Kalbarri National Park

Monday 22^nd August - Wednesday early afternoon 24^nd August, 2016

On Monday again a drive of something over 300 km is ahead of us as we want to get to Kalbarri. The bush is getting taller and taller, now there are even real trees. And then we reach something bizarre: a field.

After thousands of kilometres bush and maybe at times a grazing meadow such a field is a very new experience. The yellow flowers are again everywhere and give colour to the hilly landscape. As I learned they are using the poetic name everlasting. Does everlasting also mean "it never stops"? At times we see them also on harvested fields. And in front of us, it even looks like a blooming rapeseed field! Oh, it is a blooming rapeseed field! We turn left to the Kalbarri National Park. The bush is getting lower again and at the coast in Kalbarri it is only up to knee level.

In Kalbarri Petra is asking for accomodation in the visitor centre and gets a nice holiday flat at a quite low price. Then we visit the Bird Park "Rainbow Jungle" which is very nice. Kiara finds the feathered friends a bit suspicous. At least two metres of safety distance is required, independend of the size of the birds or any mesh in between.

Tuesday starts with the pelican feeding. In the centre of Kalbarri down at the water they use to feed pelicans. Six of them are comming in and wait for the fishes to be thrown at them. The birds are very swift with their big peaks, still once or twice the seagulls are faster and catch the fish. Also Jann tries. The pelicans do not stay at the same place and so the ones which come change with time and sometimes there might be no bird at all.

Then we drive to the part of the National Park with the gorges. Our first destination is the Natural Window, a hole in the rock. On the way out there is a kangaroo simply standing in the middle of the road. The car in front of us must and can stop. Judging from the cadavers at times on the side of the road this is not always the case. Petra is taking a picture of every flower. At least of every flower which she probably does not have one taken of. The Kalbarri National Park is known for them and it is also part of the tourism marketing. The window is next to a nice gorge. The river makes a loop of a few kilometres instead of shortcutting through a few metres of rock. We go to a second lookout and have lunch there.

Back again in the small town of Kalbarri we go to the playground. There was non for some time. We continue to a cliff at the southern end of the town. It is worth it as we see the blows of passing whales, most probably humpback whales. Back at the flat it suddenly knocks. Our landlord tells us that there are two kangaroos at the back of the house. Indeed, there are a mom with his joey in the pouch and a propably adolescent grazing.

On Wednesday we say good-bye to Kalbarri and drive through the cliff part of the National Park southwards. We stop at two places and walk for 1.5 kilometres each.

The first one leads down to the water and then around the cliffs. At the beginning we are warned that down in the dell there are kangaroos. Indeed very soon they eyeball the molesters. The kids are unhappy. Jann does not want to walk and Kiara does not like it on my back. In the second hike she may walk a part. That she likes much better.

After lunch we leave the park in direction south with destination Geralton. A bit after the end we pass Pink Lake. That lake is, the name tells it, coloured in pink due to some algae. The kids miss it as they are sleeping. But this place has some historic importance as Petra and Sandra stranded here with a broken car nearly 4.5 years ago.