This week, Monday 24^th to Sunday 30^th May, we scrambled down deep gorges, teetered on cliff edges, splashed with cheeky dolphins, celebrated a birthday (with champagne and sunset of course), found some old friends, met some new ones and soaked in artesian spas. Watch the video of our Week 7 Oz Lap.

Monday 24^th and Tuesday 25^th May: Kalbarri town and the stunning cliffs and gorges of Kalbarri National Park

Driving up from Geraldton to Kalbarri through the agricultural area to Northampton we saw the first signs of the havoc caused by the cyclone in April. We had our sights set on a Devonshire tea at Oakabella homestead but it was closed (due to dwindling trade post cyclone) but looked like a fabulous set up and very pretty. So we headed to Lake Hutt a pink lake south of Kalbarri then stopped off to walk along the Kalbarri cliffs made from Tumbalgooda sandstone and Tamal limestone. We took the boardwalk trail from Natural Bridge to Island Rock then took part of the Bigurda cliff trail up to Shellhouse and Grandstand lookouts.  Three things to tick in this part are: 1. Oakabella Homestead, 2. the very pink Lake Hutt and 3. The Kalbarri NP cliff top boardwalk and trails.

Kalbarri National Park Gorges

The next day we explored the inland gorges of Kalbarri National Park carved out by the Murchison River. We did the walk to Z bend, a deep bend in the gorge then over to see Nature’s Window at the start of the Loop Trail. We walked the 9km Loop Trail walk along the ridge, down to the river beach, then along the edge of the cliffs around the water where it got a bit tricky before heading back up to the ridge. We went to The Kalbarri Skywalk and out on the huge platforms hanging out over the deep river gorge and read about indigenous life at “Kaju Yatka” hundreds of years ago. In the afternoon we rode along the bike path down to Jacque’s point to watch some great surfers ride the left hand point break then along to Red Bluff beach. We caught an amazing sunset up at the nearby Meannarra Hill lookout then watched the full pink moon rise over our campground on the waterfront. Three things to tick here are: 1. Kalbarri NP gorges walks and skywalk 2. Cycle path to Jacque’s Point and Red Bluff and 3. Susnet from Meannarra hill.

Wednesday 26^th – Friday 28^th May Shark Bay UNESCO World Heritage Area: Denham, Monkey Mia and Francois Peron National Park

After being blown away by the beauty of Kalbarri we were reluctant to leave but we had some friends to catch up with and a birthday to do in Shark Bay so we drove 375 km up the North West Coast Highway and in to Denham. We stopped off at Shell Beach on the narrowest part of the Peninsula on the way in to walk on the super crunchy 9 metres of shells (see pic below) and drove by the Hamelin Bay Stromatolites but didn’t stop as the access pier was knocked out by the cyclone.

Denham and Shell beach:

There’s not a lot at Denham, just a couple of pubs and shops, an informative Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery centre and one magnificent little restaurant called the Old Pearler which is made entirely from the shells from Shell beach. We were lucky enough to eat there for my birthday and had the best Red Emperor and Steak on our trip yet! They serve up a fine sunset near the Denham Seaside caravan park and there’s cute Little Lagoon (see pic below) to swim on nearby but it’s the World Heritage Area and Francois Peron National Park, Dirk Hartog island plus Monkey Mia 22 km east that are the draw-cards. Three things to tick in a trip to Denham are: 1. Shell Beach (on way in) 2. Dinner at the Old Pearler (book early as tiny and BYO – a bonus!) and 3. Catch the sunset

Francois Peron NP artesian hot tub and Monkey Mia cheeky dolphins:

We managed to drive the 7km red dirt track in to the Peron Homestead and enjoyed a lovely soak in the magnesium rich artesian hot tub but couldn’t get any further in to the National Park as 4WD only. We enjoyed a night over at Monkey Mia Conservation Park, 22 km east across the island on Redcliff Bay is all about seeing dolphins close up at the 3 feeding times of 8, 9 and 10am each day. There’s an RAC Tourist park with cabins and campsites and they have a bar which is good for sunset, a restaurant and a pool. There’s nothing else there – you can walk along the beach or take a catamaran cruise but it’s the dolphins everyone comes to see. Three things to tick at Monkey Mia and Francois Peron N.P are: A soak in the hot tub at the Peron Homestead (40c and full of soothing magnesium) 2. Watch the sunrise and feeding of the dolphins at Monkey Mia and 3. Relax, swim and walk at Little Lagoon beach.

Saturday 29^th to Monday 31^st May Wooramel – Carnarvon

A massive thunderstorm hit Denham late Saturday night which flooded the roads and washed away our visit to Worramel station which had to close its driveway in so we kept driving another 120km up to Carnarvon. This was our rest stop for the next few nights and was super chilled as there’s not a lot going on in Carnarvon which is more of a service town for the area than a destination. It doesn’t help that the old jetty was taken out by storms and many shops and services closed in the wake of Covid. The star attraction of Carnarvon is the Space and Technology Museum which has played an important role as a routing and tracking station, helping to beam coverage of the moon landing around the world. It is a brilliant mix of interactive exhibits -you can climb inside a capsule and imagine you are taking off and lots of movies, one terrific one projected on the roof of a dome like in a planetarium that tells all about our fascination and explorations of space. Downtown Carnarvon has a walkway along the Gascoyne River mouth called The Fascine and a 5km tramway walk from the town beach across Whitlock Island and out to the old jetty and the Heritage Precinct area. Between 1908 and 1919, hundreds of Aboriginal people were rounded up by police, and shipped from the old jetty out to Bernier and Dorre islands where they were placed in the Lock Hospitals for allegedly having ‘venereal disease’. This terrible part of our dark history is shared on signage along the walkway and in statues out at the Old Jetty. Carnarvon is a rich agricultural area with the Gascoyne river helping huge banana and mango plantations to thrive. There’s a ‘Fruit Loop’ drive where you can stop to buy produce from stalls out front of local farms and we enjoyed a delicious tomato and basil pasta from locally grown produce Sunday night. Three things to tick on a trip to Carnarvon would have to be 1. The Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum 2. The Tramway walk to the Old Jetty and 3. The Fruit Loop Trail for fresh produce.