Kalbarri

We were a little later leaving this morning as we were messaging all our friends in Melbourne and watching the news to check everyone was okay due to the earthquake. Thankfully it did not result in major damage. First stop was Shell Beach which was 50km from Denham. It is a bay where the salt concentration is higher than the rest of the environment. The high salinity has allowed the cockles to proliferate and causes a huge build up of shells, which is more than 10 metres deep. Initially it was used as a building product in the area, it eventually compresses and can be cut in blocks like limestone.

When we got back on the main highway it was super busy. It was a really interesting road with ups and downs and incredible wild flowers. Up to this point the wild flowers had been pretty but muted colours (white, silver, mauve). Today the colour wheel had been turned right up, I tried to get a few photos but by the time you find a place to stop you have missed the best bits. Also amazing today we hit farm land with fences and barley crops, the increased traffic reinforced we were in a more populated part of the coast.

We reached Kalbarri around 3pm, and had been lucky to secure a booking yesterday thanks to a cancellation. It is a great camp on the mouth of the Murchison river. Kalbarri is a very popular holiday place for people as it is around 500km north of Perth. It was hit by a cyclone in April and evidence of the damage is very visible. Lots of tarpaulins instead of roofs.

As we drove in we passed the Kalbarri National Park which we will be heading back to tomorrow for some gorge walking!Read more