Thursday 30th October – Galena Camp to Kalbarri – Warm Sunny Windy Clouds

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I said from yesterday, it is truly amazing the change in the surrounds once we got past Billabong Service Station.

We only had a few kilometres to drive down the road to the turn off to Kalbarri.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we got along the road into Kalbarri, the wild flowers began.

I recognized one that I have planted at home which flowers along the stem and was in bud when we left, so I got to see it in bloom. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two look outs on the way in.  They look out over the Murchison River Gorge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Class 4 walks here.  These are beautifully done so everyone can view the Gorge.

  

 

 

 

 

 

View from Hawks Look Out Down River        Below the look out

This is the view at Hawk’s Look Out up river

 

 

 

 

 

The facilities were very good.

 

 

 

 

 

We then drove to Ross Graham Look Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

We thought at first these kangaroos were drinking water, but later realized that they were actually licking the salt off the bank.

 

This look out was named after the first school teacher in Kalbarri (Ross Graham) who petitioned to have the gorges preserved in a national park.  He died aged only 30 in 1967. The look out is not as dramatic as Hawks, but there is a walk down to the river.

 

 

 

This overhang was massive and you can see the layers of rock laid down in all the reds and creams.  The little blue dot is Glen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want them ALL!   I just love our native flowers. There are so many different ones, I have just given you a preview of what we saw. 

Kalbarri is a small beachside town where the Murchison River meets the ocean.  The river flows south along the beach front before turning to enter the ocean.  The esplanade runs along the river, with views to the sandbank that limits the width of the river mouth.  As with all beachside places in WA, its windy.  The National Park entrance is 20 klms from the town and there is no camping within the park.  We drove past the park road on our way into Kalbarri today.  The park road is 27 kilometres to the start of the walks, so it’s a round trip of approximately 100 kilometres to visit the park.  We came through near lunch time which is too late to start the longer walks.  There have been a couple of heat related deaths in the park, but they have been UK residents who would not be accustomed to our climate and doing the walks at the height of summer.