Chris n Shirley's 2025 WA Trip: Chapter 10

Day 44 - Friday 11 July 2025 – Geraldton to Kalbarri - 189 km

It was another sunny day as we drifted away from Geraldton. Not long later we stopped at Northampton which is one of the oldest towns in WA. They have some lovely old buildings and a big focus on sheep statues.

Some sheep and one guard dog

Church of 'Our Lady in Ara Coeli'

Our Lady in Ara Coeli Convent

We moved on. Not long later we stopped to take photos of the 'Pink Lake' This is the third pink lake of the trip so far - and the first lake that was pink.

Pink Lake

Not long later we arrived in Kalbarri and were soon setting up camp, overlooking the Murchison River - about a 9 iron shot away.

After lunch and coffee and resting we went for a drive and took a photo of the mouth of the Murchison - while we ate ice-creams.

Ocean to the left. Murchison River to the right

I was so relaxed I missed a sunset photo.

Today was the best weather of the trip to date, reaching a top temperature around 22 degrees.

Day 45 - Saturday 12 July 2025 – Kalbarri

We were woken by the neighbour's dogs and gentle rain. We declared it a 'rest day'. Time to catch up on exercises.

Some planning was attempted.

Day 45 became the first time this trip that the TV was turned on. Of course it had to be tuned into Kalbarri stations. The only football was a replay of the East Perth v Perth match. East Perth had a record 15 West Coast players on the field. They had 11 goal-scorers for 14 goals. The TV was turned off.

The bouquet of corned beef cooking started to permeate the caravan.

Around 6:30 it was consumed, while the rain continued.

Day 46 - Sunday 13 July 2025 – Kalbarri NP

The clothes were on the line and we were halfway to Kalbarri National Park before the rain started, which continued all morning.

We were able to get some rain-affected photos of the spectacular Murchison Gorge, including the Skywalk and Natures Window. There are two Skywalks, the larger jutting out 25 metres over the canyon. This is five metres longer than the similar skywalk at the USA Grand Canyon.

Above & below - Looking left and right from the two Skywalks

Natures Window

Around 11:30 we gave in and headed back to camp for lunch and hopefully a change in the weather.

That change came soon after lunch and we headed in the opposite direction to see some of the stunning coastline just south of Kalbarri.

Natural Bridge

Above & below - Island Rock

Eagle Canyon

The sun trying to appear at 2:30 pm

We saw 7 or 8 whales in the distance, small flashes now and again.

There were many wildflowers on view in the National Park. Click here to see the flowers on show.

The weather improvement meant that most of the washing was nearly dry. We had sausages and seven veggies for dinner.

Day 47 - Monday 14 July 2025 – Kalbarri & Surrounds

It was a repeat of yesterday. The sheets were washed and just on the line when the rain started. I gave up in disgust.

Despite gale force winds we decided to continue yesterday's coastal exploration. We visited "Pot Alley" before the gale force winds drove us back to camp for coffee and a lamington.

Coastal view from Pot Alley

A change of plan was introduced so we headed back to explore more of the Kalbarri NP - which would be protected from the westerly. Alas, by the time we got there a wind change upset our plans - but we pressed on.

Hawks' Head was first, where we talked to three folk from Hawaii for a while - one was looking forward to a five day hike in the Bungle Bungles. We spotted some local inhabitants from the lookout.

View from Hawk's Head Lookout (Can you see the hawk's head?)

Some local inhabitants

Black-flanked rock wallabies
They were considered (locally) extinct until two were discovered in 2015

From there we headed to Ross Graham lookout and walking path - so named after the first school teacher at Kalbarri who was the first person to make big noises about preserving the land that is now the Kalbarri NP. More stunning scenery.

Above - Gorge view from the top
Below & Bottom - Views at the bottom of the gorge

We saw many more wildflowers and they can be seen if you Click here.

It was time for a return to base and a cuppa. The weather was good enough to sit outside and observe people passing by - and chat to a couple of them.

Just before 4pm we drove to Finley's - a wonderful local institution that is authentic Aussie, relaxed and has great seafood. We have eaten here in the early 1990's and 2011 and loved it. Today we both had beer, mine was a "Coral Coast Mid' and Shirley's was a 'Rusty Sailor Ginger Beer'. The garlic bread was also pretty good.

