Up early to visit the amazing Kalbarri National Park and discover and be in awe of the stunning scenery, the deep gorges and the gently flowing Murchison River. We did tackle the longest walk first being a 6 km in and out hike, although that was instead of the full loop. We did decide to retain some energy for several more hikes this same day. Next we did the Z bend trail to the water’s edge and later two shorter walks at Hawks Head and Ross Graham lookout and river walk. All up we hiked in the order of 12 km for the day, most of which were quite steep so we are weary this evening.

The National Park is about 30 km from the town of Kalbarri although several other sites are another 30-40 km beyond that. It seemed that everyone who had the opportunity to experience its ancient beauty was moved as we all soaked up its grandeur. Apparently it gets very hot here in the summer and even today it was around the 30 degree mark.

Most people can get to see the main sights of Kalbarri NP but to hike in, you do need a reasonable level of agility and fitness as many of the trails are not for the faint hearted. Indeed, if a person is prone to vertigo or anxious of heights, this is not the place to be, as the height and the depth affect you in a visceral way. Good walking shoes are also most helpful, as grip and protection are good investments.

By the time we finished our walks and sight-seeing it was approaching 4pm so one last stop at the lookout overlooking the town of Kalbarri, as the sun started to drop in the western sky and the Indian Ocean shone below. A great sight including the Murchison River, having meandered through its many gorges, enters the sea at Kalbarri. Our caravan park is just across the road from this river and not too far down the road is the river mouth. This will be ready for us to explore tomorrow.

Meantime a small amount of trivia relates to the Hutt River Province being in this neighbourhood, being not far south from Kalbarri and just a little inland. Apparently an independent state declared in 1970 and while I have some memory of this principality, I will need to research it more to find out the circumstances of its secession from Australia. A bit weird really but I think the story is of interest. I also assume that this would no longer be possible.

While we have had a warm day the evening now is cool so good for sleeping. Slowly we are getting use to Boris our campervan, which is a switch from our last mode of transport. We just potter along and he moves along just fine. So far so good on the road. Traffic has been reasonably light and the road surfaces and signage very good.

As for pictures folks, my lap top is out of action and maybe until Karratha when I may be able to get a replacement AC power cable (if indeed that is my problem). In any case I shall retrospectively post the pics when my lap top is back in action. Love and best wishes to all!

Meantime I am improvising via my travelling companion’s iPad so there can be images (hurray!) and hopefully posted with user friendly file size as corrected retrospectively. Technology via the Internet is pretty marvellous even if we pay with some loss of privacy. Enjoy!