Kalbarri to Perth

13^th News Letter.

Friday 9^th October. Driving out of the beautiful Shark Bay our eyes were drawn to the masses of color along the roadside, beautiful clumps of vivid red and yellow bushes to begin with and then to our delight many more colors began to appear.

We were in Wildflower Country and what a beautiful picture it was. The country itself between the Overlander Roadhouse and the turnoff to Kalbarri was very different to what we have experienced thus far, suddenly we were in wheat country with fences and cleared paddocks instead of wild scrub with feral animals. The flatness turned into rolling hills with wheat and sheep, reminding me of central N.S.W. area. It seemed as though we rounded a corner and then to our amazement the sides of the road where a painting straight out of an English garden.

The colors, textures and variety of plants were amazing and we both got the feeling that we must have consumed some hallucinogenic substance at lunch and were having a great psychedelic experience. Unfortunately we were not able to pull off the road and take photos of this particular place (probably because of the drugs) but later on we have been able to capture a few of the beauties with the camera.

On our arrival in Kalbarri we booked into Kalbarri Anchorage Caravan Park to find ourselves having to ask a particular family to move their table and chairs so we could occupy our spot, they were very obliging.

Saturday 10^th found us not happy with allocated position so asked to move to a more appropriate site with river views, fortunately it was not far away so the move was easy. It was time to check out this town so on went the walking shoes, hats and backpacks never wanting to miss an opportunity for a bit of shopping. The town of Kalbarri is picturesque along the shore of the Murchison River to where it enters the Indian Ocean. Standing at the Meanarra Hill lookout the view of the ocean and entrance to the river is spectacular, we sat for an hour or more watching a charter boat attempting to enter the river mouth eventually we gave up and walked back to our van. Our friends Louise and Lynn had arrived at the park so we arranged to go out to dinner with them to an Australian themed restaurant. Those of you who know me know that it wasn’t going to be my thing but even I was shocked when BYO meant your own glass as well as wine. The pista resistance was the roll of toilet paper on the tables to use as napkins, a theme I do not believe I will take up at my next dinner party.

Monday 12^th a visit to Kalbarri National Park could not be resisted. Despite the 26km of gravel corrugated road it was well worth the journey. We chose not to do the 8 km loop hike so opted for the 500m Nature’s Window walk instead, with stunning views of one of the beautiful Kalbarri Gorges. A photo at ‘Natures Window’ a magnificent rock formation with a huge whole (window) through the middle, was a must record. We also ventured to the Z Bend where we were able to view the gorge from a high platform. We also watched two male idiots test their stupidity by jumping from a ledge some 30meters up into unknown water depths below. We didn’t wait for the results, hopefully their self preservation took over and they chose to walk down the way they came other wise they could well have had to be winched out by helicopter. We also drove on to Hawks Head and Ross Graham Gorge, which were spectacular. What wasn’t spectacular were the bush FLIES in their billions, no trillions, in your face, up your nose, eyes, walking on the inside of your glasses, you could not breath without inhaling them, we swore we would buy insect face netting to go over our hats at the first opportunity.

Wednesday 14^th, time to move on and our destination was Geraldton, what a beautiful drive it is down the coast from Kalbarri through to Northampton. Hutt Lagoon or Pink Lake as its often called is north east of the town of Gregory and the coast road runs along its length. The Lagoon is a salt lake which, in the right weather conditions turns pink or some may call it purple, the color of the lake is due to the high concentration of salt tolerant algae. The salt mined from this lake is actually PINK. We drove on to Northampton where we unhitched the van in a parking bay and Ken drove on to The Hutt River Province leaving me to the enjoyment of exploring the town shops. The shops were fascinating, particularly a large haberdashery store that sold everything from fabric, buttons, thread etc, thought to clothing for every member of the family, kitchen ware and a huge variety of crockery, bake ware also pots and pans. They also sold hats in all forms and for every occasion from the garden to the races. Shoes, bras, panties, not to mention their extensive gift range, what a great place to just poke around. The store is one of the first buildings in the town and I suspect some of the items contained within may date back to its beginnings. In one corner of the store I came across a cat having a nap on a roll of fabric perhaps he was the security system not sure and the lady who appeared to run the place was out the back doing her ironing, a very friendly soul indeed. Just for the record, Hutt River Province is an independent sovereign state since 1970. Ken has always wanted to meet its self appointed head of state. He came back from his afternoon visit to the place with a disgusting T shirt and a head full of information about the place which I will not bore you with the details. Moving on from Northampton to Geraldton we drove through some of the most beautiful farm country imaginable, green rolling hills with sheep and winter wheat in alternate paddocks.

