Denham to Kalbarri

Thursday 11th September, and it was time to leave the town of Denham.  We packed everything up, then walked the short distance to town for fresh bread and the tourist info centre to buy our camping permit.  From our previous reconnoiter we had chosen Whalebone Bay as our best alternative.  We are only allowed 24 hours at one site, we can't move to another the next day.  Such a shame as we were the first there for the day, so got to choose a great spot.  We had checked out the wind forecast and got the compass out, so chose the spot right on the water with a hill behind us to break the wind.  We also angled the van around for the best wind position.  How good was this!!  For most of the day, apart from a few day trippers who drove in and straight out, we were the only ones there.  I walked to the top of the cliff and the water was so clear to look in to.  Then to top it off, Jim caught a 60 cm tailor, dinner for the next two nights.  He also caught a large shark, but just before he got it in, it broke the line.  

Shark fighting

Whalebone Bay from the clifftop

But of course, the next morning we had to move on.  I had done quite a bit of research and decided on Tamala Station, a very remote place that would require over 30 k's of rough dirt road to get there.  Our first stop on the way was at Shell Beach, an usual place that like Hamelin Pool, instead of sand, the whole beach is deep with tiny cockle shells. 

The road to Tamala wasn't as bad as I expected, but the last few k's of driveway to the homestead was.  Once we had paid, we were able to help ourselves to free firewood, take our key to the locked gate and find the campsite we had booked, about 8 - 10 k's away. 

Tamala has many camping sites, some only single sites, but I had chosen Tent Landing that has a bit of luxury in this stark, remote place. There is a drop toilet and water taps (non drinking) around the camp. 

Unfortunately, Jim was not the least impressed with my choice.  With the dirt road, the long driveway, and then what he felt was an unimpressive beach outlook, he wasn't too happy about the three days I had paid for.  The camp area doesn't have a beach, the whole bay is low cliff, about 2 metres high, and Jim couldn't see that this was at all good for fishing. It also didn't help that the wind was roaring.  There was only one other camper here, and we found a top spot, very level and closest to the water. It was too windy for Jim to even try and fish, so we took the car and drove around the rest of the point, checking out the other camping areas.

But tomorrow is always another day.  We got up to a lovely calm morning and out went the rod.  By lunch time this terrible place had produced four very large, very nice fish.  First a blue lined emperor, otherwise known as Black Snapper, then 2 Black Spotted Tusk, and then a Long Tom.  All were over 40 cm.  I had stocked up at the butchers in Denham, so I kept moving meat to the freezer, as well as freezing some of the fish. 

Camping at Tamala

Two of the catch

Campfire and fishing, what more could you want

One of the reasons for coming to Tamala Station was the closer proximity to Steep Point, the most western mainland point.  However, when we got to the station, we were told that the road there was in very bad condition.  It was over 100 ks of which 70 were very badly corrugated, and it was currently taking more than half an hour over what it should.  Did we really want to do over 200ks of rough road just to take a photo, or should Jim stay and catch more fish.  I moved more meat into the freezer.

At least with no shortage of water here, I was able to take the opportunity to wash floors, and clean things like the oven and the BBQ.  And it isn't hard to sit and look at the beautiful coloured water either. We had now travelled to our furthest point west.

Monday morning our three nights were up and time to move on.  After taking our key back to get our deposit, we headed down the road.  Which way should we go?  Isn't great to be in that situation that you can chose a direction at the last minute.  We decided when we got to the highway again, we would head north about 60 k's and stop at Gladstone.  We weren't able to stay there on the way to Denham as the road had been closed due to the rain.  On the 6k dirt road in, we could easily see why it is closed so easily.  There were some very deep ruts left from wheels driving in the mud.

Once at Gladstone it wasn't hard to find a site.  Although there were quite a lot of vans there, the area is huge and spread along the beach.  But the tide was out, and the water was a long way from the shore.  Jim still got his road out, but without any luck.  Talking to others, apart from those with boats, there hadn't been many fish caught.  

