Kalbarri

Kalbarri, what can I say about this place, if you could get your favourite seaside town (I am thinking Lakes Entrance, Vic) and turn back the development, silly bylaws, hustle and bustle by 30 years, you would have a pretty good idea of what Kalbarri is like. It is quaint, beautiful, nostalgic, relaxing and just plain great to be holidaying in. We really loved it and would have only passed by except that John and Joy Hogarth we staying there with their XK 630 which I had sold to them just a month or so earlier. We were able to catch up on some more work but also stop for the weekend and soak up the atmosphere this place releases on a daily basis. The Viking kayak came off the roof and I had a quick fish, the Profish 45 really does work well, the breeze came up in the afternoon and whisked across the river but I was still able to get the kayak in without too many problems. John and Joy were spending some time there, becoming practically locals I think! The favourite visit though was to the Rainbow Jungle Bird enclosure on the way out of Kalbarri. This place soaked up a bit of time but wow it was fantastic. Over 50 different varieties of Parrot were all in this wonderfully kept aviary. The cleanliness, the condition of the birds, the interaction, the layout are all a credit to the owners of this fabulous establishment. We loved it that much we purchased some lovely metal art from there(spending too much) and took three hours to get through it all. I photographed every variety of bird and even got chummy with a couple of Macaws.

Monkey Mia

Well after Coral Bay we kept moving south. The aim was to meet up with John and Joy Hogarth at Kalbarri but we had to drop in to Monkey Mia on the way for a look and catch up on some work online, a bit of a problem in around Coral Bay. We headed into the Monkey Mia park area and was allocated a spot there. The facilities are a little run down and the bays are quite small and undefined but we coped with that. We wanted to get our work caught up so did some long hours but also got up early to see the dolphins come in. This was a special experience for both of us and the photos don't do it all justice. On the way back to the van we decided to book onto the Shotover catamaran to see the Dugongs in the bay. We got the last two tickets and raced back to the van and worked our butts off to get our work done so we could get to the boat in time. The shotover turned out to be a great trip, I helped hoist the sails and we were off on this huge racing legend cat that had a number of items onboard for good luck that were from the Australia II yacht. What they were they wouldn't tell us for security issues. We managed to see some Dugongs and their calves feeding on the sea grass as well as dolphins and long neck turtles. It was good fun and I enjoyed being the spotter up the front, directing the crew and passengers to the faint brown shapes of Dugongs in the water. Monkey Mia is worth going to even though the park needs some attention, the bar is good though.

Karratha to Coral Bay

Playing a bit of catch up here but here goes.

We headed away from the very warm Karratha region in search of a little cooler area to relax. It was coming up to the weekend and we desperately wanted to stop. If we stop at a free camp spot in the 42 degree heat, would we have a good weekend or should we push further south to the coast again and hope for a 25 degree relaxing environment. Well the latter prevailed and we headed the long haul to Coral Bay, a popular spot for the Perth local to visit and right next to the Ningaloo reef. This spot was exactly what we were looking for, cool breezes of the water kept the temperature down to around the 25-27 degrees and the water was just right to snorkel in and generally have a great time in. The crowd wasn't ridiculously large but busy enough. We had to use our own water as the artesian water can't be put into the caravan tanks at all. They are very precious about their water. We had a great time there and enjoyed the fish feeding from the beach, the snorkeling and the metal detecting where we found enough money to pay for the snorkel gear hire.