KALBARRI

The kids at a lookout - overlooking the Murchison River in Kalbarri National Park

Sarah and David overlooking the Murchison River

David on top of the world

The family at Kalbarri National Park

David at Kalbarri National Park

Sarah near Nature's Window, Kalbarri National Park

Sarah and the kids at Nature's Window, Kalbarri National Park

David and Sarah at Nature's Window, Kalbarri National Park

The kids on the loop walk around Kalbarri National Park

The kids are professional hikers now!  This 6 km walk up over a ridge was nothing!

Bridget and David shaking hands through a mini Nature's Window

The kids at Kalbarri National Park

One more stunning view

At the Z Bend Lookout

The kids at the Z Bend lookout, Kalbarri National Park

One MORE stunning view!

DAY 81 – KALBARRI                                                       Wednesday, 21^st September

Went to see pelican feeding down on the beach at Kalbarri this morning but alas!  The pelicans were apparently on holidays at Lake Eyre!  So off to Kalbarri National Park which was absolutely spectacular!  It is always good when you are not expecting much – or don’t know what to expect – and it is so much better than you thought.

The wildflowers alongside the road were just beautiful and we stopped numerous times to take photos.  The variety is just stunning, when you feel like you are still in such an arid environment.

Our first stop was at Nature’s Window where erosion of the sandstone has produced a natural hole in the rocks so that you look through to the most magnificent view.  The only way to describe it is to put a photograph in the blog!  The 9km walking trail was estimated to take 3 – 5 hours (which we really didn’t have if we wanted to see anything else) so we just walked for 3 kms and then walked back.  There were a number of other smaller “nature’s windows” and we were all stunned to look back towards the carpark and see how far we had walked.  The walk took us around the ridge of the Murchison River gorge and there were beautiful flowers to see and amazing views of the gorge and river.

After making it back, we had lunch there and then went to what they call the Z Bend – a very uneventful name for an absolutely stunning lookout and walk around a particularly picturesque part of the Murchison River.  The views were nothing short of spectacular.  I am sure the photos will not do it justice. 

We went up Meanarra Lookout on the way home for a view over Kalbarri and were intending to take the kids to the Rainbow Jungle – a parrot sanctuary – but just as we got back into Kalbarri, it started to rain.  Yes!  We, too, were outraged!  We did not quite make it home in time to take all the clean (and presumably DRY) clothes off the line, so had to pop them in the dryer.  (This whole laundry-away-from-home is starting to get expensive!) 

So the afternoon was spent sipping hot chocolates and pouring over the forgotten journals.  I think everyone is at last up to Monkey Mia now!  No-one at home will believe me if I tell them we have not even had time to write in the journals.  And we are planning a few big days between now and when we leave Perth so there may not be time!  We have an enormous day planned tomorrow so did some packing up today so we could leave as early as possible in the morning!

KALBARRI

All the kids in the tent the morning the Tedescos and Pattersons left Kalbarri - the noise was deafening!

Bridgie collecting shells at Jakes Point

Watching the surfers at Jakes Point

Watching the surfers at Jakes Point

The family at Red Bluff - looking south

At Red Bluff looking north over Kalbarri township

On the Mushroom Rock - Rainbow Valley walk

Sarah at Natural Bridge

Bridget and Tess at Castle Cove

Bridget and Tess with their own style of 'whale watching' at Natural Bridge, Kalbarria Coastal drive

The kids in the powerboat about to go down the Murchison River

David, the great powerboat captain and his crew on the Murchison River

DAY 80 – KALBARRI                                                              Tuesday, 20th September

Kalbarri is just absolutely beautiful!!!  Admittedly, we have had the perfect weather today – not too hot, but blue cloudless skies.  We farewelled the Tedescos and the Pattersons after much jocularity in the tent between the eight kids. 

We decided to the coastal road today with the brilliant sunshine so we headed first to Jakes Point where you can watch surfers riding the enormous waves of the Indian Ocean in almost to the rocks at Kalbarri.  Because you can walk out to the point on the rocks, you get a view of the surfers riding the waves from the side which is spectacular.  The ocean is just amazing and we could have sat there for ages.  All night we could hear the thundering of the waves but because we are on a river, it was hard to picture where the noise was coming from.  But on his early morning walk, David went to the mouth of the river where it opens into the Indian Ocean and it is wild!  Can’t imagine what it would be like to try to steer a boat out through that mouth!

