Kalbarri on a windy and overcast day

7th July 2014

Windy, overcast and cold today so not a good day for viewing spectacular scenery.

Rain threatened at Red Rock beach

We went for a short bike ride this morning then John spent the rest of the day on his computer whilst I walked up river a little way.  Too cold to do that for long though!

Murchison River sandbar

Murchison River upstream

Time to put the heater on now.

More cliff walks - Kalbarri

6th July 2014

Two spectacular cliff walks today.  The first highlighted the actions of erosion on the sandstone cliffs.

John on the clifftop walk

The sea water works into faults and enlarges them which can result in an arch and eventually an island stack of sandstone.  We saw plenty of humpback whales again today and these ones were a bit closer into shore.

Rock arch in Kalbarri NP

The second walk was very interesting, through an area called rainbow valley, so named because of the extraordinary colours of the sandstone.  The rock varies from white to yellow to pink and maroon.

Yellow and maroon rock layers

In some areas the rock has worn away to expose the fossilised tubes made by seaworms in the sea bed millions of years ago.

Fossilised tubes look like stalactites

About halfway though this walk it suddenly clouded over and eventually started to rain so we didn't get to appreciate all the colours in the bright sunlight.  Will have to go back.

Walking in the gorge - Kalbarri NP

5th July 2014

We did a fairly challenging walk today in the Murchison river gorge, known as The Loop. The trail goes past a spectacular worn sandstone opening in the rock known as Nature's Window.

Nature's Window

After that it follows the meandering river gorge along the top of the cliff then drops down to the river following it downstream to another steep climb back up to the start. The walk had some tricky bits, especially edging along rock ledges above the river!

Freshly exposed sandstone

The rocks are layered sandstone and quite spectacular, especially where the overhangs drop away leaving the fresh pink and white sandstone exposed.  Quite a number of the wildflowers have started to blossom which adds to the splendour.  The weather was very warm, about 28 degrees, but dropped quickly at sunset.

Murchison River

Clifftops and parrots - Kalbarri

4th July 2014

Kalbarri is a really lovely little town.  Only 540km from Perth it is within easy reach for a holiday so does not seem to be in the state of atrophy that so many of the settlements further north seem to suffer.  WA school holidays start today so we had to book our 6 days here several weeks ago to be sure of getting a spot.

Clifftop walk, Kalbarri NP

The weather was beautiful this morning so we set off on a cliff walk in the NP, ended up walking about 5km south along the clifftop then back again so it was a bracing start to the day.  The cliffs are eroded banded sandstone and it's quite spectacular to watch the sea pounding against them.

We spotted humpback whales way out to sea heading north and a small pod of dolphins quite close into shore.

After lunch we went to the Rainbow Jungle parrot sanctuary where there is a breeding programme including some rare and endangered species.  Most of the parrots there are Australian and many of these are in a walk through aviary along with Australian finches. Some Australian parrots have proliferated as they exploit water and food sources [crops] provided by humans and this is often at the expense of the more specialised and less aggressive species.  The birds are unconcerned about people so it is possible to get quite close and one landed on John's hand!

Gouldian finches

Princess parrot

Two of my favourites are the colourful little Gouldian finch and the Princess parrot, both of which occur in WA though they are not common. The Princess parrot is lovely soft colours and has an extremely long tail.

Trees again - Denham to Kalbarri

3rd July 2014

Fairly long drive today but an interesting change in the landscape as we moved from desert with small shrubs and spinifex grass to sparse forests of small trees which indicates a higher rainfall.  Also, the first time we have seen any fields of crops [with the exception of a small irrigated area around Carnarvon].  We stopped at a lovely spot on the Murchison river to have lunch; this was a flowing river with plenty of water!

Kalbarri is situated on the Murchison estuary and is completely surrounded by national park.  We arrived fairly late in the day but a quick look around shows a nice little coastal town.  This is good after the disappointment of Denham.

Marine life spotting around Denham

2nd July 2014

Today was overcast with the occasional shower so we didn't venture out until it cleared up a bit and then just for a walk along the beach for about 4km out of Denham.

Shovelnose ray in the shallows

The combination of overcast sky, therefore no reflection and no wind allowed a great view into the water for several metres off shore.  All week we have been trying to spot marine life close into the shore without success, but today we saw dozens of shovelnose rays being pursued by dozens of sharks.

The sharks would have been either lemon or tiger, it was hard to tell; the largest was about 1.2 metres long.  We also saw a stingray in the shallows so we were well pleased.

Stingray in the shallows

The whole time at Shark Bay I have noticed that often the sea and sky seem to be the same colour.  This seems to be the case whether it is sunny or overcast and I think is probably a phenomenon of the shallow water.  Today was a good example.

Sea and sky merge at Denham.  

On the way back from our walk it started to rain in earnest and we got soaked!

Francois Peron National Park

1st July 2014

This morning we went to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins for the last time.  We stood out on the jetty instead of on the beach and 3 of them put on a spectacular display leaping out of the water seemingly just for the exhilaration.  Prior to this they had been catching the small fish around the jetty by swimming on their backs which traps the fish between them and the surface; then quickly snap at the fish before it gets away.

Nicky, the paparazzi dolphin

The weather today was beautiful again and the warmest day yet, about 26 degrees and very calm.  We went into the Francois Peron NP and drove to Big Lagoon, which is actually a series of interconnected lagoons running up the western side of the peninsula.  John was a bit nervous about driving in the soft sand but he did fine.

Reducing tyre pressure for the sand tracks

Francois Peron was the naturalist on board the French expedition ship Naturaliste which sailed into Shark Bay in 1801.  He was the first European to scientifically catalogue the wildlife in the bay and also study the indigenous Malgana people; the National Park has been named in his honour.

The first European to have definitely visited these shores was Dirk Hartog, a Dutch explorer who nailed an inscribed pewter plate to a tree in 1616.  A sort of 'Dirk Hartog wuz here'!  The island where this occurred is named after him.

Big lagoon

We finished up the day in the NP by having another dip in the hot tub and using the excellent BBQ facilities to cook dinner.  Then watched another brilliant sunset.