August 14 – 17 Murchison Caravan Park Kalbarri

August 19, 2018 - Reading time: 3 minutes

Packed up in overcast conditions and arrived at the tyre reinflating area around 9 am behind three other cars, unfortunately the pressure was not on so decided to dawdle into town purchase diesel and then put the tyres up.

Today the gods were against us, as it began to rain as we pulled into town and no one has air pressure - so it was a case of getting out our compressor and inflating in the rain- took 30 minutes as we had to replace a fuse as well. Both soaking wet, so hopefully no colds. We have been very lucky so far, however I (Paul) came down with an infection (cellulitis)in my leg and had to get antibiotics last week.

It was a wet and dreary drive to Kalbarri with the highlights once again being the wild flowers, which are amazing! We arrived fairly late in the afternoon, but luckily the rain cleared and we were able to set up in fairly good conditions. We had a quick walk up town, dropped into the pub and purchased nothing! Now you know I was telling the truth re not being well.

Kalbarri is a beautiful little town, situated on the mouth of Murchison River. The bar is extremely treacherous and we have had great entertainment watching the professional cray fishermen as well as the tourists navigate it. Basically it goes like this, as soon as you enter the bar area turn right 90 degrees, across the swell and accelerate for two hundred metres, keeping a close eye on the reef on both sides, then a ninety degree turn to the west and judging the swell slowly accelerate and you are out! I think it is the most treacherous bar I have seen.

The main attraction here besides the seafood is Kalbarri National Park, which is divided into main areas. The coastal area is famous for whale watching, rock lobster and old sea wrecks. Many Portuguese ships were wrecked on the coast here as they travelled to the Spice Islands. Red Bluff just south of town was the the point where the captains were to turn North, however many were driven further west by the roaring forties and ended up ship wrecked on the coast. There is an historical argument that the first settlement on the Australian mainland occurred here some one hundred years before Cook ‘discovered’ the East coast