Kalbarri ~ 1st to 4th September

We left our interesting shell grit caravan park in Shark Bay and drove along the North West Coastal Highway which threaded its way through carpets of yellow, white and pink wildflowers and bushes of flowers that were mauve, red, yellow, gold, orange, white and blue. We found ourselves in a beautiful little town and took our bikes and rode up to one of the lookouts along the coast where you can see the Murchison River entering the sea.

I have done a couple of long walks here, one along the coastal cliffs where, once again, I watched Humpback whales performing in the ocean.

The other was along the river gorges which we reached via another 4WD track further inland. This was a "challenging" walk because of all the climbing although it was well worth the effort.

The scent of the wildflowers accompanied me on both walks and the scenery was stunning.

We are off to spend a couple of days with friends in Bindoon now before I fly to Melbourne to spend time with family while David continues his WA travel probably at a quieter pace.

Blessings to you all. The next blog will be from Melbourne.

Carnarvon to Shark Bay August 26th to September 1st

Carnarvon is a fresh food lover’s paradise. I had a ball! We bought and I ate lots and lots of fresh fruit and vegies and then went to the growers’ market on Saturday morning before travelling around the coast to Shark Bay.

See how they grow the table grapes under cover so the birds can’t get any!

We visited a museum where we found just the right cot for Lisa and Dale’s baby!

Shark Bay is an amazing place. From the stromatolites of Hamelin Pool to the marine life off Cape Peron we were entranced and educated wherever we went.

Stromatolites are an example of the earliest form of life on earth and continue to thrive in Hamelin Pool due to the extreme salinity of the water there. We also saw a beach literally made of little cockle shells. In some places the shells are estimated to be 10m deep.

We spent a day at Monkey Mia and enjoyed the experience with the dolphins as well as the vast amount of informative material at the Visitor Centre.

Our trip to Cape Peron via the high clearance 4WD track through the Francois Peron National Park was the highlight of our time here.

We watched a small pod of dolphins only a couple of metres from shore, saw Eagle Rays feeding in the shallows, watched Terns catching fish and feeding their young, watched hundreds of Cormorants fishing in the ocean where the confluence of two major currents attracts an amazing number of fish and walked along the cliff tops amongst the colourful and delightfully scented wild flowers. The scenery here is stunning. The cliffs are red, the sand dunes white and the sea is aqua blue.

Blessings to you all. We are currently enjoying the wonders of Kalbarri which I will tell you about next time.