We then drove further south down the coast to Red Bluff, which gave beautiful views over Kalbarri. At Mushroom Rock we did a 3km nature trail walk along the cliff tops and to Rainbow Valley.  The rock formations in the sandstone were amazing and we saw a pod of dolphins travelling north in the water.  We drove further to Natural Bridge and Castle Cove which were absolutely stunning.  The views over the Indian Ocean with the waves crashing on the rocks below were magical; nothing between us and Africa, except the magnificent Southern Right and Humpback whales which were passing us by with their calves on their journey south.  We had lunch overlooking the imposing Indian Ocean.  I could have sat there forever.  It was the most captivating view!

We drove back to Kalbarri and hired a powerboat for an hour to take a trip up the Murchison River.  Unfortunately, they only hold 5 people so Mummy got to do some four wheel driving, chasing the family up beside the river along a four wheel drive track!  It was great fun!  I kept stopping along the river and running out like a mad woman, waving and taking photos and calling out to my beautiful family.

They had an absolute ball and all children got an opportunity to steer the boat and pretend to be the captain.  They even though the most exciting part was when they became stranded on a sandbar and Daddy had to use the oars to get them out!  David was fantastic because, as you all know, they call him “David, the great tugboat captain”!  So he masterfully steered the ship (4 metre tinny) through the rocks and sandbars back to shore.

The kids took great delight and pride in themselves on the way home, as they were allowed to walk home and buy some postcards and stamps on the way.  They were even given $1 each to spend at the supermarket.  They were so proud and seemed so grown up!  They have really grown up so much over this holiday and have shown enormous independence in what they are now able to do by themselves.  It is such a great learning experience for them.

Some journaling before a Daddy favourite - Chicken and Avocado Fettucine – and an EARLY night after so much socialising recently!!

MONKEY MIA - KALBARRI

Our beautiful babies at our beachfront site at Monkey Mia

At Eagle Bluff along the coast of Denham Sound

A moment for the chicks on Shell Beach

Bridgie testing the "warm" water of Shell Beach

Ben admiring this unusual beach-without-sand

Here are the cockle shells of Shell Beach

Tessie testing the water

The kids all 'praising' the Stromatolites, without which we humans would not be here!

Sarah and Alanna trying to hold on to the last of the warm weather

How can Violet think she is Little Miss Sunshine?

Violet, Alanna, Kevin, David and Laurence at our 'riverview apartment' at Kalbarri.

Luke, Bridget, Caleb, Beth, Ben, Gerard, Tess and Tess enjoying fish and chips - Kalbarri

DAY 79 – MONKEY MIA – KALBARRI                                      Monday, 19^th September

Off early this morning for the trip to Kalbarri.  Packed up the van, said goodbye to Elaine and Ross and their little dog, Charlie, and drove away from this beautiful bay.  The colour of the water was just stunning again this morning.  Such a special place.  We farewelled each of the dolphins by name!

The first stop was Eagle Bluff which has a fantastic view of the coastline over Denham Sound.  Alanna had said they had seen sharks there yesterday but alas, just seagrass today!  Beautiful view.  We then stopped at Shell Beach which is made entirely of cockle shells.  This is the only place where this happens.  The water needs to be extra warm and salty.  The cockle shells are 5 metres deep and are considered a renewable resource so mining of the shells is allowed there.  Further down the road at Hamelin Pool, the hardened cockle shells were cut with a cutsaw into bricks and were used to build houses because of the lack of available timber or rocks.  Now they are only mined to provide maintenance for historical buildings in the area. 

At Hamelin Bay are the Stromatolites.  Stromatolites started forming approximately 3.5 billion years ago and are small towers of sediment, trapped by blue-green bacteria (single-celled organisms) and are of great geological significance.  They are the oldest living organisms and grow only in Shark Bay and the Bahamas.  Fossilised stromatolites tell scientists that things like the angle of the sun and the length of our day used to be different.  They also provided the first form of oxygen, allowing other breathing organisms and plant life – and ultimately human life – to begin.

AND THAT IS SARAH’S TRANSLATION OF DAVID (GEOLOGICAL FREAK)’S EXPLANATION.  COUNT YOURSELVES LUCKY.