Thursday 15^th we were up early as we had the Land Rover booked in for a service. The caravan park of choice was Batavia Coast Caravan Park because it was Wendal friendly and also it was close to the place servicing our vehicle. After leaving the vehicle we headed into town or should I say the centre of the city where we spotted a movie theatre, oh joy. Deciding on a movie, we noted to be back by 12.30pm, so spent the rest of the morning wandering down the main street and along Geraldton’s beautiful water frontage with clear aqua water lapping clean sandy beaches. Lots of activities for families such as water features that children can inter act with. It struck us as a very clean tidy city that takes pride in its appearance. The movie we saw by the way was “Mao’s last dancer” which we both thoroughly enjoyed.

Friday 16^th back on the road heading south on the Brand Highway we found ourselves stepping back in time with many beautiful historical buildings dotted through out the country side, places such as Central Greenough Historical Settlement and Station Museum dating back to 1887. Once again we were amazed at the beautiful rich countryside that surrounds this area obviously on all sides of Geraldton. Some kilometers past Dongara, Indian Ocean Drive takes you all the way down the coast to Cervantes. We were hoping to find a free park somewhere along this stretch of coast as we had become very tired of caravan parks. Our Camps 4 book indicated there were at least four of them.

The first one we came upon was Cliff Head North, very beautiful, right on the ocean with spectacular views. We thought we had died and gone to heaven until we got out of the car and then realized we had arrived in fly hell. The flies were unbelievable, swarms of them descended on us from all angles and all we could do was run for cover back to the car, however they managed to join us in the car because they were all over our backs and heads. I couldn’t even breathe without inhaling them so had a tissue over my face until they had blown out of the windows of the moving car. We continued on checking out the other camping areas (without getting out of the car) to find that you could no longer camp anywhere along the coast. There are signs up every couple of kilometers stating how unwelcome camping was and a hefty fine would be issued if you disobeyed. At this point our desperate priority was to buy fly nets as we had not had success thus far. The first store we came across was a hardware store and yes we were in luck, two very stylish nets available. Now we are in charge of the flies! Oh who am I kidding. We eventually were directed to Sandy Cape Recreational Park just slightly north of Jurien Bay, a lovely spot right on the ocean with a good dirt road into the park. There is a friendly caretaker who is happy to take your $15 a night fee but it was nice to be away from neighbors either side for a while. We enjoyed a long walk along sand tracks, which eventually lead us back to a beach then another long walk back to camp, all up about an hour and half walk. Ken did his good deed for the month by helping two young guys who had become stuck in the sand with the incoming tide, the 4 WD they were driving was becoming more bogged by the minute so a bit of advice from an old bloke worked wonders, not to mention a lot of pushing. The sand fly’s proved to be a problem at Sandy Cape and in the end and we were getting very sick of being bitten. Always the queue to move on!

Sunday 18^th we decided to move on to Cervanties, a small pretty town at the end of the coast road. Meanwhile a drive through Jurien Bay had been highly recommended and we were both surprised in regards to the amount of new wealth that is being poured into this town. Mega mansions going up along the waterfront to the tune of 2 million dollars, seems strange in such a small town. We arrived in Cervanties early afternoon so after putting some washing on, headed to The Pinnacles some 16klm south of town. These are rock formations that come out of the desert in the form of pinnacles, very strange to look at and it would appear that the scientists are still only guess as to how they were formed. That evening we went to Cervantes Bowling club for a lobster seafood platter that I will not comment other than to say Ken enjoyed it.

Monday 19^th found us heading east to New Norcia, a town that was on Ken’s must see list. New Norcia is said to be Australia’s only monastic town founded in 1846 by Bishop Rosendo Salvado and Dom Joseph Serra. It’s situated only 120 klm from Perth so enjoys quite a lot of tourist attention. We had a very peaceful night camped in the field watching the sheep and other wildlife before dark and then enjoying the stars in a clear sky later.

Tuesday 20^th Once again we were taken by the beautiful countryside that is in this area of the country, lush is the only way to describe it. Beautiful green rolling hills dotted with wild flowers of every imaginable color, size and shape. Coming into Perth, wineries appear to dominate the countryside with the invitation of wine tasting at every turn, however this invitation is hard to take advantage of particularly pulling a large caravan, perhaps another day. We had booked into Karrinyup Waters Resort at Gwelup at the recommendation of friends who were staying there. It was a delight to be able to catch up with Ray and Sherrie whom we hadn’t seen since Carmila Beach in Queensland in May.

