

Parakeelya

 

Calothamnus blepharospermus 'Hairy Clawflower'

 

Twining Fringe-lily

 

 

 

 

 

Murchison Rose

 

Maybe Calytrix species?

 

 

Another Calytrix?

 

Banksia species (maybe Spectre Banksia), with bees!

 

Orchid species?

 

Monday was another fine day (it fact it became a hot 35) and ideal for seeing the river gorges in the NE of the park.  A 25km drive through the sandplains, with their species-rich heathlands, brought us to Z Bend.

Even though the flowers on this Grass Tree are long-since finished, it still looks pretty impressive

 

Melaleuca or Kunzea species

 

The stunning views from the rock lookout overhanging the gorge to the Murchison River and redgums 150 metres below really showcased the forces of erosion and the amazing zig-zag path the river has cut through the sandstone.

Upstream

Upstream again

 

Downstream

Next stop, 10km north, was the The Loop.  Again, the river has carved an amazing switchback course through the landscape and the views from the vantage points around the rim of the gorge are just spectacular.

Upstream

 

Downstream

One of the most well-known sights of Kalbarri National Park is Nature’s Window, a natural windblown rock arch which superbly frames the upstream view.  We succumbed to the very touristy attraction of getting a photo of ourselves in the arch, before clambering further across the rocks to enjoy looking down into the river on both sides of The Loop.  What a spot – the views and the beautiful rocks and the shapes into which they have been eroded once again caused us to reflect on the awesome power of nature and the degree to which we often take it for granted and extend it too little respect.

 

Wrecks the view through the arch, but there you go!

 

Without the senior citizens!!!!

 

A close-up of this beautiful multi-coloured rock.

Downstream

 

Upstream

Spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the delights of a swim at Chinaman’s Beach and watching the Murchison River meet Gantheaume Bay in the turbulent water around Oyster Reef was a particularly wondrous sight.

Taking photos with the phone in the bright sunlight is fraught with all sorts of danger, which is why we only have half of Murray!

On Tuesday we intended to see the last couple of places we hadn’t visited.  Before we set off, Murray took off on his bike for a ride and returned soon after with yet more fish which he had bought from a fishing boat at the jetty – what a hunter!  He had scored a huge Sampson Fish, a Spangled Emperor and a snapper for the princely sum of $30.  Will need to ensure that the fridge is working to optimum capacity now that the freezer is chock-a-block with fish.

 

After 'dealing' with said fish, we drove down to Red Bluff Beach and marvelled once again at the beautiful sandstone ledges the sea has carved from the cliffs.  This was obviously a popular surfing spot and as the waves were breaking so close to the beach, there was not much paddling involved.   In fact the young men were just walking back across the ledge and hopping in from there.

 

 Called into Chinaman’s Rock (am I the only person who cringes at names such as these?), which provides great views across Gantheaume Bay to the Zuytdorp Cliffs, which go the whole 200km to Shark Bay, as well as the Murchison River estuary and town.

 

 

 

Tried for our last swim, but the wind was quite cold so we beat a hasty retreat and took our books back to the shade of the tree at the van instead.  Last Wednesday morning saw us packing up again, although in the van that is very easy and quick, before taking off for Geraldton – seriously heading south now!