Distance 356 kms
Cumulative distance 6497 kms
Cumulative distance 6497 kms
Set off this morning to have breakfast and fuel up at Greenhead 50kms north of Jurien Bay. But when we got there the petrol pump had sprung a leak and the breakfast was only take away. There was a brand new gated subdivision on the way into town so I dont know where they were getting their lattes!
We pressed on to Leeman up the road and found a nice place for brekky. Unfortunately the petrol was $1.62/L but Alan was paying so it didn't matter. Kept on going up the coast road to Dongarra which turned out to be a larger town than the others. It is difficult to predict what these coastal towns will be like. We went into Geraldton as I wanted to buy a deodorant having left mine in Melbourne. It was boom time and reminded me of Durban with new subdivisions overlooking the coast and a big shopping centre in the middle. This large church was on the outskirts and was built in grand Byzantine style. I went inside and found this bloke having a kip in the pews.
We planned to have lunch and a petrol stop in Northhampton 50kms north of Geraldton and we stopped outside town and had home made pies that were very tasty. I wanted to get some more cash so we went into town to find an ATM and were surprised at the old and well preserved buildings that were there. As I said its very hard to judge what the town will be like. The road to the coast branched off at Northampton.
We had an enjoyable 100 kms of undulating curvey roads until we got to Kalbarri our stopping point for the night. The accommodation was described as a cabin but it was more like a bathing box. At least it was beside the pool so we had a quick dip. A very quick dip as the water was much colder than we assumed. We had decided to go back up the coast to visit all the viewing points rather than go to the Murchinson River gorge given our short time available.
The cliffs were as high as the Great Australian Bight. The top levels had a steep scree slope and the bottom levels dropped vertically into the sea. We saw a natural arch and a collapsed arch and other cliff features. Then we walked down to the beach at Eagle Gorge to watch the sunset on the cliffs. the colour was reddening as it got closer to sunset. We saw a large Red Kangaroon hopping along the far side of the gorge and later a flock of goats being chased by a dog. The sunset was a fizzer because at the last moment the clouds came down.
We cooked a barbeque at the campsite and enjoyed a bottle for Red from Margaret River. Morag has texted me to tell me that all the rain up in the Kimberley has closed the Gibb River Road. We hope it is open again before we get there.
Delighted to hear that Mabel is assisting you! News from the Kimberleys does not sound great as they have had some heavy rainfalls - hopefully the sun will come out before you get there. No news on baby front as yet - today was to be the ETA but is obviously a Bateman working on the marginal half hour principle.
ReplyDeleteTake care. Love Barbara