But wait, There's More...

Where to start - am beginning to think I may need to swap my role from boarding supervisior to tourist operator. I have to chuckle at the picture of this Kiwi, taking three Poms/kiwis on a camping adventure in North West WA. We have had the best time and seen more animals, birds, insects, reptiles etc than you can poke a stick at (and Tim did try to poke several things with a stick today!!). Before I continue, must give you an update on the wafer thin 'mattress' thingie. Did actually sleep the 2nd night in batches (although another 4pmish walk) and managed better by lying on my side - less coverage, body to wafer ratio, than lying in the coffin position to sleep, which meant bits went over each side. I also added two towels under the feeble pillow I had taken which was a trifle more comfortable. Last night, had a good amount of wine and was so tired by the time I went to bed, I slept through the night (until 5.30am which was a lie in, LOL). But I digress.

As I said in my previous post, we were to stop at Eagle Point on the way out of Denham as Tim wanted to see if we could see an actual eagle . There was a bit of a walk along the cliff top and as the boys went ahead, not only did they see two eagles but also a couple of kangaroos. Then if that wasn't enough, we read at the top of the cliff that in summer you could often see sharks, stingrays etc swim below in the clear water, when in fact that is exactly what did happen!!!!. We had not hoped to see anything because the water is not that warm yet, but could definitely see the shadow of several smallish sharks and then two stingrays. I had not been to this place before and opted for this stop rather than some other great outdoors place with interesting fauna and flora up the road. My thought was, we would see plenty in Kalbarri - which we did. We stopped at the Overlander Roadhouse this time for a coffee as we left Denham and then went all the way to Kalbarri. We decided to go to the Hawkshead lookout and the Ross Graham lookout, neither of which I saw the last time, before we got to the township. Both were very good. New wild flowers to take photos along the way, the boys seriously out spotting for me.

Hawkshead lookout is so named because there is a rock in the shape of a hawks head in the middle of the gorge. Ross Graham lookout is named after a teacher in Kalbarri who died young, in recognition of his approach to conservation in the area. There was a walk down into the gorge to the river which we took. Tim got sidetracked taking a photo of some spider (large and therefore I went nowhere near it) so followed the boys and I down. I am thankful to say, at no time during these walks down rocks etc did I see a snake though nearly got whip lash from looking around so much to check every step I made. Only went off the path once to take a photo of a flower, but could see clearly where I was heading, LOL. It was getting to 1.15ish by then and we were all feeling a little famished so decided to head to the campsite for lunch before doing anymore.

Setting up camp this time was a little challenging to say the least, as it was blowing wind at a great rate of knots (being near the sea again!!!) We still had no hammer so juidiciously placed the tents around what appeared to be a roomy site, so part of each tent could be tied to a tree, when Chas noticed we appeared to spread over two sites rather than one! Rather than take everything down, we just pulled the tents with the tarpaulins under them to their new positions with tempers getting a little frayed by now as we had to take everything off the ute to put in the tents to hold them in place. Finally, we got things set, had lunch and all was right with the (windy) world again.

Decided to head to Rainbow Jungle after lunch which is where endangered species of parrots are being reared in captivity. It seems a little tough to see these birds in cages with concrete walls but some of the breeds are very aggressive and it seems they would not do well with others in the same area. There is one area in the middle of the complex where you go through three gates to an enclosure however, where an amount of parrots are able to fly free - there was an amazing variety of birds with some spectacular colourings. However, the biggest coup, was when Tim (now chief wildlife spotter, LOL) saw two geckos, under a bush. Took several photos and videos of them plus the birds.

After that, we headed back to the gorges again to go to the Loop where the rock called Nature's Window is a feature. More treacherous rocks to clamber over though a decent path most of the way down. Fabulous views and more photos taken. The sun was setting and we were the only ones left in the park so decided to finally head back out. Saw a large grey kangaroo bound off into the undergrowth on the road out and then got a photo of a kingfisher sitting on top of a black boy (plant) before calling it a day. Everyone ecstatic at another successful day indeed. Got back to camp to find someone else indeed had arrived to use the campsite we had previously spread across and with their tent of bedouin (sp) proportions, it made a brilliant windbreak, plus the wind had died down to nothing. By now we were able to laugh at the previous exploits of setting up camp.

Decided on steak for dinner so whipped up dinner in the camp kitchen and barbeque which is placed cunningly close to the TV room. They boys were tired after so much fresh air and sun so had an early night. I managed to get the beginning and end of All Saints (though have got back to Tardun to find the WMH has taped it for me (yay) as I tried first to get the channel right and then to turn the volume down only to lose the whole channel both times!!!

We had a leisurely breakfast this morning and managed to drive down to the beach just in time for pelican feeding (as you do, LOL). Chas got to feed a pelican and we heard all sorts of interesting facts and figures about them. It was then time to head out of town but with two further stops. First was to Jakes point, the local surf area for a quick look at rock pools and a walk along the beach. This is where Tim decided to poke a stick at a couple of very large crabs as they scuttled under rocks at our approach. These were orangey coloured crabs with front legs as thick as my fingers - looked good enough to eat, LOL. There were other smaller dark crabs that also scuttled for cover as you approached the rock pools and I always thought crabs were aggressive creatures!. The next place we stopped at was Red Bluff Point and here was the piece de resistance... It involved a small walk of 800mtres along up to the edge of the cliff and along a bit ( a mere walk in the park, heh, heh) When the cry went up, WHALES, and there below us were three whales just rising to the surface, blowing out water occassionly. This stop again was a spontaneous stop and not planned and we could not believe our luck. A local person said they were most likely humpback whales, so we were totally blown away now by how amazing our luck had been all trip. (Forgot to mention sighting of a feral cat the day before and a goat both in scrub on the side of the road).

It was then back to Tardun via Geraldton where we went to the War Memorial for the HMAS Sydney after the best fish and chip meal I have had yet. A quick grocery replenish and we were at last back to where we started with heaps of news for the WM and her family. They wonderfully offered their place for dinner again so we shared corn beef and vegies (theirs) and chicken roll ups (ours) as we debriefed our trip. We are all packed and now head off first thing tomorrow morning for Perth so will sign off and get to bed.