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Kalbarri - Day 02 of our 11 day tourTuesday I am up at 6am at Kalbarri and pack my tent away, have a shower and start getting breakfast ready. (cereal, toast). We are all up and looking forward to a bit of activity today at Kalbarri National Park. We leave the caravan park a bit after 7am and arrive at the car park at The Loop to see Nature’s Window. All out of the bus and we take the pleasant walk to this amazing site. It is so peaceful and quiet this time of the day and we can hear some wild goats off in the distance. After a bit of a look we can see them not too far away. We spend a bit of time here taking many photos through Nature’s Window that superbly frames the upstream view of the river way below. We walk back and meet some other early starters walking down.
Nature's Window at Kalbarri NP From Nature’s Window we travel to Z-Bend and again take a pleasant stroll to the lookout for the most breathtaking view in the National Park. The invitation is given to walk down to the river with everyone volunteering. Crikey’s Law of Gravity works here (it is the opposite of Sir Isaac Newton’s Law of Gravity (what goes up must come down), because here Crikey’s law is What Goes Down Must Come Up – no passengers left behind. We have a casual stroll around here seeing the river redgums provide a stark contrast to the Sandstone cliffs. We make the walk back to the top.
Up Z Bend at Kalbarri NP Back on the bus and on the main road we continue heading north. We stop at Billabong Roadhouse for lunch enroute to World Heritage Shark Bay and stop at The Stromatolites. Stromatolites are considered “living fossils” and are similar to those found in 3 ½ million year old rocks which are the earliest record of life on earth. Shark Bay is one of only two places on Earth where living marine stromatolites exist. We have a bit of a look around Hamelin and the history of this area before going a bit further to Eagle Point.
Stromatolites at Hamelin Bay It is well worth the stop because sharks, dugongs, rays and large fish often visit these shallows and today we see a number of these creatures swimming around. As we get closer to Monkey Mia it is well worth noting Shark Bay earned a prestigious World Heritage listing in 1991. It is one of only sixteen places that has met the four criteria for world heritage listing. (Important evolutionary and biological histories, unique formations and natural habitats where threatened species survive). If you love wildlife, you will love Shark bay. You are likely to see turtles, dolphins and dugongs at any time. There have been 17 species of mammals, 98 species of reptiles and amphibians and more than 230 species of birds recorded in this area. Not much further today and we arrive at Monkey Mia in plenty of time to set up tents with Humphrey and Jim heading off to play tennis, Sue wanders down to the beach but the rest opt to have a swim in the pool and hot tub. For dinner tonight, I make a lovely vegetable soup with some nice bread, followed by home made (I probably don’t have to add home made any more because all our meals are home made – well tour made) beef stroganoff with rice. A few people sit around tonight having a talk and drink while others choose to go to the hotel and have a couple of quiet ones there. Itinerary of our 11 day where you can join us Day 03 - from Kalbarri to Monkey Mia...Wild Dolphins Table of Contents of our 11 day tour diary.
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