Kalbarri is a truly beautiful place. From the majestic inland gorges, to the beaches around town, to the stunning headlands, bluffs and beaches along the coastal road south. This place has it all.
We stayed at Kalbarri (Denham) on 05 – 08 Sept 2018
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Our time in the area was marked by the amazing variety and extent of wildflowers we saw, some in mass profusion, others a little bunch of isolated flowers. The flowers have been truly sensational. Rather that scatter photos of them through the text of this post, there are many, we have assembled them into a photo album. To view this click here.
History
The local First Nations people, who have inhabited the area for tens of thousands of years, have a dreaming story about the Rainbow Serpent forming the Murchison River as she came from the inland to the coast. Therefore, this area has long been important to the Indigenous people.
The first European people to visit the area were the crew of the trading ship Batavia, belonging to the Dutch East India Company. The Captain of the Batavia “put off” 2 mutineers near Bluff Point just south of the town, leaving them stranded permanently.
The cliffs near the river mouth were named after another trading ship, the Zuytdorp, that was wrecked there in 1712. The area became a popular fishing and tourist spot in the 1940s and by 1948 the state government declared a townsite. Lots were soon surveyed and the town was gazetted in 1951. Kalbarri was named after an First Nations man from the Murchison tribe and is also the name of an edible seed. The Captain of the Batavia “put off” 2 of his mutineers, leaving them stranded permanently.
Today the town is geared towards tourism and fishing, with attractions including the Kalbarri National Park, Murchison River Gorge and the Murchison River.
Getting There
Denham > Kalbarri ~ 382kms
Day 1 – 5 Sept – to Kalbarri
We were up early and started packing, but trying to keep quite – we know Kath next to us likes to sleep in. We had a few drinks with them the previous night, and lots of talking. The drive takes us 127km back down Shark Bay Rd to the North West Coastal Hwy, then south for about 180km until we get to the Kalbarri turnoff. I did think that the wildflowers seem to be a bit more prolific that when we came up.
Going south down the Hwy, it was all about watching the wildflowers which just get better and better on the way. The camera was very busy. We drove through a number of showers, some heavy – our first rain in many months. The flowers along the roadside on the drive to Kalbarri were amazing.
We stopped at the Four Mile Pool rest area for a cuppa – a lovely waterhole. This was the Galena School site between 1924 to 1941 & 1949 to 1963. A one-room school was built at the ‘Surprise Mine’, Galena in 1921. A new school was built in 1925 and the old building converted to teacher’s quarters. In 1928 the School changed its name to the Galena School. Due to lack of pupils, the school was closed from 1942 to 1949. The school finally closed in 1963, and children living in the area were bused to the Binnu School.
Just after that we stopped to have a look at some new flowers that we had not seen before. But we saw about 6 or 7 amazing plants that were new to us. Just gorgeous. The landscape was also increasingly farmland rather than scrub.
Turns out the flowers in the photo above are Lupins (note to self: get some for our garden)
We got to the Kalabarri Tudor CP at about 1 and were quickly registered and paid up – $147.60 for 4 nights. We are on site 13 but that does not stop us making a good reverse parking – Kerry driving under my guidance. But it is a bit of an awkward site, with a big tree in one corner so that we have to keep Mobi a bit forward to get the awning out. So there is not much room for The Cruiser, which has its rear end sticking out into the road a bit.
After lunch we drove around the town. Kerry had been talking to our friend Kath who is also in Kalbarri but not at our CP, and she had found that that there was a fresh fish truck at the other end of town. We went down there and got some Red Throat filet (Sweetlips) for dinner. From there we refuelled again as we are going up into the National Park tomorrow. The drive down provided our second worst fuel economy so far at 23.74L/100km, so we must have been pushing up against a fair old headwind for much of the trip. The worst economy has been 23.92.
We went around to Chinamans Rock, overlooking the estuary where the mighty Murchison River meets the sea. The River is the second longest in WA at 820km, and has a catchment area of 82,000 sq.km, larger than Tasmania. That day the river mouth presented a wild picture. The seas are pumping, and the harbour entrance is a mess.
