Kalbarri – This time South

The Kalbarri National Park surrounds the entire town of Kalbarri, and today we took our lunch and headed south along the coast road.

The first point of interest was Red Bluff, a popular beach with the locals and tourists. The Zuytdorp Cliffs, to the north, extend more than 200kms to Shark Bay. Eagle Gorge was the next attraction for us, where the visit could extend to the beach if required.

The MM fancied the view and it was difficult to hold them back from the incredibly high drop!

A bit further on were Shellhouse and Grandstand, then Castle Cove, Island Rock (1st pic), and Natural Bridge, (2nd photo). In all of these attractions, you can see the force of the Indian Ocean on the limestone cliffs, reminding us a lot of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.

Magnificent ocean views all the way and at each stop and interesting cliffs.

We continually looked out to sea to spot some whales, and were luck enough to see, a few times, the black hump of one, closer in. Some spectacular splashes further out, but we’d be lying if we said we could see the whale! Only the splash it made. Still exciting though.

We have bought a book on wildflowers so now I should be able to name them for you. The purple one, is Rough Honeymyrtle, Malaleuca Parviceps, but, guess what, the other one isn’t in the book, but we think it is a Dryandra!

I’m typing this outside today – it’s fairly hot – 26 degrees and little breeze. We found a lovely shady spot, beside an inlet, to have lunch. There was a monument to the first Dutch explorers, who, in 1606, were shipwrecked 90 miles south west of here. The survivors stayed on an island between here and Indonesia, and many were murdered by mutineers. The Captain of Batavia, the shipwrecked vessel, returned to the island, round up the mutineers and hanging them. The story ends with two of the Mutineers being extended mercy, by putting them ashore on what we now know as ‘Australia”. No-one knows of their fate to this day.