It was actually very kid-friendly and the kids loved seeing the explanation that, if the existence of the earth is measured by two arm’s breadth, with stromatolites on the elbow of your right arm, dinosaurs on the wrist of your left arm, humans would be a nail length on your left pinkie finger!!  Pretty amazing!

Straight on to Kalbarri.  The wildflowers with their pinks, purples, yellows, reds and whites are just spectacular and the countryside has really changed.  It is much less coastal and more rolling green hills and wheatfields.  Dying to get out and take some photos of all the beautiful flowers.

Spent the evening with the Tedescos and the Pattersons.  All the kids just had a ball playing together at the caravan park and then down at the park.  They all get along so well.  We shared travelling stories and had Kalbarri fish and chips (WA fish and chips are so much more expensive than Melbourne!)  What a great night!  Unless we are able to catch up somewhere on the Nullabor, this will be our last night together.

MONKEY MIA

 David catching up on his Sudokus

Briidgie and Mummy time

Bridget and her "Calep"

Tess and Tess at Monkey Mia

David and Ben feeding Nicky

Nicky at Monkey Mia

Ben, Bridget and Caleb feeding Puck

Ben, Bridget and Caleb feeding Puck

DAY 78 – MONKEY MIA                                                          Sunday, 18^th September

The Pattersons were off this morning to Kalbarri so they started to pack up while we took the kids down again to the morning feeding session.  Caleb is so good to Bridget.  A teenager getting out of bed to take Bridget down to the dolphins because she simply won’t go anywhere without him is pretty impressive!! 

So the three of them – Caleb, Ben and Bridget – lined up along the water hoping for their big chance to feed one of the dolphins.  Miracles of miracles – the volunteer asked them all to come down together!  I had Alanna’s great camera so sat on the pier taking photos.  They all fed Puck who, according to Bridget, already had her mouth open under water waiting for the fish.  Beth says they are very polite animals, gently taking the fish from their hands.  Not at all like Barramundi, who snap their mouths shut so hard they could snap off your fingers!!  We are so lucky that all of our kids had this great opportunity to come so close to such wonderful animals. 

After saying goodbye to the Pattersons, we went down for the third feed of the morning, and David was lucky enough to be chosen!  He took Ben with him which was fantastic.  We must look like SUCH a nice family!!  We went through the Interpretative Centre and watched one of the many videos on marine life which they play each day.  The kids find those documentaries really interesting.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some of the kids’ journals (we are now SOOO behind!).  Bethie was fantastic and has written up to arriving in Monkey Mia – the rest have struggled today to get past Karijini National Park.  I know it sounds ridiculous but there really isn’t very much spare time, especially when we are on the road.  When you don’t get into a town until 4 or 5 pm and then spend an hour setting up the site, the kids really are too tired to do much school work or even write in their journals.  But here I am – setting a great example, writing every day!

We spent some time this afternoon just sitting on the beach watching the kids play in the sand while Bethie wrote numerous postcards – she is such a legend!  The neighbours invited us in for a drink and the kids wrote a bit more in their journals, had a shower, ate dinner and went to bed.  Life is just so good!  Off to Kalbarri tomorrow.

MONKEY MIA

SUNRISE over Monkey Mia beach.

SUNRISE (not sunset) over Monkey Mia

Nicky, a regular at Monkey Mia

The kids on the beach following the dolphin

SUNRISE over Monkey Mia beach

Luke, Beth, Tess, Tess, Bridget and Ben waiting for dolphin feeding

Ben, Tess, Tess, Beth, Bridget and Luke all lined up

The dolphins at Monkey Mia

The dolphins at Monkey Mia

Tess and Tess feeding Puck

Beth, Tess and Tess

Bridget, Gerard, Luke, Ben and Caleb - Monkey Mia beach

Beth feeding Nicky at Monkey Mia beach

Sarah, Kevin and David at Monkey Mia

David practising at our site for the Nullabor Links

DAY 77 – MONKEY MIA                                                   Saturday, 17^th September

Woke up with great excitement this morning.  Bethie had already put her bathers and thongs at the bottom of her bed in the tent so she could be first down the beach for the dolphin interaction and feeding times.