Above - Our drinks
Below - The full range

As we got ready to relax for the evening I stepped out to get a half-decent sunset photo.

Sunset from behind the caravan

Day 48 - Tuesday 15 July 2025 – Kalbarri & Surrounds

The forecast was great and so was the weather for the day. Not a cloud to be seen all day. Sunny with a slight breeze at times.

While Shirley did her exercises I headed out to the Skywalk to get better photos than were possible in the rain two days ago. On the way out I scored photos of an Australian Bustard.

Australian Bustard

Above - Left from the larger skywalk showing the smaller skywalk
Below - Right from the smaller skywalk showing the larger skywalk

Shirley and I then headed to Red Bluff and had a walk around the Bluff and a 2 km walk on the adjacent beach. [Beach 39, Walks 38] I also scored the following little guy as it put on a show for us.

Above - Red Bluff beach from the Bluff
Below - Red Bluff & beach from the beach

After lunch we visited the main Kalbarri beach and had another 2 km walk, paddling most of the time in the water. [Beach 40, Walks 39]

There was a period of packing up 'stuff' for our venture north tomorrow.

Around 6pm we strolled 300 metres to a highly recommended fish n chip place for our takeaway dinner. The Spanish Mackerel was excellent.

Day 49 - Wednesday 16 July 2025 – Kalbarri to Hamelin Bay - 242 km

Today was a day of transit as we take 4 days to travel 673 km - something caused by the timing of both bookings.

Tonight we are camped at a roadhouse opposite the road into Shark Bay and Monkey Mia. We are not visiting the latter but we do have a few things to check out on that peninsula.

It was one of our better driving conditions today. Good road, undulating, straight, repetitive scenery and vegetation BUT a tail wind.

Typical scenery today on Highway No 1

We estimated that we passed maybe 150 caravans or tourists of some kind, heading south. Often there were packs of 3, 4 or 5 caravans.

We thought that 8677 km in 49 days was a fair bit of driving. Our neighbours tonight have travelled just over 5000 km in two weeks. Wow.

Not long before dinner I took two photos to remind Outback travellers of some of the evening colours on display. They never fail to impress.

Above - Roughly east at 5:53 pm
Below - Roughly west at 6:05 pm

For dinner we had venison rissoles, similar to our snags from last week. We bought them in Margaret River, and at the time we thought that they were a little deer.

Day 50 - Thursday 17 July 2025 – Shark Bay - 185 km

We had three things to check out and found a fourth while we were doing it.

The weather was superb as we drove the 85 km to Shell Beach, so called because the beach is made up of zillions of small shells. The geology of Shark Bay is such that the water in this part of Shark Bay has twice the salt concentration as does the ocean. This means that there is virtually only one species on Earth that can live here.

The Shark Bay cockle (Fragum erugatum)—is a burrowing mollusc enclosed in tiny bivalve shells a few millimetres long (less than 14mm long in Shark Bay). It is found only in WA and burrows into the sea floor in relatively shallow (between depths of 1.2 and 6.5 metres) areas of Shark Bay.

The depth of the shells along this beach is such that the shells were mined in blocks and were used in building construction. More on this below. We enjoyed a two km walk.

Shell Beach and (inset) a handful of cockle shells
[Beach 41, Walks 40]

Next we detoured to visit 'Nanga Bay' - a run-down caravan park on the western side of the peninsula (not far from Shell Beach). The location is remote, has a beautiful beach and appears to be a fishing haven. We had another beach walk.

Nanga Bay Beach [Beach 42, Walks 41]

At this time we were about 60 km (as the crow flies) from the most westerly point of mainland Australia - Steep Point.

Next we visited Hamelin Pool which is home to the most diverse and abundant examples of stromatolites in the world. Also referred to as ‘living fossils’, stromatolites are living representatives of life before dinosaurs.

A board walk that allows visitors to get very close was destroyed by a 2021 cyclone and is yet to be replaced. So we looked, and we saw, but we did not get close enough for a photo.

Last on our list was the Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station, built in 1884, and now a museum. The museum did not open until 3pm (now 12 noon) so we walked around and admired the 'shell bricks' from Shell Beach that were used in the construction of part of the main building and most of the outer buildings.