Up the West Coast

Posted On November 30, 2019

After rocking Wave Rock (sorry for the lame intro), it was time to head to the West Coast.

The Pinnacles under the Stars

Again, to get from Hyden to Cervantes it was quite a drive but at least we had a great Chinese lunch in the little town of York. Besides that, it was again a lot of farmland left, right and centre.

The West Coast greeted us with a lot of wind and putting up our little tent was quite a challenge but we and the tent made it.

Cervantes is near the famous Pinnacles – impressive rocks in the middle of the desert. Quite a sight but see for yourself.

The Pinnacles (with goofy Kevin)

We even went back to them for sunset and nightfall. The colours were just great. As there was absolutely no light pollution the night sky was absolutely breathtaking. Millions of stars in the middle of the desert. We absolutely loved the experience.

Near Cervantes are also some thrombolites at Lake Thetis. These rock-like formations are actually formed by bacteria over thousands of years and are some of the oldest forms of life on earth. We would see some more of them (and their cousins the Stromatolites) later on our trip.

Pink Lake at Geraldton

The next day we drove on to Geraldton and were lucky enough to see Dolphins again at Green Head. We spent the subsequent day reading, washing and enjoying a nice steak dinner at Hog’s Breath Cafe.

We continued our journey north to Kalbarri with a first stop at the Pink Lake. This time, in contrast to Esperance, the Lake was really very pink (and salty) all due to some bacteria. Great photo opportunity.

Just before arriving at our destination we stopped at two lookouts called Natural Bridge and Island Rock. Both offered impressive cliffs and wonderful blue colours of the water. It reminded us quite a bit of the Great Ocean Road.

Wow what a view near Kalbarri — Wow – what a view near Kalbarri

Kalbarri is a neat little town and every morning they have a public pelican feeding which was good fun.

Pelican Feeding at Kalbarri

Getting Hot at Kalbarri National Park

The further north we went the hotter it got. Daytime temperature was now at least in the high thirties and so we decided to only visit the Kalbarri National Park in the late afternoon. Especially after we read all the warning signs stating that temperature in the canyon is sometimes ten degrees hotter than outside.

The lookout at Nature’s Window was extremely hot but offered fantastic views of the massive canyon and we even saw a couple of Kangaroos drinking from the river.

Nature's Window at Kalbarri National Park — Nature’s Window at Kalbarri National Park

Besides the animals, there were also two self-absorbed selfie-taking Koreans which stood way too close to the edge (but they survived it). We also stopped at the Z-Bend to have another look at the canyon.

The sun was already setting on our way back to the campground and immediately Kangeroos were on the street.

Thanks also goes to our campground neighbours which saved our tent from flying away while we were sightseeing.

Before leaving Kalbarri towards Monkey Mia the next day we went for an early morning snorkel at the nearby Blue Hole and we indeed saw some nice fishes in the rather cold water. Definitely a refreshing start before the 430 km drive.