The jetty at Gladstone at sunset

We only stopped the one night, and Tuesday we were southward bound again.  Just over 200 k's was enough for us, and we pulled into an excellent 24 hour rest area on the Murchison River.  Some of these that Western Australia has are quite amazing.  This one was on both sides of the river and has only recently had more facilities put in.  In total there were nine toilets, and there were tables and chairs and a lot of covered areas as well.  There were probably 20 - 30 vans etc there, but from what I have read, that would have been a quiet night, and there was certainly heaps of room to fit plenty more in.  

View across the river to our van at Galena Bridge rest area

We were up early Wednesday morning and on our way to Kalbarri.  The wild flowers are starting to come out, and the drive was quite a treat.  We detoured into part of Kalbarri National Park and found beautiful views at Eagle Head and Ross Graham Lookouts.  Due to our early departure, we were in Kalbarri by ten.  After booking into one of the parks, a load of washing done, we walked into the shopping area for some bread for lunch.  We couldn't believe it when we got back.  It was so lovely and calm when we left and blowing a gale when we got back.  WA is certainly unpredictable with its winds.  We put our plan of visiting the coastal area on hold, as gusts of nearly 50 degrees didn't appeal.  Instead we looked around the rest of the town, doing some shopping, and as the wind eased late in the afternoon, we went to some of the closer coastal highlights.

One thing that was exciting to see was the caravan park flyer telling us that every tap in the place had beautiful Kalbarri spring water.  Carnarvon was the last time we had filled our tanks, and we had been very careful with what we used.  The water supply in Denham is desalinated, a costly enterprise, and although we could run the water through our van, filling of tanks and containers was banned.  Where we couldn't connect to a water supply we used their shower facilities.  But we had gone the last six days using our tanks so we were getting low.  Another good thing about the park was the free wifi, a chance to update our phones and computers.

Kalbarri town and the mouth of the Murchison River

View looking back toward the town

Thursday was a very full day.  In the morning we were up early looking to beat the heat and the wind as we  headed to the gorges of Kalbarri National Park.  Our annual pass has well and truly paid for itself with the parks we have now been to.

We headed west first to The Loop.  The most famous feature of the park is here, Nature's Window, a rock formation that beautifully frames the Murchison River in the gorge below. After visiting all the lookouts here, we headed east to Z Bend.  Spectacular scenery in both place

Lookout at The Loop

Murchison River gorge

Nature's Window

Z Bend

s.

On the way back to town, we detoured to Murchison House Station, an historic homestead dating back to 1858.  They have camping here, and we had thought about staying, but in the end it was easier to stop in town with power and water connected.  But the historic aspect of the homestead had me interested, so we did their self guided tour.  Considering the price included a pretty good morning tea which included home made muffins and biscuits, it wasn't bad value.  The station has had a varied history, at  one stage being owned by an Indian Prince, the 8th Nizam of Hyderabad.  Prince Raj had a penchant for large machinery especially ex WW2, and he had quite a lot shipped to the station, many of which are still there.  I hate to think what it would have cost to get these huge monsters to the station.

The original building at Murchison House

Shearers quarters

By the time we had finished our tour, our morning tea was closer to lunch.  A quick trip back to the van to bring the washing in, and we headed out again, this time to the Rainbow Jungle.  This is a parrot habitat and breeding of endangered species.  We spent the rest of the afternoon here, loving the bright colours of the parrots.  The majority of parrots are Australian, but there are a few macaws with their breathtaking colours.  The highlight was the open air enclosure where the birds are flying around you.

Friday we thought to beat the wind again by visiting the coastal cliffs early.  But the wind beat us this time as it came up very early.  It didn't detract from the wonderful scenery.  A highlight was the last lookout, Red Bluff, where three whales were swimming past close to shore.  Down on Red Bluff Beach we could see four fishermen risking their lives on the rocks for the big fish that got away.  We couldn't believe how they were standing on this rock area with the waves coming in.

Natural Bridge

The clifftop boardwalk

From the boardwalk

Three whales

Four crazy fisherman