10/11/21 Around Geraldton

 

     Leaving Kalbarri , we head down to Port Gregory and the very scenic Pink Lake , we could see it was indeed very pink at the moment and quite full - it's not terribly deep , so when it dries out a bit the lake does tend to recede quickly . This is the view from the lookout area , and unfortunately it was quite windy so the drone stayed in it's bag .

   We then headed into Port Gregory for a rest stop and to check out the wind affected ocean . This is where the waves are crashing onto the reef , plenty of white caps out there !!

   Looking over the jetty to where there are usually cray boats moored .

    Fast forward a week or 2 , we came for a drive back out from Geraldton without the van attached , it made it much easier to get down to the side of the lake a bit north of town .

    Not too windy today , and this view is too good not to share , blue ocean white sand dunes , green vegetation and the candy pink of the lake .

    And this is Port Gregory - all of it !!

    This is the lookout ( top right ) and the road out of town .

    We haven't been to Horrocks for about 5 years , so called in for a look . It was a great spot for some lunch at the beach , but the wind had freshened and was now quite cool , so it was back into the ute for lunch inside out of the wind .

    A little south of Horrocks is another surfing spot , and you have to drive down Bowes River Rd , right beside Bowes River , but there weren't any surfers today - maybe blown away ???

     Time for another fly , this is a wheat , canola and lupin growing area . The canola has been harvested already , leaving only the wheat & lupins to be harvested .vThe darker looking fields are lupins and the lighter fields are wheat .

     This is the lupin crop .

     This is the lupin plant and flowers prior to going to seed .

    Here's the wheat crop 

     After days of wind , it was nice to head out and check how the harvest was going , one property had some interesting things beside the driveway - an old truck , tractor and ute , all buried partially in the ground . The harvesters were working in the distance where the dust is .

    Another sunset went down while we were visiting Col & Ailsa . They are here house sitting not far from where we are staying , so we called in for a visit for a few hours .

     Another day we decided to check out some of the minor roads around the place , this time north of Geraldton , again more wheat fields , this time from a lookout . 

    The christmas bush is coming out in it's blaze of orange . What you can see is mostly buds , the flowers are still to come , and will be that same orange .

     Coronation Beach was the next stop , but there was a patch where the desert roses where going berserk - these ones are a lemon colour .

    In another section of the road are these grevilleas ?? They are just starting to burst into flower . The bushes are about 3m tall and wide .

    Here's Coronation Beach and the campsite , there's also a wind surfing school and a kite surfing school - give you the impression it's a windy place ?

     We headed up track beside the beach to another quiet area and got these shots from above .

    These ruins are at the start of the road to the beach and are right in the wheat field , and are what's left of an old rock walled house .

     Love the grass seed heads here .

    Exploring some of the roads that our gps tells us connect to another road was a bit frustrating - the roads turn into farm tracks on private property . But we did find a nature reserve at the end of one road , finding some flowers still out & about .

    Yellow everlasting daisies 

 White & yellow everlasting daisies 

    And then it was time to head back to the van , we've been spending our time doing some work to it , so it's nice to down tools and get out for a drive round .  I've managed to play golf 4 Saturdays in a row - first time for a while , and the golf is improving steadily !! Getting closer to our next venture , stay tuned .

 

24/10/21 Kalbarri 2

    Fresh from our drive into Kalbarri , we had a rest day before going back out to the Skywalk , it was a nicer day as well , with temperatures getting up to the low 30's . We parked & walked down to the kiosk and found a seat out of the sun for a minute or 2 . There were about 20 people out on the skywalk , but they left or went to the other end , and it was empty - perfect photo time . This is the bigger of the 2 skywalks .

    It looks a bit strange but this is also the main skywalk platform , looking down to the river below .

    The shelter above us has some intricate patterns , presumably laser cut , that lets the sunlight through creating patterns on the floor .

   While it was still quiet , we walked out to the platform , this is looking back at the shelter & kiosk .

     Here's the Murchison River and the smaller platform

   We ventured down to the other end and looked back to the main platform .

  There are various sculptures around the site , this one is interesting - it's about 1.5m long and is life size , it's an arthropod , called Eurypterids . They apparently roamed the earth for about 200million years , they lived in the ocean and on land . There are fossilised footprints of them here in the national park .

     Some other sculptures are this one - a Thorny Devil 

     An emu and chicks , there's also some quolls , some other thorny devils and some other arthropods , makes for an interesting visit .

    Another day , we headed out to the coastal park in between rain showers . This bush caught our eye , it was about 2m tall long & leggy , but covered in yellow flowers . The flowers have a striped centre - first time we'd seen them .

     This is the start of the Bigurda Walk , that leads you along the cliff edge for about 7klms to Eagles Nest. We did that walk a couple of years ago and it was spectacular .

    Time for some aerial shots of the area , that's Island Rock

    Colour of the water is beautiful , contrasting with the starkness of the cliffs .

    From here we drove back toward town to another favourite location called Pot Alley . You can drive down right to the cliff edge , you can also walk down to this small beach as well - but be aware of the waves , big ones sneak up and grab you . Here's a view looking back to the cliff from above the water . 

    A couple of Kombi's arrived , it was like we'd stepped back 40 years in time !!

    Heading back into town , the rain had cleared away and the day was way better . This is the view looking north along the coast , wildflowers were still flowering happily .

     Further down near town is a spot called Blue Holes , it's a sanctuary zone and is apparently good snorkelling - given the windchill and the temperature of 22 degrees , I didn't bother to find out !! 

  This is Kalbarri township , looks a bit stark - most of the trees lost all their leaves and a lot of branches . There's still some obvious damage to some buildings , but some old fibre shacks are still standing , while newer houses beside them have lost part of their roof . Other houses are still waiting to be demolished .

    This is a shot from directly above Blue Holes 

     And this is looking back towards Red Bluff and the coastal park .

  

   There you have it , that's Kalbarri for us this year . Cheers