Our schedule for our penultimate day on the road had us going from Hamelin Pool to Kalbarri to stay overnight and then driving the last 600km in to Perth the last day. However, we realized that rather than the 100km/hour that we'd hoped we could do easily we were really averaging about 80. That meant we'd have 7-8 hours of driving our last day and we had to have the caravan returned by 3PM. If we actually wanted breakfast and lunch we'd have to rush and we'd both be nervous wrecks by the time we finally got back to Perth...so there was nothing for it but to head to Kalbarri with the option of continuing on to Geraldton for the night. Which is what we ended up doing. This actually turned out to be one of our most scenic drives and we're both glad we did it though it just left me eager to go back to Kalbarri for a long weekend during wildflower season.
Kalbarri is not on the main drag (Brand Hwy) from Perth north but requires a detour back to the coastline. So we peeled off and headed in. Rather than waste the opportunity we went ahead and pulled into Kalbarri National Park for a quick look. It seems from the map that it's mostly a four-wheel drive environment but there were two roads paved with scenic look outs. How gorgeous! The Murchison River cuts through the countryside creating canyons and then flowing to the sea at Kalbarri.
Continuing west on into town which hugs the coast, I was stunned at how the river and ocean converge there with a spit of land, a calm bay and then waves crashing right outside. Absolutely stunning.
We pulled into our reserved campground and found it unimpressive so as much as we loved the way the town looked, we decided to push on to Geraldton before nightfall. Wisely we chose the scenic route which took us along cliffs, through pasture land, and past the most incredible pink lake. It was utterly stunning in real life but there was no place on the road to pull over and take a photo. The photos give a reasonable impression I think...but barely capture the brilliant colors and the feel of the wind and sun. The pink lake in particular is better represented in this photo online - it is just that pink!
http://aslo.org/photopost/data/502/medium/118W__Australia_Pink_lake.jpg
The coastline:
And the very last photo of the trip - a windblown tree in Greenough. The prevailing wind is so strong that many of the trees in the area and bent over like this.
We made it safely back to Geraldton and chose to return to the same campsite where we'd stayed our first night on the road. It was comfy and felt familiar after so many days on the road. The galahs displayed in the trees overhead and we were pleased to know that we could make the dash home with time to spare in the morning. Which we did, returning the camper a little early then getting back home, unpacking and gratefully sinking into a hot bath. Vacation adventures complete for a moment :-)
Next up...a quick trip to Kuala Lumpur.