There were a couple of blokes fishing at the headland, and I got chatting to one. I remarked it must be extremely hard to get a boat into the harbour. “Just gotta do it at the right time and stick close to the green channel markers” he said. Even so, the channel markers are all over the place. Very hard to navigate in these seas.
Nearby is the Zuyldrop Memorial, which commemorates the 300th Anniversary of the Zuytdorp, which was shipwrecked on the WA coast near Kalbarri in 1712. It was a Dutch East India Company merchant ship wrecked whilst voyaging to Batavia (Jakarta). Aboard the Zuytdorp were about 200 passengers and crew, and a rich cargo. The precise circumstances of the wreck and possible survivors remains a mystery.
Just further to the south is Back Beach, which has a rock shelf extending out to sea a few hundred meters. There was a wild surf hitting that shelf.
Day 2 – 6 Sept – Murchison House Station
This morning we are going to Murchison House Station, one of the oldest pastoral stations in WA – it has been a working station for 150 years. We are going with Kath and Dennis, to do a self guided walking tour around the homestead buildings, and then have morning tea provided – only $12.50pp.
We wandered through the original cottage built by Charles von Bibra in 1858. This was the first permanent building on the Station.
The convict built shearers quarters (circa 1860) were refurbished in 2003 and are in current use by staff.
The shearing sheds (circa 1860s) were probably the highlight, and remain in pretty good nick after periodic refurbishments over the years. The current setup is about 1915 vintage. In its peak, up to 35,000 sheep would be put through the shed each season.
The main house was built around 1895, and has been extensively remodelled over the years. There is a nice garden around the house with a tempting swimming pool. And of course the outside dunny. (no longer in use)
We walked across to the Murchison River, which is tidal to the crossing. There is not much flow in the river.
Easter Cottage is the 1901 blacksmiths residence and workshop (although there not much evidence of the latter). At that time Stations would typically run up to 100 stock and draft houses so the ‘smitthy’s role was crucial. There are plans to turn this into an artists residence.
Around the property is a collection of military vehicles, earthmoving equipment, vintage cars and farm machinery. We guess this is a reflection of the history of the Station, although some of the exhibits are a real wreck. One of the previous owners of the station, an Indian Prince, was keen on old military and big equipment….so bought lots of it. This station was his “country retreat” (strangely). There were some massive old tanks, a massive dozer and lots of big trucks – all in total disrepair.
An easy walk took us to the station cemetery, where there are several graves, some marked with headstones, others not marked at all. One tombstone inscription stated: This stone is erected by ” his Master”…. pretty archaic.
After that we made our way back to the homestead gardens overlooking the Murchison River, for tea/coffee and a lovely home cooked blueberry muffin. Delicious.
Kath and Dennis went to see the inland Gorges and we went back to town. On the way we went up to the Meanarra Hill Lookout, which provides great views out to the ocean. This has just been refurbished and it looks a treat.
While in the bakery, we heard a woman say “Hey, Kerry and Des – fancy seeing you here.” It was Jenny and Gary, whom we first met at Point Samson, and then met again at a bakery in Exmouth. After a catch-up chat we agreed to have dinner the next night.
At 6 that evening we met Kath and Dennis at the local pub, which was packed. When we arrived the queue for the food orders was back out the door. We had a few drinks and the queue had shortened quickly. I was very surprised to see that had 4Pines beer on tap – a favourite from Manly. I had grilled swordfish on roast potatoes and veggies – excellent. I had Asian Fish Basket. It wasn’t actually a fish basket, it was more a seafood stew. Wouldn’t really recommend it. It was an excellent night.
Day 3 – 7 Sept – Inland Gorges
We spent the day at the Kalbarri NP inland gorges, which are only about 35km from town on an excellent sealed road. The NP surrounds the lower reaches of the Murchison River, which has cut a magnificent 80 kilometre gorge through the red and white banded sandstone.