I followed the kids (minus our Tess, the teenager, of course) down the beach just as the sun was rising and it was pure magic.  The water was still and calm and as we made our way onto the jetty we saw a number of dolphins playfully watching us.  They put their heads right onto the side and looked us right in the eye.  They swam up and down the beach, herding fish and then proudly displaying their catch for all to see.  It was a beautiful site and, as one man said, so good for the soul.  We also saw a beautiful turtle just quietly going about his business at the end of the jetty. 

The Tedescos packed up to leave for their trip to Kalbarri.  David, meanwhile, was cooking up a storm for all the families with the Hansen speciality of bacon and egg muffins.  Everyone ‘ate until they were full’ and then we headed down to the beach to listen to the rangers and await the arrival and subsequent feeding of the dolphins.  The feeding regime was changed in 1995 and no-one has been permitted to touch the dolphins for the last ten years, particularly because many diseases, including the common cold, can be transferred to dolphins.  So people are permitted to stand in the water up to just below the knees while the dolphins swim around and when it is time for feeding, everyone is to be up on the sand. 

The dolphins which come into Monkey Mia are Indo Pacific Bottlenosed Dolphins and have been coming here since Alice Watts started to feed them in 1964.  Since that time, obviously, much research has been conducted into the behaviour of the dolphins and in 1995 it was decided to feed only 5 of the female dolphins who come into the bay and to feed them only three times during the morning.  That allows the dolphins to fish for themselves during the afternoon, and to feed their calves, which they only do in the deeper water. 

Some of the dolphins which come into Monkey Mia are:-

Nicky (so named because she has a nick out of her dorsal fin) who is the daughter of Holey Fin, one of the first dolphins to be fed at Monkey Mia.  Nicky has had eight calves, of which only one, Fin, has survived.  They believe this is because Nicky’s mother did not teach her adequately how to mother the calves and both Nicky and Holey Fin spent too much time with humans at the beach which meant they were not in deeper water feeding their calves.  She is very used to humans and most photos you see of dolphins at Monkey Mia are photos of Nicky.

Puck is the daughter of Crookedfin, one of the original dolphins to come to Monkey Mia.  She has been more successful with four out of her eight calves surviving.  She comes to the beach almost daily.  Her other progeny which come regularly to the beach are Piccolo, Kiya and Samu.

Piccolo is now pregnant and due in November.  Dolphins are pregnant for 12 months.

Kiya survived a shark attack which left her with a dinner plate sized wound in her side.

In the first morning feed, Tess Patterson was selected from a crowd of around 200 and, so very generously, took our Tess out into the water with her and they fed Puck together.  It was just beautiful. 

Our little ‘animal adorer’ Beth waited so patiently at the second feeding and was actually chosen but Piccolo, the pregnant dolphin, does not take dead fish and has not done so since she became pregnant, so Beth missed out.  But she waited so patiently throughout the morning and finally was selected at the last feed and was able to feed Nicky.  She was over the moon! 

Ben spent the afternoon making a ‘city of sandcastles’ – he literally worked on it non-stop for four hours!  Quite impressive.  Mental note to have him checked for OCD when he gets home!  Nothing could deter him.  The rest of the kids played beautifully together on the beach, in the vans and in the pool, while the adults …. Ummm ….ummm …. Just sat around supervising!  We talked about the remaining three weeks of our journey, with Sarah trying desperately to sound cavalier and ‘flexible’ about where to stay and what to do.  I believe I succeeded!  We had wines and cheeses and then were interrupted by a young man who had just pulled in with his boat and he was wondering if he could leave it in front of our car and van.  Having been very obliging with that request, he rewarded us with half a “Pinkie”, a type of Snapper for our dinner.  This worked out well as we had made up some pasta for the kids but were going to worry about OUR dinner after the game!! 

We headed over to watch the mighty Blue Boys against the West Coast Eagles.  We were outnumbered in the pub and a significant amount of alcohol had to be drunk to ease the pain of a 3 point defeat!  The kids were all happy having dinner and watching movies in the van!  Except my little boy who was there giving me all the players’ names and being suitably outraged at some of the umpiring decisions!!  The night ended well with the Snapper beautifully sliced by David, floured by Sarah, cooked by Kevin and a lovely salad made by Alanna!  The fish was absolutely beautiful!  Could not have been fresher!