2006/08 Australia trip - Kalbarri |
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Wednesday August 2nd
The rest area proved to be a nice spot: lots of wild flowers around the camper, and some ringneck parrots for
company. Our plan for the day was to take a drive through Kalbarri park, then along the coast and camp further south towards Perth, but it didn’t happen that way. As we drove into Kalbarri, it was apparent that we’d definitely moved into a moister zone with very different plant life and there were lots of stops to look at flowering banksias, grevilleas, and a host of other plants we didn’t recognize.
Add a lot of stops and walks to go look at the scenery and eroded rocks in the gorges of the Murchison River, and we were well off our plan.
We made it to the town of Kalbarri on the coast at sunset and camped at the Anchorage caravan park, back on the Murchison River again. We could hear the surf booming but we couldn’t see the ocean from the 
campground.
A brochure in the office advertised “tours by charabanc”, a word I haven’t seen in a very long time.
Thursday August 3rd
In the morning we found ourselves camping next to the Belgians again and they recommended a 
visit to the Rainbow Jungle, Kalbarri’s parrot breeding centre. We had some shopping to do first, and found that Kalbarri is a really pretty town. It’s on the south bank of the Murchison River, and the locals have kept the riverbank clear as a park. We could look across the river to the north bank where the ocean’s waves were pounding on the sand bar. We found a hairdresser for Sandie but the earliest appointment offered was in a week’s time.