Firstly we went to Z-Bends, where it is short walk to the lookout, providing spectacular views of the Murchison River Gorge. But along that short walk we see more wild flowers we have not seen before. At one point a lady stopped and asked: “Do you want to see an orchid”. Of course we did, and she pointed out a beautiful small yellow flower nestled under another bush. Really lovely. The lookout is great with views up both sides of the “Z”. They are Cowslip Orchids – and just so delicate… beautiful.
We read on the information board that there is a major fault in the base geological structure passing just next to the lookout. There is a platform to the left of the lookout which highlights this. At the front edge of the platform you are looking straight as a die up the gorge.
We walked along the Z-Bend River trail. The information panels told us that this is a demanding hike and that we should expect loose rocks, steep descents and ladder climbs over a distance of 2.6km (return) – a Class: 4 walk. The trail initially takes us along the top of the gorge and we spy some more lovely flowers. Then we started the descent down a steep narrow gorge with vertical sides. It was steep going down and became like a giants step ladder with large rocks for us to clamber over. But the geology was great, and we did not really have a problem getting down the gorge.
Lower down there are some step ladders to help us over the bigger rocks.
We saw a beautiful bird on the way down. Spent a while watching him actually – some type of parrot with the most brilliant green feathers, a blackish head and a yellow band around its neck. He was very busy looking for seeds.
At the base of the cliffs, we are at River level, but the rock pools look stagnant.
The return journey is on the same track. We lost the track a couple of times – which is hard to do in a narrow gorge – but got up pretty easily.
From Z Bends, we drove about 10km to the northern section of the Park. As we drove in we could see the wonderful gorges that were waiting for us. The walk down to the lookout above Nature’s Window is brilliant – the gorges and river to the right, and incredible wild flowers to the left.
Nature’s Window is an amazing piece of natural rock sculpture perfectly formed to provide a seat with an amazing backdrop. As you would guess it is very busy as we all wait a few minutes to get our turn. A photographers delight.
From here we see that there are a number of gorges that seem to be connected. We have great views over all 3 from different points. About 100m across from Nature’s Window is another rocky peak with a stunning overhang to a small rock platform. Wonderful stonework, and the ceiling had some beautiful natural art if you lie down and look up.
The West loop lookout is closed as they are building a new skywalk which is due to be opened in 2019. That will be amazing, especially with such good road access to this area. We will have to come back to see that.
Day 4 – 8 Sept – A magnificent coast
On the tourist information map, there are 14 listed points of interest awaiting us to the south. And they are only a smidgen of a distance from each other. It was always going to be a great day.
First stop is the lovely Blue Holes (#1). The beach is a 1 km long, west-facing platform beach, composed of medium sand, pink in places, which produces a relatively steep, soft beach. However, it is fronted by a near continuous low tide rock flat, with waves breaking heavily on the rocks. There are breaks in the rocks producing the ‘blue holes’ or tidal pools, with strong rips flowing out of the holes. It is most famous for its snorkelling, but on the very rough day we were there that would have been out of the question. Plus the water was chilly. But we can imagine that on a lovely calm day this would be a perfect place for a swim and snorkel.
Second stop is Siphon Beach (#2), another lovely beach nestled closer to the looming Jakes Point. Again there is a rock platform at the water’s edge.
Just past Siphon Beach is an unmarked track to the west, so we went out there. It is a pretty unnamed beach, getting closer to Jakes Point.
Next is Jakes Point (#3). This is a great and popular place. To the north is a seemingly endless white sand beach. To the south is the large outcrop of the Point. There are many surfers there and we walked out to the point to watch them and to explore the rock pools. The many surfers were sharing an excellent break off the point, sometimes a few meters high, sometimes less.
Meanwhile Kerry was exploring the rock pools. I saw something large moving in one biggish rock pool and moved closer. It was a big octopus (well, big for that rock pool). Beautiful orange tentacles, but the top of it appeared to be blackish. It quickly scurried under a small rock overhang in the pool, occasionally blowing out some sand and rearranging a few shells here and there. What an enchanting thing to see.
