After a two and half hour drive, we arrived at the lovely
quaint seaside town of Kalbarri. Our caravan park was right in the middle of
town, directly opposite Chinaman’s Beach and the entrance to the Murchison River - great spot! It was a lovely afternoon, so after setting up we took off the bikes and went
for a ride. We hadn’t gone far when we spotted Dave and Mish on the pier
fishing, so we detoured down to say hi. We then rode up to the headland to view
the Zuytdorp Shipwreck Memorial, gaining a great view back down along the ocean
entrance to the river. On the way back we stopped in at the information centre
and Sippy purchased a lovely red leather, phone case shoulder bag for me (early birthday present).
Day Two and we awoke to overcast skies (what are these
things called clouds??). Today we were exploring the Kalbarri National Park. We
arrived at the entrance gate to queues of cars. It turned out to be the end of the Rotary 2023
Variety Bash (charity car rally) from Bathurst, NSW to Kalbarri, WA in 10 days!
They were of course all heading to the Kalbarri Skywalk, so when we arrived
the car park was full of vintage cars (2-wheel drive, minimum 25 years old),
decked out in all themes from Star Wars to Lego and Scooby Doo! We braved the
crowds for 30mins and then decided to head off to see the Nature’s Window and
return to the Skywalk later in the afternoon (after all had departed). We had a photo
in front of the rock window, which perfectly frames the Murchison River below
and then avoiding the spitting rain, returned to the car to drive 11km to the
Z-Bend Lookout. This provided an expansive view of the park and the gorge
below. We then hiked the 2.6km return walk to the bottom of the gorge and the
river. It was a rather steep descent, with a few ladder climbs, but well worth
the effort. It was then back to the Skywalk, where we now had the two viewing
platforms all to ourselves!! Woo hoo :) Made of 117 tonnes of weathering steel
and able to support a weight of 1,000kg/square metre, the Skywalk is a great
engineering feat (Maddie Sip would be impressed!). It provided fabulous views
of the gorge and river below.
Day Three and we were up early to be at the wharf by 7:15am
for our Lobster Pot Pull Tour. It was a little chilly at 12 degrees, (too cold
for our liking), so we dressed in track pants and jackets and ended out through
the narrow ocean entrance, (quite hairy), in search of the famous West Australian
lobsters. We were not disappointed, pulling in 16 lobsters within the hour. The
tour was very informative about the industry and the sustainable practices that
WA Fisheries are putting in place to maintain supply. We learnt that a lobster
can arrive in China within 18 hours of being pulled from WA waters, alive and transferred
fresh to waiting tanks in Chinese restaurants. We were served warm lobster
rolls and chilli and garlic lobster on board and then provided with two lovely
lobsters to take home as we disembarked! We had BBQ lobster that evening and steamed
lobster pasta with mornay sauce the following night. Yummo!! Shame Sippy’s toe
swelled up with gout the following day – obviously a bit too much lobster for
him!
After spending some money at the local Kalbarri surf shop,
(a few items for Sippy and some birthday shopping for Bree), we spent the afternoon
viewing the amazing, rugged Kalbarri coastline. We visited the Natural Bridge,
Island Rock, Shellhouse Grandstand, Eagle Gorge, Pot Alley, Red Bluff and Blue
Holes. All spectacular and made more so when we spotted a pod of 35 dolphins
swimming close under the cliffs. How very lucky!
To finish a great day, we dropped into Finlay’s award-winning
micro-brewery for a craft beer, prawn’s and fries before heading back to
prepare our evening lobster meal. We loved Kalbarri!
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