Wednesday 21^st. Time to look around the suburbs so a number of shopping centers were recommended, basically we chose the nearest one Karranup. I must say I have never seen so many large suburban shopping centers anywhere. Karranup has a Myer and a David Jones and every other chain store you can imagine. I can’t tell you how exciting shopping centers are to women who are traveling in caravans, I know it’s sad but true.

Thursday 22^nd. Freeman phoned us on Skype from Canada where he has gone for the ski season, wonderful to talk. I miss him very much. We took the car for a drive North of the city to Yanchep and Two Rocks, these are towns on the coast that used to be small and sleepy but now they have huge areas opened up by developers with some very expensive houses already established. It is great to see the different architecture that appears on this side of the country, really different to the east coast of Australia. Most housing developments in WA incorporate rear vehicular lane ways so the mandatory car garage is not a front of the house feature. On returning to Perth we decided it was early enough for a drive down the coast road to North Fremantle to see some of the sights, lots of old 1950 -70 houses being replaced by contemporary designs, very exciting and fresh.

Friday 23^rd, Time for a trip into the city so checked out the public transport system to find Perth has a fantastic rail system and also a great bus service, particularly the northern suburbs where we are staying. We got a lift to Stirling Station where we jumped on a very fast modern commuter train and got off in the city at one of its underground stations. A great day was had by both of us just wondering around this very clean, organized, attractive city, some great old buildings proudly standing beside their more contemporary counterparts, all with great dignity, stature and design. Perth city is situated on the banks of the Swan River, so there are a number of parks that are part of this city’s centre. A free bus service takes you for a ride around the city for as long as you wish to take in the views. We were entertained by a number of very talented buskers in the Mall area, a very frustrated Opera Singer Fiona Mariah, who has won many awards in Europe for her singing entertained us with her beautiful voice and character. We are now the proud owners of one of her C.D’s and really enjoy her unique talent. Another C.D. we bought was by Los Chasquis, a South American group, who play music from the Andes, lovely pan pipes and fantastic rhythm. These performers have allocated times so they don’t clash with one another (very organized) and all are professionals in their fields not your usual busker. The only complaint I have about Perth is its lack of advertised Public Toilets, they seem to be a secret and you really don’t need that when you have a full bladder. So please Perth tell us where they are! As we got off the train at Stirling we noticed an IKEA store so a quick trip to the kitchen department for a new fry pan was a must. No I wasn’t allowed to stroll through the mired of new items and ideas that this store offers, no the shopping scrooge put a stop to that.

Saturday 24^th It’s raining, cold and miserable and don’t feel like going anywhere. Off to the local Supa IGA store for last minute shopping is the best I can manage.

Sunday 25^th The sun is shining and we are off to Fremantle which is a port city located 30 minutes from Perth’s city centre. It is said to be the world’s best preserved example of a 19^th century port streetscape and boasting Western Australia’s largest collection of heritage listed buildings, it also has many stylish museums and galleries. There is a lot to see if only the legs will keep up, walking shoes are essential in this city. One of the many highlight of Fremantle for us was the Maritime Museum, I thought I would be board ridged so took my book but instead found it a wonderfully interesting place to spend two to three hours. They are even housing Australia 2 in full sail, complete with look a like mannequins of its crew when it won The America’s Cup.

We also strolled along the main wharf area and were able to view two square riggers about to leave with young crew onboard for a sailing adventure. It’s amazing how far sailing ships have come in design. As if Fremantle was not enough for these old folk we ended our day with a visit at twilight to Magnificent King’s Park. I will at this point quote from EXPERIENCE PERTH, “The jewel in the city’s crown, King’s Park is one of the largest inner city parks in the world”. This stunning location overlooking the city really is breathtaking, but it’s not just the magnificent views but also the gardens with their abundance of Western Australia’s wildflowers, which have been lovingly planted and nurtured into fantastic displays. The war memorial was also quite spectacular, situated high on the hill with the city and Swan River as its backdrop. The inscription “Let silent contemplation be your offering” seemed so very appropriate in such a place.

Monday 26^th Today we are leaving this beautiful city, to drive south in search of some lovely Margaret River wines and some more beautiful coastal experiences. Goodbye Perth, it’s been a great experience, thank you.

I hope all is well in the lives of those of you who are reading this. Take care all my good friends and look forward to hearing from you. Love Elizabeth.