Next is Wittecarra Creek (#4). There is a creek here – we cross it on the way south, but there is also a lovely beach. Of course! We saw a very little foraging bird on the creekside. Later on, I saw a sign showing these tiny birds. They are Sanderlings and migrate from the Arctic annually.
Next is Red Bluff Beach (#5). Sitting in pride pf place, on an upturned bucket, was a fisherman, in a white shirt making a contrast to the blues of the sea and sky. To the south are the layered deep red sandstones of the near rocks, and towering over then the sand coloured bluff. Jolly good.
From there I walked up to Red Bluff (#6)) while Kerry drove around and met me there. The walk up was about 700m, just a gradual incline up to the Bluff pathway. The Bluff is all about great views from a number of lookout points along the pathway to the end lookout.
Next is Mushroom Rock (#7) and we combined that with the Rainbow Valley (#8). This involved a walk down to Mushroom Rock via a small gorge, then a walk around the rock shelves at water level up to Rainbow Valley, and for me a walk back to get The Cruiser from Mushroom Rock car park across an inland path. The walk down is a good one and the gorge is not difficult.
We spent ages wandering around the rock platform at Mushroom Rock. Another couple were waiting for some crabs to emerge from under a rock so Kerry joined them. I wandered the rocks getting some photos.
There are so many crabs here – a few about 120mm wide. All scurrying to and fro. Later I crept up behind the rock shelf and saw a mid sized black crab (is it a crab or a wet funnel web?).
We walked up to Rainbow Valley and there were some interesting rock formations – more yellow sandstone than the red rocks of lower down. We saw some extraordinary “pipe rocks”, which are made of fossilised burrows created by ancient wormlike organisms (Skolithos). From there I walked back to get The Cruiser, taking the inland track.
Next is Pot Alley (#9), also involving a walk through a small gorge to get to the beach. But first, there are some stunning views from the carpark.
We made up our lunch and took that down to the beach to watch the waves whilst eating. Very pleasant. To the left hand side of the beach is a large rock shelf, and there was a natural bridge across a gap over the ocean. We did not venture across this as the seas were rough and the bridge was getting wet.
It is a lovely spot and we spent some time just sitting on the rock watching the wild sea action.Then Kerry spotted a pod of at least 4 dolphins out to sea. So lovely to see some dolphins again. I also saw a bright orange crab – quite a big one, being over 200mm I reckon.
Eagle Gorge (#10) is an outlook with great views up and down the coast. We did not walk down the beach – it looked very much like Pot Alley.
The remaining 4 points of interest are all off sealed roads to the right – a total of 12km from the Hwy to Natural Bridge. But first up was Grandstand (#11), right at the carpark, along another sealed road out to the coast. This is a great lookout.
It is short walk to Shellhouse (#12). I am a bit bemused as to the name. Couldn’t see a house, nor any shells. Maybe theres a cave or rock formation that shells collect in way down below or something that we cannot see from so far up.
Towards the end of the road, we came to Island Rock (#13) – brilliant views.
I walked along the clifftop to Natural Gorge while Kerry droveThe Cruiser around. It was a short walk on a raised timber walkway, with some great views.
Finally is Natural Bridge (#14), where there are….wait for it……stunning views.
What a brilliant tour.
Back at Mobi, I did some investigation into the awning roof rafters. I found out that there is a very large caravan sales and repair place in Geraldton and called them. The woman I spoke to was quite surprised when I told her that we had been advised not to use the curved rafters, as this is what they mostly supply. We vowed to call in there first thing Monday morning to sort this out.
That evening we met Jenny and Gary at the pub for dinner. It was not as packed as the previous night, but the 4 Pines was just as good, as was the food. I had battered whiting and it was delicious – “just what the doctor ordered”. Another good night. As we were leaving a live band started and we were tempted to stay on for a dance or two, but the place was not really conducive to dancing. .
To see photos related to this post, click here
To see some amazing photos of the wild flowers we saw in the Kalbarri area, click here
To see photos driving to and in and around Kalbarri, click here
To see photos of the inland gorges, click here
To see photos of the stunning coastal beaches, bluffs and cliffs, click here
To see a video for this post, click here